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This past
week, two polls emerged that show the race is very close and
tightening as the campaigns head into the final 5 weeks. Copley New Service
reported on a poll they commissioned showing Blagojevich
leading Topinka by 10 points but with considerable weakness in
that lead.
Blagojevich's negatives are higher than his positives
in the Mason-Dixon poll.
Brad Coker, managing director of Mason-Dixon said, "His
negatives are actually higher than his positives. That's always a sign
of potential trouble."
Survey
USA which runs a
monthly tracking poll of the Illinois gubernatorial race
has the numbers between Topinka and Blagojevich tightening
considerably. In the past two months,
Topinka has closed to within 6% of Blagojevich, 45% to
39%. Sixty
days ago, Topinka trailed by 11%.
A week ago, there
was buzz among news outlets and political pundits revolving
around a Sun-Times/NBC
5 poll that showed Treasurer Topinka trailing Governor
Blagojevich by as much as 30%. No other tracking poll
or stand-alone media poll had such a great disparity. The Topinka campaign
and others have attempted to get the geographic breakdown of
the Sun-Times poll
with no luck. The
poll had a very small sample size of only about 400
respondents. The
poll also had an exceedingly high number of self-identifying
Democrats - 52%.
The number seems to indicate the correct suspicions of
a number of political pundits; that the poll was
geographically skewed.
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 Another tough week for the Governor, mostly brought
on by his own press conference blundering. Blagojevich has been
out of the public eye since the Tribune broke the
$1,500 birthday gift story a couple of weeks ago. Last week, the
Governor emerged to hold a press conference and proceeded to
further muddy the waters about the intent of the $1,500 check,
indicate that he did indeed seek to assist his friend's wife
locate a state position and attempt to, again, blame the media
for all of his problems.
The episode is
difficult to fully explain. So, watch
the video for yourself. |
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 In the race to replace retiring State
Senator Rick Winkel, former legislator Judy Myers is looking
very strong going into the final campaign stretch. Myers faces Champaign
County Auditor Mike Frerichs in the November 7th
election.
Frerichs' base is Champaign County but he doesn't
seem to be doing as well as he needs to be in order to
win.
In a recent Illinois Chamber poll,
Myers was trailing Frerichs by only 9% in Champaign
County. The poll questioned
2700 likely voters and found that Myers has shaved 7 points
off of Frerichs' lead in his home county. With Myers closing the
gap and trending in a positive fashion in Champaign
County,
her solid support in the other areas of the district bode well
for election night victory in
November. |
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In
the first debate between State Senator Peter Roskam and Iraqi
war veteran Tammy Duckworth, the two did not find much, if
any, common ground.
The race to replace Congressman Henry Hyde has
become one of the most watched races in the country as the
Democrats attempt to win control of the U.S. House.
On the
War in Iraq, Duckworth
indicated that she wants to bring every single American
home. Duckworth
was severely injured in Iraq and lost the
use of her legs.
Roskam said that the district does not support the "cut
and run" philosophy and believes the U.S. should finish
the job. On a the
issue of immigration, Roskam does not support the U.S.
Senate's version of immigration legislation and Duckworth
believes that something should be done with the illegal
immigrants who are currently in the
U.S. |
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"What's
the upshot of those blanket FBI raids Thursday in Cook
County
personnel offices? The quick answer is that any insiders
who've been clouting unqualified mopes into county jobs now
have a choice: They can contact the U.S. attorney's
office and testify truthfully at any future corruption trials.
Or they can suffer the consequences of pretending they saw no
evil, heard no evil, rigged no illegal patronage
hires.
There is, though, a different consequence for
the rest of us who pay, and pay, for the many crimes already
exposed in this corrupt, self-serving government. The FBI
invasion of Cook County on Thursday
reminds us why Nov. 7 matters." Read
the whole thing... |
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Comptroller Dan Hynes last week issued a
report that paints the state's financial health in shades of
deepening red.