Posted: 1/12/2005 8:41:08 AM EDT
| Ray Lahood possibly throwing his hat in for Governor? Whats your opinion? |
Seriously? He's my U.S. congressman--very solidly pro-gun. To me at least, he strikes me as one of the few "old school" politicos left in Washington that is more of a stateman than a partisan backstabber. He's seen as pretty evenhanded and fair (he presided over the Clinton impeachment hearing). He serves my interests as a constituent very well. I like the guy. It'd be a shame to lose him, but we can get another pro-gunner here, and share with the rest of Illinois  . He'd be good to take a shot at Durbin too.Rutherford is another one talking about going after it, and he'd be good too. Is it possible that the state Repubs are removing their heads from their asses? |
| We can thank George Ryan for Blago...The Peoria paper had Lahood on the front page headline in regard to his consideration for Guv. He's definately pro gun and has been quoted as saying we have enough gun laws. He's states that more prosecutions are whats needed (guess he's preaching to the choir here). I like the guy, very personable and seems to be a straight shooter. |
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LaHood is my Rep, as well. It would be a shame to lose him in that capacity. In either posistion, I think we'd be well served. I can't imagine that he'd want to deal with the state B.S., Dems in control of everything else, and Daley; when he's in a Republican controlled Washington. Not unless he's up for a real challenge, or he's tired of living in two different places. Steve Rauschenberger was being interviewed on the radio today. He wasn't saying that he was going to run, but he was posturing like he was preparing a run. He was ripping Blojo apart, which always makes for good entertainment. I've heard Dan Rutherford interviewed in the past. He seems like a good guy. I don't know much about his posistions because he hasn't run for any race that I was voting in. I liked what Rauschenberger had to say during the Senate primary. |
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LaHood vs. Blagojevich? January 13, 2005 Chicago SunTimes BY DAVE MCKINNEY, SCOTT FORNEK AND BEN FISCHER Staff Reporters SPRINGFIELD -- Rep. Ray LaHood, a veteran Republican congressman praised by colleagues for his bluntness, said Wednesday he is weighing a run against Gov. Blagojevich in next year's governor's race. LaHood, 59, of Peoria, called Blagojevich's two years in office "a joke" and plans to spend the next several months traveling the state to gauge support for a potential run against the chief executive, who still hasn't announced his own re-election plans. "People are making fun of him in there," LaHood said after attending inaugural ceremonies in the Democratic-led Illinois House. "There are serious problems in the state of Illinois, and almost all of the them were created by the current governor himself. "I'm going to test the waters. I've got a record of 10 years. I think it's a good record," LaHood continued. "I think I'm a fresh face, a new face. I don't think I'm part of the same ol', same ol', and I'm going to see if our party is looking for someone like that." Aides to Blagojevich, who reported $10.2 million in his political fund last June, had little to say about LaHood's announcement, which overshadowed swearing-in festivities at the crowded state Capitol. "We're not going to engage in partisan bickering because we think the governor's record speaks for itself," Blagojevich spokeswoman Rebecca Rausch said, citing the governor's efforts to lift the state out of an enormous budget morass without raising income or sales taxes. Not an ideologue LaHood, once a top aide to House Minority Leader Robert Michel (R-Ill.), was elected in 1994 to succeed Michel and has shown candor in going public with criticism toward fellow Republicans. In 2002, LaHood tried to line up opposition to former Sen. Peter Fitzgerald after a series of disagreements Fitzgerald had with House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), mainly over the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield. Last year, LaHood accused former Rep. Phil Crane (R-Ill.) of neglecting his district in the midst of Crane's unsuccessful re-election bid. And LaHood was among the first Republicans to call on former Senate candidate Jack Ryan to end his campaign after damaging disclosures surfaced from his divorce. Although LaHood is opposed to abortion and additional gun control laws -- issues that could be crucial in a GOP primary -- he is praised in Washington because he is not an ideologue and promotes bipartisanship. "He's honest, he's refreshing, he tells it like it is. You can irritate people that way," said Illinois House Minority Leader Tom Cross (R-Oswego), who said he likes "a lot of what Ray does." Weak points But LaHood does have vulnerabilities. "He is not very well known outside his congressional district. . . . Fund-raising is an issue because Rod is going to have all he needs," said Democratic consultant David Axelrod. "It's an enormous task, especially from the [fund-raising] base [LaHood] has. And the third issue, I think, is that there's most likely going to be some sort of challenge from the right. He might not be sufficiently conservative for the zealots in that party -- the Alan Keyes faction of the party. He is sort of a Chamber of Commerce-type of Republican at the end of the day." LaHood also defended Gov. George Ryan, encouraging him in 2001 before his indictment to run for re-election even though scandal had paralyzed Ryan's administration. Even last month, during a dedication ceremony of the Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield, LaHood was the only public speaker to credit Ryan for his work on the library in its early phases. However, LaHood insisted Wednesday that Ryan won't be the prevailing issue in the 2006 election, even if Blagojevich tries to make the ex-governor a focal point. "It's his record," LaHood said of Blagojevich. "You can't go back. Elections are about the future. He can't be referring back to someone else." Besides LaHood, other potential GOP gubernatorial candidates include Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka, businessman Ron Gidwitz, state Sen. Steve Rauschenberger and dairy owner Jim Oberweis. Some in the party also are lobbying former Gov. Jim Edgar to run against Blagojevich, as well. |
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Quoted: LaHood vs. Blagojevich? January 13, 2005 Chicago SunTimes BY DAVE MCKINNEY, SCOTT FORNEK AND BEN FISCHER Staff Reporters "We're not going to engage in partisan bickering because we think the governor's record speaks for itself," Blagojevich spokeswoman Rebecca Rausch said, citing the governor's efforts to lift the state out of an enormous budget morass without raising income or sales taxes. That's probably about the worst thing that she could have said for her boss. His record is a complete joke. His own party had him sign about 50 memorandums of understanding. They have stated that they can't trust him further than they can throw him. Rebecca Rausch was the political reporter for the Springfield T.V. station. When she signed on as Blojo's P.R. person, I thought she took on a difficult task with a short duration. Everytime I see him on the news, he's pissed someone off, or he's been caught lying or doing a shady deal. "No more business as usual" "I will do away with cronyism" Do you think we'll see any of those famous Blojo lines resurface in the Repub candidates campaign ads? edited to add. O.K. , what the hell is going on here? I did the {size=1}{/size=1} (with appropriate brackets) on CKM's quote and it came out larger than life. It scared the crap out of me when I first saw it. |
| I also have LaHood & Rutherford for my reps. I've met LaHood twice and Rutherford, (I think it was Rutherford), once. They both were very nice and La hood even took some time to discuss me and one of my friends. (We were 17 at the time.) I was going to ask LaHood about the AWB when he toured where I work last year, but, of course, I had to work the night shift that day. |
Rutherford is the one who put a complete list of all Blago's fee hikes on his website. He's very pro-gun, too. The more of this I see, the more I think that Blago is doing to the Dems what Ryan did to the Repubs, only the downstate Dems aren't stupid enough to blindly follow along like the Repubs did. Sounds like the Repubs will have a number of good candidates in the field. They will probably be outfunded, though, so the grassroots efforts will be all the more important. |
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They were talking about the Repub Party on local radio a couple of days ago. They were interviewing the new Republican Chairman, Andy McKenna. It was the same old song and dance. The one thing that I noticed about McKenna was that he tried to totally avoid the 2nd Amendment when he was making his primary bid. Well, he's the party leader now. It was also mentioned that now that Judy Baar Topinko isn't chair, she may be interested in running for Gov.. This last statement is pure speculation per the radio, no sources were given. Mull that one over for a moment. Later. |