The Capitol Fax Blog » A perfect storm of afternoon items

Monday, Oct 13, 2008

* According to Google News Search, there have been 3,351 uses of the phrase “perfect storm” in news reports during the past two weeks.

That’s a lot of perfection.

* It would be nice if we had a complete list, but I’ll keep looking for it…

Voters in 14 Illinois counties will have a chance next month to let Springfield know what they think about citizens’ right to carry concealed firearms, including those in Saline, Franklin and Union counties in Southern Illinois.

The referendum will ask whether the state should enact so-called “concealed-carry'’ legislation.

The referendum is advisory only. Voters will not be deciding whether individual counties should adopt those rights, but whether state legislators should bring the issue to a vote.

* Charlie Cook has moved Democratic Congresscritter Bill Foster’s race against Republican Jim Oberweis from Lean Democratic to Likely Democratic. [h/t: Larry]

* Martin Ozinga lashes out at his Democratic opponent Debbie Halvorson via press release…

New research reveals that career politician Debbie Halvorson took to the floor of the Senate in March 2006 to promote her husband’s two lobbying clients:

“In the gallery today, we have members of the Lincoln Foundation, which is an excellence – a performance excellence-based initiative, and with them is two of the recipients, and they happen to be from St. James Hospital. I just would like the Senate to recognize the importance – and the people that we have here from the Lincoln Foundation. So, if we could have them all rise, they’re in the gallery behind me.”

The politics of cronyism is nothing new for Halvorson.

As hundreds of longtime civil service agents were being laid off, Halvorson got her 23-year-old daughter a $40,000-per-year job in the Blagojevich administration.

Halvorson was also the chief Senate sponsor of Blagojevich’s widely-ridiculed “family feud” bill, which the Governor used to personally target his father-in-law, Chicago Alderman Dick Mell.

* Halvorson has a new YouTube video that zings Ozinga for bringing Vice President Dick Cheney to the district…

* Republican congressional hopeful Aaron Schock campaigns against… who else?… Rod Blagojevich…

Says Dave, with tongue planted firmly in cheek…

At the end, [Schock] suddenly makes the leap of logic, “Washington is just like Springfield” or some such. Really? I think that’s a bit naïve. I mean, you can’t sell nukes to Taiwan from Springfield.

* Team America turns one today. Happy blogbirthday!

- posted by Rich Miller

16 Comments

- Team America - Monday, Oct 13, 08 @ 3:30 pm:
THANKS RICH!

- EmptySuitParade - Monday, Oct 13, 08 @ 3:39 pm:
We seems to remember Mr Dreamy voting with his mentor StateWideTom to push the Blagoat gambling plan…On the budget he just voted no on ALL State spending. Mr. Dreamey to schools “drop dead” Guess he must have “stood up” against Blagoat on something else…..

- Speaking At Will - Monday, Oct 13, 08 @ 3:52 pm:
Whats the deal with this hapless question on the ballot concerning right to carry. That will pass by an overwhelming number down here in So Ill.

Can we please just get right to carry in Illinois and exempt out Chicago and the Metro East. If those two areas want to continue with more Idiotic gun control laws let em at it, but the rest of the state shouldnt be held hostage because of it.

It is an embarrasment that Illinois and Wisconsin are the only two states without some kind of Right to Carry on the Books.

- Amuzing Myself - Monday, Oct 13, 08 @ 3:56 pm:
Isn’t that the same ad Schock ran in the primary? Only reason I remember is the goofy belt.

No sense talking about important current events like …. oh I don’t know… maybe the ECONOMY?! when you can just regurgitate your ten-month-old ads again.

And, BTW, what the heck was that ad about rivers doing running? I haven’t seen it for a few days now. Maybe they realized it may be the most ridiculous, irrelevant ad we’ve ever seen in a campaign?

- scoot - Monday, Oct 13, 08 @ 3:57 pm:
Thats a Schock commercial rolled out from the primary..during the GRT debate etc.

Whatever works.

- Phil Collins - Monday, Oct 13, 08 @ 4:04 pm:
We don’t need conceal carry laws. Because of the 2nd Amendment, every law-abiding American should already know that they have the right to carry guns, to defend themselves.

- cermak_rd - Monday, Oct 13, 08 @ 4:08 pm:
Speaking at Will,

Curiously, I wouldn’t mind a county by county set of rules. Of course, if you were traveling through the state, you would have to know which counties allowed what, but it would make more sense. I take the attitude that in any given county, there is a percentage of morons. In a county, such as relatively underpopulated Cumberland County, there are simply less morons, and everyone else, including the guns & ammo sellers, know who the morons are, so they won’t sell to them. In a county such as Cook, with it’s 5 million or so residents, there are a lot more morons and it’s impossible for any denizen of the county to know who all the morons are, so that gun & ammo seller filter isn’t there.

- Rich Miller - Monday, Oct 13, 08 @ 4:22 pm:
===during the GRT debate etc.===

Dave wrote that he caught it on TV recently. Also, GRT imbroglio was last year. Not during primary.

- Oh Canada - Monday, Oct 13, 08 @ 4:53 pm:
You can’t buy prescriptions and flu vaccines from foreign sources either, eh Dave? Or can you?

- kimsch - Monday, Oct 13, 08 @ 7:03 pm:
On concealed carry - it’s not on my Lake County ballot.

- For Performance Excrescence - Monday, Oct 13, 08 @ 7:23 pm:
I thought the Lincoln Foundation was almost completely funded by DCEO? What the hell do they need to lobby for?

- It's Just Me - Monday, Oct 13, 08 @ 9:59 pm:
Did the G.A. pass a bill allowing people to continue to register to vote after the deadline?

http://www.chicagoelections.com/page.php?id=14

- TimB - Monday, Oct 13, 08 @ 10:13 pm:
Here ya go Rich:
Crawford, Cumberland, Effingham, Franklin, Greene, Jasper, Jefferson, Kendall, LaSalle, McDonough, Ogle, Saline, Union, Winnebago, Woodford.

15 in all.
TimB

- You Go Boy - Tuesday, Oct 14, 08 @ 4:27 am:
As for “perfect storm” phraseology gone berserk:
“It appears the Wall St. versus Main St. kerfuffle has finally found its voice, and doing so while a kabooki dance was in progress. “Look, John McCain is zig-zagging, and Obama appears too cool and lacks connectivity”.
Do the pundits watch each other to steal the “good lines”?

- Anonie! - Tuesday, Oct 14, 08 @ 7:09 am:
In just a few months Washington will be EXACTLY like Springfield: Run by Chicago Democrats. Talk about naïve, Dave.

- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Oct 14, 08 @ 8:36 am:
Anyone who thinks DC will be exactly like Springfield if Obama wins is delusional. Leave the goofy DC spin off this blog, please. Thanks.

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