Courtesy of the Rockford Register-Star, here is some general info on local and statewide items of interest.
I NOW BELIEVE IN THE POWER OF ENDORSEMENTS
You could show me reams of statistical data to show that newspaper endorsements are meaningless and this little bit of info would, as far as I am concerned, prove it all wrong. The Register-Star did an admirable, even brave thing and endorsed Green Party candidate Rich Whitney for governor. Rod Blagojevich and Judy Bar Topinka were and are excrable politicians, and rather than settle, the RS recognized a real alternative. As a result, in the three counties most served by the paper - Winnebago, Boone, and Ogle - Whitney's numbers were highest, except for his home county of Jefferson way down south. Statewide Whitney received around 10% of the vote. Up here where he was endorsed he was in the high-teens to low-20s. Imiagine if other papers in the state had been intelligent enough, brave enough, and wiley enough to spit in the eyes of the two major party crooks. The enire landscape of Illinois politics might be very, very different.
IF YOU WANT LOW TURNOUT, NOMINATE PEOPLE NO ONE WANTS TO VOTE FOR
Illinois' voter turnout was lower than the national average, although in pockets it might have been higher, because two of the names at the top of the ticket were among the least liked in recent memory (see above paragraph). Like close to a fifth of my fellows here in Boone Co., I cast a ballot for Whitney (in fact, thanks to early voting, I did so before the newspaper endorsement), but that does not negate the sad fact that neither party served Illinois voters well. The persistence of corruption of the most venal sort, the most blatant sort, proving not only that some people can be bought, but that their price is shockingly low, is a consistent drag upon citizen participation and attention to public affairs. If we all feel that you have to pay to play, even if you don't have to pay very much, why vote, organize, petition, and do all the other things necessary for the actual operation of government? I do believe that the entire state needs to go into legal receivership; we need legal and political overseers to ensure that corruption, while never completely rooted out, becomes much less common, much less sordid, and certainly of a higher class.
PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE
I understand that parties need to ration resources, and put their resources where they will get the most return. As early as the late spring/early summer, however, it was pretty clear to me, a lowly observer of polls and trends, that things were swinging in favor of the Democrats, if they could be disciplined and courageous and actually oppose the Republicans (which would be difficult because in order to oppose, something had to have been done, and the Republicans have done little to nothing over the past two years). As the netroots and dKos/Atrios-supported candidates showed, actual opposition was a winner over and over again. As early summer moved into late summer into early fall and full campaign mode, it should have been clear that this was the Democrats year. More money, more vibrancy, more buzz - and most important, no matter how hard the MSM tried, Republicans could not get traction on the discourse - all of these should have led to more money and effort put into as many races as possible. In 1994, the Republicans targeted and beat sitting Speaker Tom Foley; why didn't the Demos do that in Hastert's district, especially after the Foley scandal broke, it became clear Hastert had bee silent for political purposes, and suddenly disappeared from the national spotlight? Why not go after all the other corruption allegations? Hastert could now be back in the Fox Valley wondering if there are still open wrestling coach jobs. As for my district, Dick Auman was a potentially impressive candidate, and Don Manzullo a nobody who will now be a back-bench nobody. Our district was ill-served by chicken-hearted Democrats, afraid to invest even after it became clear that there might be the possibility of eking out a victory. My hope is that the various Democratic Party committees will work harder over the next two years, ask for and invest more money and work for a candidate that might possibly increase the Democratic trends in the House and Senate.
Virtual Tin Cup
