Progress Illinois

After hours of speeches and musical acts at Invesco field yesterday evening, Illinois' own Sen. Dick Durbin took to the stage to introduce his colleague and friend Barack Obama.  About 36 hours earlier, I'd spoken briefly with Durbin at the Illinois delegation breakfast and noticed that (like many other attendees) he seemed to be losing his voice.  Or maybe he was just saving it, because he didn't appear to have any problem addressing the stadium last night.  Here's a brief video taken during Durbin's remarks:

Adam already gave his thoughts from the upper deck, so I'll give mine from a lower vantage point in the stadium.

I agree that Obama's condemnation of the GOP's "ownership society" conceit was a highlight of the speech.  As was Barack's simple statement that his Republican opponent "just doesn't get it," which he put forth after noting Phil Gramm's "mental recession" comments and McCain's definition of middle class as those earning under $5 million.  

Beyond capitalizing on the McCain campaign's missteps, Obama also took many of the attacks leveled at him over the past few months and deftly turned them on their head.

I too was rather stunned by the four or five ordinary Americans who, with grace and poise, addressed the enormous crowd in the hour before Obama's speech.  After the event, a friend of mine asked: "What did they do to those people to get them to speak in front of 70,000 people?"  They did seem remarkably comfortable in this monumental setting.  

But then, so did everyone in attendance. 

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Here in Denver, both Adam and I are working intermittently out of the Big Tent, a temporary facility set up near the Pepsi Center for progressive bloggers and journalists.  This afternoon, Sen. Dick Durbin swung through and I asked him about the unity spectacle that took place at the IL delegation breakfast this morning, which culminated in Gov. Blagojevich and Speaker Madigan embracing on stage.  His response: "I hope it works."

Watch it:

After enduring at least seven years of expensive education, the average law school graduate now carries a debt load between $50,000 and $90,000, meaning a well-paying job is virtually a necessity upon graduation. In steps the corporate sector, which attracts these economically insecure graduates with highly lucrative jobs. Meanwhile, the public sector just can't compete -- entry-level Wall Street lawyers can earn over $100,000 more than their public-interest counterparts. With this migration of young legal talent towards corporate firms, the public loses out.

But help may be on the way. Buried in a bill Congress passed last week reauthorizing the federal law overseeing higher education was a debt forgiveness proposal sponsored by Sen. Dick Durbin.

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While rarely discussed outside of voting rights circles, the disenfranchisement of college students is a prevalent problem nationwide. There are a variety of obstacles that stand in the way of full student particapation, including unclear residency and identification requirements, lackluster allocation of voting resources, and the risk of provisional or absentee ballots not being counted.

Students are fighting back, however, both by contesting the legality of local election board decisions through litigation and advocating for lasting policy reforms. The Student Association for Voter Empowerment is one such organization doing the latter. With the help of two prominent Illinois Democrats, they've placed a bill in both chambers of Congress that would protect the voting rights of students. From SAVE's press release:

As the forefront organization for youth election protection, SAVE applauds the introduction of the Student Voter Opportunity to Encourage Registration (VOTER) Act of 2008—-a federal bill conceived of, developed by, and championed through our student members. Senator Richard J. Durbin (D-IL), Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Congressman Steven LaTourette (R-OH) have joined in a bipartisan effort to sponsor both house and senate versions of this legislation today. [...]

The Student VOTER Act applies the principles of the 1993 National Voter Registration Act (or “Motor Voter Act”) to publicly funded colleges and universities, so that young Americans can gain the opportunity to use schools as voter registration agencies and acclimate more confidently and readily into our nation’s political process.

“The very introduction of this bill is a monumental victory for young voters,” said, Matthew Segal, the executive director of SAVE. “While many congressional members pay lip service to the idea of increasing civic engagement, it is refreshing to see Mr. Durbin, Mrs. Schakowsky and Mr. LaTourette act, and call on our education institutions to be more proactive in getting students signed up and aware of the laws in their various states and districts.”

Sen. Dick Durbin introduced legislation yesterday intended to reinvigorate the American rail industry and answer the growing demand placed on Amtrak as rail travel becomes more popular (and practical). Durbin's office is touting the Train CARS Act as a major re-imagining of U.S. domestic travel:

The Train CARS Act envisions a Twenty-First Century Rail system that makes flying short distances a thing of the past with a high-speed rail system rooted in major metropolitan areas like Chicago. The most immediate obstacle in the way of making this vision a reality is the lack of passenger rail train cars and equipment [...]

The Train CARS Act provides funding to encourage manufacturers currently supplying passenger rail cars overseas to bring their modern design and manufacturing expertise to the U.S. and open manufacturing facilities here to meet growing demand. The bill also provides a tax incentive for private, domestic businesses to re-enter the passenger rail equipment business and rebuild facilities and train cars here in the U.S.

Amtrak set records last May both for the number of passengers it carried and for the amount of tickets it sold. This is particularly impressive considering that May is usually a slow month for Amtrak. As the New York Times recently reported, increased demand is a mixed blessing for a national rail system that has suffered from decades of under-use and financial neglect:

“We’re starting to bump up against our own capacity constraints,” said R. Clifford Black, a spokesman for Amtrak.

The problem is that rail has shriveled. The number of “passenger miles” traveled on intercity rail has dropped by about two-thirds since 1960, and the companies that build rail cars and locomotives have also shrunk, making it hard to expand.

After months of debate, congressional negotiators reached a deal yesterday to implement the most far-reaching set of product-safety reforms in decades, setting the stage for the bill's quick passage through the House and Senate. The Tribune outlines some of the specifics:

The deal would require manufacturers and importers to subject toys and other nursery products to strict safety tests before they hit store shelves. Some companies with sophisticated labs could conduct the tests themselves, a provision consumer groups opposed.

The legislation would phase in a near-ban on lead in products designed for children 12 and younger and create an easily searchable database of consumer complaints about a product's safety. The law would set an allowable lead standard of 600 parts per million within 180 days, 300 ppm after one year, and 100 ppm after three years. The precise amount of lead that can cause harm in a child remains a matter of debate. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission would review the limit and could lower it still further.

Sen. Dick Durbin and Reps. Jan Schakowsky and Bobby Rush all played crucial roles in crafting the legislation and all three of their names appear on the bill's final version. Schakowsky called it "a really strong, strong bill." That's saying a lot coming from a legislator whose made consumer rights her signature issue while in Washington. Before she entered the halls of Congress, Schakowsky led the 1969 fight to put freshness dates on products sold at supermarkets and she's since issued bills to protect Americans from identity theft and predatory lending.

Want the Senate Democratic Whip to send your favorite Congressional candidate some love? In a poll on his campaign website, Sen. Dick Durbin is asking readers to pick from six Illinois Democratic candidates: Jill Morgenthaler, Dan Seals, Debbie Halvorson, Scott Harper, Bill Foster, and Colleen Callahan.  Whoever nets the most votes will be featured first in a fundraising email sent to the full DickDurbin.com community. To cast your ballot, visit the poll here. 

Devised as a short-term fix for cash-strapped borrowers, the virtually unregulated payday loan industry has become a key player in the U.S. economy, locking hundreds of thousands of Americans into a vicious cycle of high-interest debt. The industry's growth has been rapid, as well. In Illinois alone, payday loan storefronts outnumber McDonald's franchises. But as more Americans buckle under the weight of housing and health care costs, Sen. Dick Durbin says it's time to implement fair usury laws to protect consumers from predatory lenders:

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) has taken aim at the high-interest-loan industry, introducing a bill proposing to cap rates charged for payday loans, car title loans and other forms of consumer credit at 36 percent annual interest.

Payday lenders typically charge anywhere from 200 percent annually to five times that figure depending on laws in states in which loans are obtained.

In effect, the bill would sweep aside rates higher than 36 percent annually in states where higher percentages now apply, but would not affect those with lower rates.

The bill will certainly face intense opposition from the financial services community, who fought tooth and nail for the bankruptcy bill "reforms" of 2005 and have consistently impeded legislation to tighten usury laws. But several years ago, Congress imposed a similar 36 percent annual interest cap on most loans for military personnel and their families. If it's good enough for soldiers, why not borrowers nationwide? Consumer advocates praised Durbin's move:

"It sets the bar," said Lynda De Laforgue, co-director of Citizen Action/Illinois. "It is really important because it says that this is the direction we are headed."

Image used under a Creative Commons license from Flickr user taberandrew.

GOP Senate candidate Steve Sauerberg -- down in the polls and low on cash -- has not run what one could call a smooth campaign. Even fellow conservatives are starting to get angry. Yesterday at Illinois Review, Curt Mercadante complained that Sauerberg hasn't put forth "an aggressive e-strategy" since winning his party's primary, which could have helped raise money, recruit volunteers, and communicate the campaign's message efficiently.

But he's got one last bullet in the chamber: the culture wars!

In the Republican underdog role against two-term veteran [Dick] Durbin, Sauerberg, a physician from Willowbrook, repeatedly has sought to label his opponent as too liberal. On one of his campaign’s Web sites, Sauerberg noted Durbin’s opposition to a Constitutional amendment to ban flag-burning and said the nation’s founders never included one "because they never had to deal with ultra-liberal Americans who hate their own country."

Asked whether he was referring to Durbin, Sauerberg said Thursday, "I think he’s an ultra liberal. Whether he hates his own country, I cannot determine for the gentleman.” Sauerberg said voters "wonder a lot" about Durbin’s patriotism.

A Durbin spokesmen says the personal attacks shows a "frustrated" political candidate. It's hard to argue with that, especially considering he doesn't share the values of the majority of Illinois residents and he consistently demonstrates a shallow knowledge of public policy. From the same Tribune article:

Labeling the nation's energy problems a top voter concern, Sauerberg restated his call for a federal gas-tax holiday as the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, has proposed. Sauerberg said money lost to the federal highway construction fund could be replaced by finding "another wasteful program that government runs."

Asked to name a specific wasteful government program to cut, Sauerberg said, "I can’t answer that" and apologized, before proposing a freeze on federal hiring or a 2 percent cut in federal agency spending.

After reading Steve Sauerberg's latest press release, one might get the impression that the Senate race in Illinois could be tight this cycle:

The polling, conducted by Southern Outreach, an Atlanta-based firm, shows Durbin struggling to break 50% in the uninformed ballot matchup against Sauerberg. In a head to head with Dr. Sauerberg, Durbin leads 52% to 35%. Outside of the Chicago-metro area, Durbin fails to garner 50% and only leads Sauerberg 47% to 40%.

"Senator Durbin is a household name in Illinois with an $8 million war chest and is the second-ranking member of the United States Senate," continued Hage. "The fact that he starts this campaign barely over 50% is a sign of real weakness."

Back in the reality-based community, the picture becomes a bit clearer. A non-partisan Rasmussen poll released last Thursday shows Durbin with a 61-to-27 percent advantage over Sauerberg. Democrats are currently given a 98.3 percent chance of winning Illinois’ Senate race, too. And this was before Sauerberg's dismal second quarter fundraising totals were released:

With Sauerberg's latest campaign filing, there are signs he has little to take his campaign on the offensive. And he may not be able to raise significant cash or put more of his own money into the effort.

As of July 1, Sauerberg, had about $1,500 less in his campaign fund than he had three months earlier.

And that April total of $1.07 million was virtually the entire result of the physician digging into personal assets, which he has since not done.

The fund's quarterly income of donations and interest totaled about $102,000, with expenses about $1,500 higher.

I guess there's still hope for that Obama endorsement ...