Foster Wins!

Written by: Sandra Verthein on Mar 10, 2008 9:11 AM EDT

We did it!

On Saturday, March 8th Democrat Bill Foster became our newest member of congress, beating Jim Oberweis to win the seat that had been occupied by Republican Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert for the last 20+ years. Turnout was absolutly key in this race, so kudos to all of our Northside DFA members who made phone calls and walked precincts to Get Out The Vote for this election -- ya' done good!

The bonus? Not only do we get a new Congressman who ran on a solid platform of getting out of Iraq, health care, and opposition to FISA immunity, but this makes things look even better for our other Illinois congressional races, like our adopted candidate Democrat Dan Seals, who is running against Republican Mark Kirk in the 10th Congressional District. Some points from an analysis in the Baltimore Sun (bolding is mine):

* Oberweis' loss will fan fears that Illinois demographics are trending away from Republicans. [...] Other Republicans in similar seats outside of Chicago - including Reps. Mark Kirk and Peter Roskam - are surely taking notice of that trend.

* [...] Several reports estimated the National Republican Congressional Committee dumped at least a sixth of its available funds into the Illinois special election - and it still lost. The question now: Will the NRCC have enough money come fall to help Kirk and other incumbents targeted by the Democrats? Will it have any left over to play heavily in open seats such as the 11th CD of Illinois, which is being vacated by GOP Rep. Jerry Weller, or the 18th CD being vacated by GOP Rep. Ray LaHood? [...]

* [...] At least one leading Democrat thought that [...] despite polls showing a dead heat, the GOP would turn out its base and Oberweis would win comfortably. The opposite happened, which only adds to the growing body of evidence from the presidential primaries that Democrats are the more energized party this year.

Speaking from my own experience walking precincts in Elgin on Saturday, I saw numerous doors with Foster door hangers on them, but did not see one piece of literature from the Oberweis campaign or from the Republican party. We were out there getting out the vote and they were not.

A huge congratulations to Congressman Bill Foster and the great campaign he ran. And again, thanks to everyone who helped out. We did it!

Peace,
Sandra Verthein 

P.S. Don't forget that this Thursday night the there will be a presentation on "The Truth about TIFs." Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley will be the speaker at this event which is being sponsored by the Greater Lincoln Park DFA group.
- Thursday, March 13 , 7:00 p.m.
- DePaul Lincoln Park Campus Monroe Hall, 2312 N. Clifton, Room 114, Chicago
- RSVP at: http://www.dfalink.com/event.php?id=27993

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Location: Chicago, IL 60640