Thursday, June 2, 2011

Q the Eye/06.02.11

Dear LakeCountyEye,

Having been 100% committed to the people's important business of talking to the cable cameras, I failed to notice that the district I represent is, poof, all of a sudden gone! My term ends in 2012. I am fired up and ready to run but with nowhere to go. I could use some direction, please.

Behind the Eighth Ball

Dear Section Eight,

All those newly gerrymandered districts were drawn to benefit either a Democratic or Republican incumbent. And most of these Congressional districts will be decided in the Primary election -- March 20, 2012 -- some 9 months from now, which converted to campaign years amounts to about a long weekend at the Dells. So if your Congressional re-election campaign office isn't up-and-running and targeting likely voters, ha ha, it's probably already too late.

No surprise, but eagle-scout Congressman Robert Dold already leaked it to the canaries at the TeamAmerica10th blog that he plans to run for re-election in the new 10th Congressional District.
Bob Dold Is "In" For 10th District Race
This was an obvious shot-across-the-bow aimed at Congressman Joe Walsh or anyone else contemplating a run in the Tenth District Republican primary. Dold will be redistricted into the new 9th Congressional District. And by "leaking" his intention in advance, Dold can avoid announcing it at a press conference where reporters are sure to ask embarrassing questions like ...
  • Why don't you run against Jan Schakowsky in the 9th?
  • Your campaign criticized Dan Seals for living in the 9th -- do you plan to move to the 10th?
With the cat out of the bag, all Dold needs to do now is issue a press release confirming his plans, while safely out of reach from those pesky reporters.

As for your dilemma, Mr Eight, you could do worse than follow the lead of State Rep Jack Franks. As reported by the parrots at the McHenryCountyBlog, Franks ...
does not want to run against 8th District Congressman Joe Walsh. Walsh has a dynamism that Franks cannot begin to approach. But, if Walsh decides to run in the 10th District and 14th District incumbent Randy Hultgren runs unopposed in the 14th, then I think there is better than a 40% chance that Franks will challenge him.
What Will Jack Franks Do Next to Get Publicity?
That's all you need to do: watch Joe Walsh. Where Walsh decides to run, you run someplace else.

And rinse. And repeat.

If you are an elected official, or a previously elected official, or just a private citizen under indictment, send your political questions to Q the Eye c/o ... LakeCountyEye@gMail.com

2 comments:

Team America said...

BB - as noted in my post, Dold's representative, Kelley Folino, has already asserted that when Dold wins, he will move to the 'new' 10th.

The difference, of course, is that unlike Dold, Seals was never redistricted out of the 10th. It's hard to blame a candidate for something totally beyond his control, but it's clear we're not letting that stop us here at LCE.

Barney Baxter said...

hi TA,

Don't get me wrong, I care little where Dold lives. And can't blame him for running in the 10th. (I think Dold would be crazy to run against Schakowsky.)

But from my experience with reporters, they don't pay much attention to press releases or blog announcements. If and when Cong Dold holds that next townhall or press conference, the first questions I'd think he should expect are "Why don't you run in the 9th?" and "Are you going to move to the 10th?"

Just sayin'

-BB-