Five Days to the Election
Gubernatorial Race
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According to Larry Sabato’s latest “Crystal Ball,” Illinois is drowning in red. As of now the Governors’ race is ranked as “Leans R,” as is the Senate race, as are the races in IL-11, IL-14 and IL-17. This is very bad news in an allegedly blue state, though it makes sense. Republican Bill Brady has an easy time in the Governors’ race, given that he can run against both Pat Quinn and Rod Blagojevich. And since everyone’s sick of the negative ads, Quinn’s officially got nothing popular to run on. Brady, on the other hand, has lots of popularity with the Tea Party, to say nothing of a convenient time running on economics when all his opponent has are social issues.
Senatorial Race
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Talking Points Memo is having trouble with the fact that Giannoulias tried to deflect conservative voters with a campaign trick. He also is losing black ministers fast. This after he and Mark Kirk had another catfight on television last night. An interesting point from Politico’s Ben Smith is that Kirk appears to be going for the Ron Paul school of anti-Iraq War rhetoric. Appropriate, given that Kirk can pretty much try anything in one of the most unpredictable races in the country.
House Races
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Joel Pollak, Republican of IL-9, must be doing something right, because the antisemitic website Hamsayeh is accusing him of campaigning for “the Jewish interest.” Pollak is also being seen by the press as the most viable challenger Schakowsky’s had in years. Here’s hoping.
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We’re now up to reason number 14 why Phil Hare, Democrat of IL-17, is no good. But you can add being evasive and excessively populist in the only debate of the season to the list, just in case.
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Dan Seals, Democrat of IL-10, recently picked up support from anti-gun groups, cementing him as not exactly a conservative Democrat. Meanwhile, Robert Dold’s innovative new ad seems to have made Politifact both happy and unhappy at the same time. The ad was certainly smart, given that the race is so competitive, and viral exposure is always useful.
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The Chicago Sun-Times has a lot of coverage of IL-14′s candidates and their positions on the national debt. Bill Foster and Randy Hultgren have contrasting answers on video, so voters know who to pick in the increasingly competitive (and GOP-leaning) race.