Progress Illinois

In a sign that perennial GOP candidate Jim Oberweis is intent on running again for the 14th Congressional District, the Beacon News reports that he has been calling supporters -- and reporters -- to ask for their thoughts on "what went wrong" during his failed special election campaign:

Since losing the March special election to now-Rep. Bill Foster, Oberweis has been contacting people involved in the race, people who commented on the race, and people [...] who covered the race. He's been meeting with as many of these people as he can, trying to pick their brains and find out where his campaign went off track.

Such an approach is not completely unexpected. The Beacon News writes that "the relentless negativity of his campaign turned a lot of voters off" and we previously noted that part of Oberweis' new campaign strategy involves an image overhaul. Oberweis' new campaign spokesman says that part of their November strategy will be "letting people know who Jim is."

The problem there is that, after his failed four attempts at public office in Illinois, many voters seem to have a pretty good idea "who Jim is." They just don't like what they see.

That's what House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) reportedly had to say about Jim Oberweis at a recent meeting with Illinois GOP fundraisers.

Capitol Fax's Rich Miller reported this morning that he was told that Boehner "said at a recent event
that he wants Oberweis out of the race." Then, posting anonymously in Miller's comments section, his source offered up some more details:

I was Rich’s source at the Boehner event. Boehner stated there was no way to win the district with Oberweis, and that he wanted him out: “unlikable, a terrible candidate.” This was said in the presence of at least 30 Illinois fundraisers. He even stated to a questioner at the event that “we can quote him”, and that he would help get Oberweis out of the race. I believe there is no way Oberweis can win, and if he does not get out, the GOP will lose the seat for a decade. Anyone who gives him 2 cents is just wasting cash. Mr. Oberweis, you can stop calling us. We are not going to provide any further assistance.

Saying that Oberweis is a terrible candidate is one thing. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone in the national GOP who thinks otherwise. Saying that you'll help get him out of the race, on the other hand -- now that's news.

Miller called Boehner's office for comment, but there's no indication he's heard anything back yet. I'll be very curious to hear what they ultimately say in response.

(Hat tip: Archpundit)

In the past week, we've reported on the trickle of first quarter fundraising numbers in Illinois' most competitive congressional races. Now that the filing deadline has passed and the Federal Election Commission has had a few days to catch up, all the numbers are available for the period beginning January 17 and ending March 31. We've compiled them in the table below:

It appears that Jim Oberweis is intent on running -- again -- against Rep. Bill Foster in Illinois' 14th Congressional District this November. And judging from an AP interview published today, it looks like Oberweis is getting some image counseling.

Admitting that he may have suffered in the last election because of his negativity, Oberweis has vowed to run a kinder, gentler campaign:

Part of what he's learning, Oberweis said, is that he needs to make sure voters know more about him personally, including that he's a recently remarried father of five and a former kids' chess coach with a "great sense of humor."

That trademark "sense of humor," remember, involved poking fun at Foster's speech cadence by breaking into a mock stutter.

Rich Miller over at Capitol Fax notes that Oberweis "has promised to run a positive campaign just about every time he’s run for office, and every time he ends up going negative and looking goofy." So let's all remember the Ice Cream Man's vow as the race heats up later this summer.

You can hear Rep. Bill Foster delivering the Democrats' Saturday radio address here.

In a Democratic radio address that aired nationally this morning, Rep. Bill Foster touched on a variety of issues. Most notably, he took a cue from Barack Obama and made an economic argument against continuing the Iraq war:

Democrats have a plan to extend essential tax credits that will support the production and use of renewable energy, like ethanol. Unfortunately, President Bush opposes this plan and is instead working to protect taxpayer subsidies for big oil companies. These companies are making record profits — and they don't need handouts from the taxpayer.

Passing this legislation is critical, but achieving energy independence will be virtually impossible if the war in Iraq continues with no end in sight. We have now spent more on the war in Iraq than has been invested on energy research in the history of our country.

Moving our economy forward and making our nation energy independent will be difficult if we continue a war with no idea how to pay for it and no idea how to end it.

As Steve Benen noted after Obama's recent speech on the economy, linking the expense of the war to the country's economic woes is "both good policy and good politics — it helps make these costs personal." I'd have to agree.

You can read Foster's entire address here.

After taping his upcoming response to President Bush's Saturday radio address at WBBM's studios in Chicago this morning, Bill Foster took questions from the media, including one from Public Affair's Jeff Berkowitz about proposed reforms of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

Specifically, Berkowitz asked him about his recent vote against a bill originating in the Senate that offered immunity to those telecom companies who cooperated with the Bush administration's warrantless domestic wiretapping program. In response, Foster explained how he instead voted for the House compromise bill, which proposed that the phone companies be able to defend their actions in a secret court, rather than receive blanket immunity:

FOSTER: [Y]ou know, this was an important vote. And, I do not believe in blanket immunity for telecom companies or anyone else that may or may not have violated basic privacy understandings. I believe there is a huge difference between a scenario in which data was turned over in the immediate aftermath of September 11, with a clear understanding that people in the Administration thought that this was truly legal and data that may have been turned over under other circumstances.

And, I think the compromise that came out of the House Bill, which essentially established a secret court that allowed the telecoms to defend themselves, using the letters that they may or may not have received from the Administration, provides a very good intermediate compromise for the purposes of determining the civil immunity or non-immunity of these telecoms. So, I am a bigger fan of the compromise that came out of the House than the compromise that came out of the Senate and I voted that way.

(More after the jump ...)

After winning back Democratic control of former House Speaker Dennis Hastert's seat in the 14th District, Rep. Bill Foster is clearly a popular guy in Democratic circles these days. Case in point: the AP is reporting that he was tapped by the party leaders to deliver the Democrats' response to President Bush's Saturday radio address. His five-minute address, which he taped this morning, reportedly focuses on the economy. Come tomorrow, you'll be able to find the audio clip here.

UPDATE: An excerpt from Foster's address, courtesy of Chicago Public Radio:

"In the coming weeks, I would hope the president would take the same approach to health care that he did to economic stimulus; to put away his veto pen, sit down and work with us to work out our differences. Our children need progress, not vetoes and political posturing."

Ever since his crushing defeat in the special election for Illinois 14^th Congressional District, folks have been wondering about the political future of Jim Oberweis.

He is set to challenge (now incumbent) Bill Foster again in November, but it seems that many in the Republican Party wish he would just go away. In fact, an Oberweis campaign spokesman admitted earlier this month that it is unlikely the campaign will receive any funding from the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC). That's a pretty big about-face for an organization that spent $1.2 million, (nearly a fifth of its cash-on-hand at the time) trying to get him elected in the March 8 special election.

And the NRCC aren't the only ones throwing the "ice cream man" under his truck. John McCain came to Illinois in February to endorse Oberweis before the special election. At a joint press conference they spoke of their shared views on, among other things, immigration reform. But after Oberweis' defeat, the Republican presidential nominee appeared to forget his former comrade's name. Here's McCain last week on NPR:

We just had a loss of Denny Hastert’s seat out in Illinois. The Republican candidate out there, I am told, had very strong anti-immigrant rhetoric also, so I would hope that many of our Republican candidates would understand the political practicalities of this issue.

The "I am told" is priceless. Of course, if Oberweis had instead defeated Foster in the special election, he'd almost certainly be one of McCain's many "friends" by now.

As the GOP tries to respond to its tanking popularity, what it does with Oberweis will be informative. If he is pushed out in favor of a more moderate candidate (as some have suggested), we may see similarly shuffling elsewhere. If Oberweis soldiers on to face Foster again -- this time without any party support -- it could belie a sense of fatalism about Republican prospects in November. Judging from comments like this one left on the conservative Illinois Review, it seems the only GOPers hoping Oberweis does run are the ones that have already given up hope:

It's lost - put it on Oberweis to take one for the team in November. No use ruining future nominees for an inevitable November tidal wave in favor of the Dems.

For his part Oberweis is adamant that he will face Foster again in November. If there is one thing you can say about the man, he does not let defeat -- four defeats, that is -- stand in his way.

In his Times-Record column today, Rich Miller suggests the Illinois GOP is in disarray as it come to terms with the potential effect of an Obama nomination on statehouse races this November:

Republican congressional candidate Jim Oberweis' convincing loss in a suburban special election earlier this month also proves that in this environment Republicans at the state legislative level - where name recognition is lower than the US House - need to have strong candidates, and they need to work them hard and pray four or five times a day that Obama doesn't win the nomination and then cut ads for their Democratic opponents.

Oberweis was a disaster on just about every level, and few down-ballot Republicans are nearly that bad. But the Republicans need to recognize that every Republican in that district could be in danger come November when Oberweis runs again for the seat. Oberweis' November candidacy might very well pull down some of their down-ballot candidates. Add that to any Obama effect, and the Republicans have to be tearing their hair out right now.

Miller goes on to describe the current tension between the GOP leadership in Springfield and state Sen. Kirk Dillard (R-Hinsdale), who incidentally cut a TV ad for the Obama campaign last year.

Read the whole column here.