… As it looks like Mike Ditka’s not running for that Illinois Senate seat, after all.
Time for the IL GOP to find somebody not too memorable and not too rambunctious for that race, methinks; Ryan might have had a shot (not that we’re ever going to know, now), but the way he left the race put his local party folks in precisely the same metaphorical situation as you get when you overbalance, start falling, start running to keep some control, stay overbalanced, speed up, stay overbalanced… you know how this ends. Eventually you hit the wall or the ground; if you’re lucky, you get to pick somewhere soft to land.
So, it looks like a rebuilding year for the Republicans in Illinois (which is also the opinion of RedState reader CA Pol Junkie, which is where I got the link from).
Moe
The Illinois Republican Party has been in near freefall since George Ryan’s election and the attendant licenses-for-bribes scandal, indictments, etc. Jack Ryan’s (no relation) self-immolation hasn’t helped either.
The only Republican in statewide office now is Judy Barr Topinka, the theoretical head of the party here. She’s too smart to run. Unless somebody can armtwist former governor Jim Thompson or former governor Jim Ryan (also no relation—we’ve got a passel of Republican Ryans here in the Prairie State) it looks like the Republicans’ll be putting a relative unknown against the extremely appealing Obama.
It’s kind of a shame since lack of prominent opposition to Obama’s Senate race will mean that Illinois will get absolutely no attention during the campaign season from the national media. Again.
Having dined on a steady diet of crow since the Governator turned out not the be the worst idea in American history, I was actually planning to remain mum on Da Coach’s candidacy should it come to pass.
Now that he’s declined, however: What the Hell were they thinking?
Never mind. Don’t answer that. I know what they were thinking. Glad to know Ditka has more sense than that though.
Now, to concentrate on getting Philip Crane out, and Melissa Bean in 🙂
Can this be an open state elections thread? Because I’d like to point out that if the GOP nominated anyone even remotely sensible to challenge McDermott, I would likely vote for that person. Carol Cassady does not qualify.
At least I’ll be able to maintain my bipartisan cred by supporting this clever fellow for my state house district.
Open state election thread authorization granted.
Ditka? You think Bush is a bad speaker; Ditka can’t even make it all the way through a word, sometimes, before he starts a new sentence.
Watching him on ESPN, I was always spending a lot of time replaying what he said, looking for understanding. But maybe, politically, not being understood is a plus.