Tuesday night primaryelectionblogging

Well, it looks like Rod "I'm not indicted....Yet" Blagojevich is going to be the Democratic candidate for Illinois governor. I can tell you right now, I'm not voting for him a second time. Whom I vote for in November will be determined by the outcome of the Illinois Republican primary. Right now, moderate Judy Baar Topinka is leading James Überweiß by about 33,000 votes with just shy of 64% of the precincts reporting. If she wins, she's getting my vote. She's pro-choice, and as pro-gay-rights as any Republican gets (for which she's been getting crucified by the Überweiß campaign--reason enough to support her in the general in my book).

My main source of dissatisfaction with Blagojevich is that he looks to be just as corrupt as his indicted and tried predecessor. (We're still waiting for the jury to come back with a verdict in the corruption trial of the former governor, and rumors abound that Blagojevich could also be indicted at some point in the future on similar charges.) Add to that the fact that he's gutted higher education in Illinois, and that he raided state employees' pensions--hitting the university system hardest--for $1.2 billion to fund his budget last year by declaring a "pension holiday." That means the state, which just recently enacted a complicated plan to pay back the arrears from the last time the Republicans tried that shenanigan, is not fully funding its contributions to the state pension system. The $1.2 billion he "borrowed" last year will cost Illinois taxpayers as much as $38 billion over the next generation, and is going to seriously crimp future state spending, because it's not going to be long before pension contributions consume up to half of the discretionary budget.

Is it any wonder I (and a whole lot of other Illinois Democrats) think it's time for a change?

The Tribune has already called the race in the 14th Congressional District. With 85% of the precincts reporting, John Laesch has a nearly two-to-one margin (11,857 votes to 6,285) over repeat candidate Ruben Zamora. If you have any spare change and feel like helping out a progressive Democrat taking on the No. 3 guy in the Republican congressional leadership structure (Fat Denny Hastert), give early and give often, to paraphrase an old saw from Chicago politics. I'm in for $100 now myself.

It looks like the Democratic candidate for state treasurer will be the "young, single, and rich" guy (Giannoulias), and not the guy with 12 kids who seemed to think (or at least his campaign literature strongly implied) there was something wrong with being young, single, and rich (Mangieri). Giannoulias is leading, 59.84% to 40.16%, with nearly 64% of the precincts reporting. Curiously, the Tribune hasn't called this race as yet. Makes me wonder if they're expecting a downstage surge for Mangieri, considering that's his base.

I would most likely have voted for Mangieri, too, given that his office as Knox County state's attorney is literally right across the street from my alma mater. But the campaign literature he allowed the state Democratic Party to pump out in his name was almost Rovian in its sliminess, and as I told Mangieri by e-mail after receiving the first barrage of that bilge, I can't support that kind of campaign tactic. I offered to reconsider my decision to vote for his opponent if he'd publicly repudiate the flyers, but I never heard back.

It was interesting to see how things broke down in my home county. The biggest hits in Blagojevich's pension raid, enacted just before midnight last Memorial Day weekend to prevent anyone from having the chance to stage a protest or lobby against it (natch), were absorbed by the university pension system. The university where I work is the single largest employer in this county (in this whole region, in fact). Which makes the following results somewhat surprising:

Blagojevich	1,743	52.14%
Eisendrath	1,578	47.20%

I'd have bet money Blagorgeous would lose in this county. I was also surprised to see that Überweiß won the Republican primary, 41% to Topinka's 34%. Then again, the Überweiß campaign was pumping out slander and slime by the bucketful, and Topinka's main power base is Chicago and the suburbs.

There were two referenda on our ballot, both of which (surprisingly, to me) passed. The first one was a very vaguely worded one to allow taxing for support of veterans, which I voted against chiefly because it was so vague. It passed, 62.65% to 37.35%. The second, which I voted for and am happy to see passed, was to allow the forest preserve district to raise its levy slightly, to allow it to purchase more land to keep it from being developed. That one, sad to say, was a closer call, 52.22% to 47.78%. But it still won.

It's still too close to call in the Sixth District, where Christine Cegelis, who almost knocked off Henry Hyde in 2004, is running against Tammy Duckworth for the right to run for the open seat, since Hyde has announced his intention to retire after the present session of Congress. Cegelis is getting no help from the DCCC, since Rahm Emmanuel (he of the Fifth District and also DCCC chair) cut off funding when she couldn't seem to raise any on her own. (There are rumors that one reason Cegelis had trouble raising money was that Emmanuel and other DNC bigwigs were warning off donors.) The DCCC recruited Duckworth, a severely wounded Iraq War veteran, to run against Cegelis, touching off a nasty primary fight. With 76% of precincts reporting, Duckworth led Cegelis by just under 500 votes, 42.97% to 40.97%. That one is going to go down to the wire. I just hope the district will unite behind the eventual winner, because this would be a huge pickup.

Comments

[Bryan]

Having a party is useless if you don't have candidates. How am I supposed to support people who refuse to stand up for my values?

The Democrats had better start helping some real progressives or just close down their stall.

[Bryan]

Thanks for the link. Karen will be thrilled. She pushed me into giving my e-mail address to give John a vote at Feingold's.