Burnt Orange Report

I thank you on behalf of my fellow citizens of Illinois!
Obama is one reason Illinois will remain strongly Democratic for a generation.
=)

How about Harold Ford...too conservative for you?

you actually took the time to write a post about a $10 donation? You and Martha Wong's press secretary have a lot in common...

Hell yes! That man's gonna be my senator and I can't wait. Thanks for helping us beat "Jack!"

I'm a Chicagoan posting at a University one block from Obama's headquarters downtown. I saw him speak at school. He's completely amazing. I went to his headquarters and picked up a ton of stuff.

He destroyed the other candidates in the field. The frontrunner, Blair Hull, a gazillionaire, wasted $25 MILLION on his primary bid because of the messy fallout from his divorce report.

The other serious contender, Dan Hynes, was the machine candidate. He couldnt even win his own ward!

Obama won because one, he had ads running him as the political son of Paul Simon, and two, this state is democratic and getting more liberal by the day.

I'm touched that deep in the heart of Texas, you guys are keeping track of Obama.

Here's the deal on the guy he's replacing, Peter Fitzgerald

Fitz bought his seat in 1998. He campaigned as an anti-tax small government crusader. He didnt show his face in Chicago at all. He hammered Carol Moseley Braun for being scandal-ridden and incompetent. I admit, I would have voted for Fitz too.

Fitz didnt owe anyting to anyone. He railed on the corrupt governor George Ryan who wanted to turn the Abe Lincoln library into a pork-insider fest. He seriously pissed off the entire state republican delegation. Columnists (John Kass) loved him because he told Hastert, Ryan, and Mayor Daley to go piss up a rope when he suggested that President Bush appoint NY attorney Pat (no relation) Fitzgerald, a veteran mob and terrorist hunter.

The combine (the leading dems and repubs are incestous in helping each other, heck, call it republicrat or democan) didnt want an outside guy to clean up the state. Trust me, Texas politics stinks, but Illinois wasnt that far behind.

US Atty Fitz went crazy and completely cleaned house. Rep Gov George Ryan could very well receive the nobel prize (for commuting the sentences for almost everyone on death row) from prison (when he was secretary of state, his office sold licences for bribes leading to multiple deaths and his karl rove, scott fawell, pressured state workers to do campaign work on state time)

I'm grateful for Sen Fitz for putting him here

He opposed the expansion of o'hare. He's pro-life.

Fitz saw all the bullshit in being a senator and hated begging for money. He's worth $50 million, and didnt want to waste his money on another run. He also wanted to spend more time raising his kid.
He also saw that Bush was deeply unpopular in illinios (most of the population is in the chicago area, and it is a democratic stronghold). The state republican party fell apart and is a shell of what it used to be. The gop got its ass kicked in the 2002 elections, resulting in dem majorites in both houses and a dem governor. Only one rep constitutional officer left.

Fitzgerald saw the writing on the wall , and he didnt wanna get his ass kicked. So he quite. Bush wont win his state, so he isnt even going to bother to show his face in illinois. The last time I saw him in chicago was saint patricks day parade 2002, when I chanted ENRON, ENRON, and the entire drunken crowd joined in. He looked me in the eye and kept moving.

Obama will be a senator for life, just like Dick Durbin.

Now can Texas rid itself of the GOP, please ? Or at least funnel a ton of money to Richard Morrison so that tommy french delay gets his ass thrown out of office?

A dedicated Chicago liberal