Progress Illinois

That's right. Steve Shearer, campaign manager for 18th District GOP congressional candidate Aaron Schock, said that his man is the Obama of the race, while Democratic candidate Colleen Callahan is playing the Clinton role:

Shearer said Schock is like Obama in that he represents change and people are inspired by him. Callahan, he said, is showing she’s more of a Hillary Clinton supporter.

“This is a Hillary Clinton, throw-the-kitchen-sink blistering negative attack playbook that Sen. Obama has railed against as the broken part of politics right now. Is (Callahan) running because she has a vision for what this country should be or is she nitpicking on Aaron and constantly being nasty?”

What prompted Shearer to accuse Callahan of using the "throw-the-kitchen-sink blistering negative attack playbook"? On her blog, the Democratic candidate recently pointed out: "People want change, and aligning yourself with the current president is not change," referring to President Bush's scheduled appearance at a Schock fundraiser in late July.

So Callahan notes something pretty obvious -- that appearing arm-in-arm with Bush doesn't really communicate "change" -- and the Schock camp responds by called her a "nasty" nitpicker? Hmm.

And back to that Obama comparison, Peoria Pundit sums it up pretty well:

I’m fairly certain that Colleen Callahan would gladly surrender to Aaron Schock 100 percent of the votes from people who find some sort of similarity between he and Barack Obama, provided she gets all the votes of every single 18th District resident who finds some similarity between her and Hillary Clinton.

We noted in the Extra yesterday that President Bush will be appearing at a Peoria fundraiser later this month for GOP State Rep. Aaron Schock, who is running for Rep. Ray LaHood's 18th District congressional seat. Peoria Pundit plucked this quote from Schock out of a local news report:

"Any patriotic American would be honored to have the President of the United States come to help them and I am very honored,” said Schock.

Peoria Pundit added, "I guess anyone who doesn’t think highly of Bush — and this includes a LOT of Republicans, conservatives and otherwise — isn’t really a patriot."

Interestingly enough, while the Bush fundraiser will certainly give Schock a fundraising boost, I'm guessing his campaign didn't realize it would also draw the netroots' attention to his opponent, Democrat Colleen Callahan. Indeed, as Peoria Pundit noted, several DailyKos posts on the race have surfaced in recent days. The Swing State Project picked up on Bush's planned visit to the 18th as well -- and you gotta give them credit for this headline: "Aaron Schock Not Afraid to Bear Hug Radioactive Toxic Sludge."

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has named 14 new candidates to its list of "Red to Blue" races, which already features Dan Seals in Illinois' 10th District and Debbie Halvorson in the 11th. Furthermore, the DCCC rolled out a new list of 20 "emerging" congressional races that are generating substantial enthusiasm. Included are two additional Democratic candidates battling for seats here in the Prairie State: Jill Morgenthaler (IL-6) and Colleen Callahan (IL-18).

The DCCC releases these lists as a way of showing what candidates appear particularly strong, which districts particularly vulnerable, and as a way to generate support for the candidates mentioned. Those campaigns that make the cut also receive "financial, communications, and strategic support" from the DCCC.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has released its list of targeted congressional races for 2008 and there are six in Illinois:

- IL-6: Incumbent Peter Roskam is one of the DCCC's "Targeted Republicans"

- IL-8: Incumbent Melissa Bean is one of the DCCC's "Frontline Democrats"

- IL-10: Incumbent Mark Kirk is a "Targeted Republican." Meanwhile, challenger Dan Seals is part of the DCCC's "Red to Blue" program.

- IL-11: Democratic candidate and State Sen. Debbie Halvorson is also on the "Red to Blue" list.

- IL-14: Bill Foster, who is filling out the rest of former House Speaker Dennis Hastert's term after winning a March 8 special election, is one of the DCCC's "Frontline Democrats"

- IL-18: The DCCC describes this as a "competitive open seat" (current Rep. Ray Lahood is retiring). The Democratic candidate is Colleen Callahan.