* More bad news for Republicans…
Coming off a big primary win and comparatively small fund-raising report, Republican challenger Steve Greenberg finds himself without a campaign manager in the race to unseat U.S. Rep. Melissa Bean in the 8th District.
Brad Goodman left the campaign’s top staff position this week, and Greenberg said it will be “a few months” before he names an official replacement to lead the general election effort.
A few months? Wow.
Greenberg’s latest fundraising report showed he had just $5,000 in cash on hand. Bean had $1.4 million.
It’s not like he has much of a chance against Melissa Bean, but this is ridiculous.
Greenberg insisted the numbers in his latest FEC report and the staffing change aren’t that important.
“The election isn’t won in April. The election is won in November,” he said.
The election isn’t won if you have a campaign like that.
* Meanwhile, in another congressional race, the Tribune socked it to Debbie Halvorson for, um, supporting the Tribune’s position…
Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson (D-Crete), who’s hoping to succeed Republican Jerry Weller in Congress, told the Tribune she was ready to vote [in committee] to send the [recall proposal] to the full Senate. […]
But there was no committee vote. Bad move: If Halvorson and Silverstein don’t see to it that Illinoisans get a November vote on a recall amendment, they risk the kind of blowback that would spare them from having to measure for drapes on Capitol Hill.[…]
Ms. Halvorson, Mr. Silverstein, if your timidity deprives citizens of a vote on a recall amendment, you’re going to hear questions about that again and again. People who don’t know you very well will weigh your answers and decide whether you have what a job in Congress demands.
In a way, this is a crock. The sponsor controls the bill, and the sponsor did not want to move the constitutional amendment to the floor.
However, not mentioned by the Tribune is that Halvorson’s Rules Committee has refused a request by Rep. Jack Franks to change sponsorship. In the past, those requests were often granted. No longer. Senate bill-jacking has become a common occurrence these days, upheld by Halvorson’s Rules Committee.
* A couple more congressional stories…
* Senate OKs local control of 3rd airport
* Callahan wants to cut federal gas tax in half