Progress Illinois

The latest from the 2010 electoral landscape ...

IL GOVERNOR

This morning, Rep, Mike Quigley formally endorsed Democratic incumbent Pat Quinn in the 2010 gubernatorial primary, saying that "the best indication of future behavior is past performance."  Watch an excerpt from Quigley's remarks:

The Quinn campaign has also posted some highlights from UNITE-HERE's recent endorsement, which you can watch here.

U.S. SENATE

This morning, Republican Senate candidate and congressman Mark Kirk announced a $1.6 million third quarter fundraising haul:

Five-term GOP Congressman and Navy veteran Mark Kirk, the leading Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Illinois, today reported his campaign set a new single-quarter fundraising record for federal Republican candidates in Illinois raising more than $1.6 million. That brings the campaign’s total receipts for the election to more than $2.9 million with $2.3 million in the bank.

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A few updates from the campaign trail ...

This morning, U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias announced the endorsement of Illinois Senate President John Cullerton.  From a press release sent out by the campaign:

“Alexi Giannoulias is a rising star of the Democratic Party and will fight hard for working families and against the special interests in Washington,” Cullerton said. “As Treasurer, he has worked tirelessly on behalf of Illinois residents and to fundamentally change how the Treasurer’s Office operates so it functions more efficiently by cutting waste and getting a better rate of return for the state taxpayers.”

For those interested, the Giannoulias campaign has posted the full video of his Chicago campaign launch last Sunday.

On the other side of the Senate race, tweets published by GOP Rep. Mark Kirk while on active duty with the Naval Reserves have attracted the attention of both CNN and NBC Chicago.  In typical mainstream media fashion, the former failed to note that the issue was first raised by Capitol Fax's Rich Miller. CNN did go on to note, however, that the military seems a bit perplexed by Twitter in the context of Department of Defense guidelines:

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The federal filing deadline for the second quarter of 2009 passed this week.  Below you'll find the relevant totals for the U.S. Senate race as well as several potentially competitive House races:

Giannoulias' $1.6 million in cash-on-hand has already attracted some headlines, particularly considering that the other talked-about Democratic contenders -- Chicago Urban League President Cheryle Jackson and Merchandise Mart Properties CEO Chris Kennedy -- have yet to start fundraising.

Meanwhile, State Sen. Michael Bond's lackluster fundraising numbers in the 10th Congressional District also raised some eyebrows.

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After officially announcing his plans to challenge Democratic Rep. Bill Foster in the 14th Congressional District yesterday, Republican Ethan Hastert -- son of former House Speaker Dennis Hastert -- has been making the media rounds today.  You can listen to his appearance on WLS' Don Wade & Roma In the Morning at this link.

Here he is explaining his experience:

"I've been around the business a long time. I've been following these issues and the policy decisions that get made for a very long time. I worked in D.C. for a couple of years, but I've spent most of my life in the Fox Valley.  So I've followed the process and I'm very well steeped in the issues."

An interesting nugget: Hastert spent those "couple of years" working as an aide to then-Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff Lewis "Scooter" Libby, later convicted on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.

Over at the Progressive Fox, John Laesch shares some second-hand info about a poll reportedly conducted in the 14th Congressional District this week:

The interesting part of the poll was the question about Dennis Hastert.

“If the election were held today, would you vote for Dennis Hastert or Bill Foster.”

The next question was similar.

“If the election were held today, would you vote for Ethan Hastert or Bill Foster.”

Ethan Hastert, you say?  That would be the former House speaker's 30 year-old son, currently an attorney at Mayer Brown.  There's not much information out there about Ethan, other than these two tidbits: In 2001, at the age of 22, he was arrested for driving under the influence.  And from January 2001 until May 2002, he worked at the White House as an aide to Lewis "Scooter" Libby, then-Vice President Dick Cheney's infamous chief of staff.

Anyway, something to keep an eye on ...

UPDATE: More from Capitol Fax: "A GOP friend tells me that Ethan is calling around to the district’s county chairmen."

UPDATE II (4/18): Hastert confirms it to the Daily Herald:

Hastert said he is not running the poll and declined to say who is. However, the Elburn resident did confirm that he is interested.

"I'm talking to people, to local leaders and others whose counsel I respect," Hastert said.

That includes receiving a blessing from his father. [...]

"He is supportive," Hastert said. "He's quite right to point out that it's a rough and tumble game. But I grew up with it, and I know that."

As Capitol Fax noted yesterday, 14th District GOP congressional candidate has started running a negative TV ad against Rep. Bill Foster, hitting him for supporting the Wall Street bailout package.  Yesterday, Foster hit back with a spot that briefly highlights the new "negative attacks" from Oberweis and whacks him on Social Security. Watch it:

As Capitol Fax noted today, 14th District GOP congressional candidate Jim Oberweis appears to have violated his pledge to run a positive campaign with a new negative ad hitting Rep. Bill Foster for his votes on the Wall Street bailout package.  Also of note is a new two-minute radio ad he's running on WLS (and perhaps elsewhere).  The spot is narrated by Oberweis himself, who criticizes the bailout at length while never mentioning Foster's name.  What's interesting is this passage:

OBERWEIS: This plan is a product of everything that's wrong with Washington: the special interest lobbyists, the campaign contributions to favored members of the key committees, the rush to action with too little consideration of alternatives or consequence.  This bailout plan doesn't represent change, it represents more of the same.  

Sound familiar?

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This morning, the Daily Herald endorsed Democrat Jill Morgenthaler in the 6th District, incumbent GOP Rep. Mark Kirk in the 10th District, and incumbent Democratic Rep. Bill Foster in the 14th District.  We've updated our endorsement round-up accordingly.

Editorial boards at some of the state's largest papers have begun announcing their picks for Congress. The Beachwood Reporter's Steve Rhodes makes a good point when he says some of the choices will probably lead readers to check the front page to see if they've got the right paper

The Sun-Times, which describes the paper's editorial voice as "The Progressive Independent Conscience of the City," is backing Republican candidates in three out of the five most contentious congressional races it's weighed in on thus far. Meanwhile, the Tribune board is endorsing some liberal Democrats in three out of five of the state's most heated congressional contests. Following is a run-down (updated on 10/29):

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Two Democratic congressional campaigns have new television ads out this week.  First, here's a spot from 18th District candidate Colleen Callahan hitting Republican opponent Aaron Schock over "Notarygate":

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