Foster's
by dday
It's Australian for "the Republicans are in deep shit," mate!
U.S. House - District 14 - Special General
Illinois - 564 of 568 Precincts Reporting - 99%
Name Party Votes Vote %
Foster, Bill Dem 50,947 52%
Oberweis, Jim GOP 46,125 48%
Put it this way: if I told you in the middle of 2006 that Democrats would control Tom DeLay AND Dennis Hastert's seats in Congress within two years, would you believe me?
Now, Foster needs to be watched. He ran strongly on ending the war in Iraq and stopping retroactive immunity for the telecoms. He needs to be held to those campaign promises. I can't guarantee that we won't be putting him on Bush Dog lists before too long. But clearly, this is a big victory for a new Democratic coalition that can win in erstwhile red districts and red states, that can capitalize on this uniquely horrible President and the trashed Republican brand. The NRCC spent a MILLION dollars, one out of every three dollars they have in their account, to save this seat, and they came up short. Foster's win is a road map for how to win in these districts; run strong against the war and George Bush's lawbreaking, and offer a real contrast.
This is also a big victory for Barack Obama, who cut an ad that ran all week to help Foster. John McCain came in here to help Jim Oberweis and it didn't matter. Obama's reputation as a map changer is very enhanced by this. In a way it's bigger than his win in Wyoming today.
Oberweis was unique in his dickishness, too, so just seeing him lose is a victory.
There are now DOZENS more seats in play than anybody thinks. This is going to throw the NRCC into total disarray. Tom Cole, their chairman, might have to resign. Money may dry up even more than it already has. This is awesome.
Comments fubared today. I don't know why --- d
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