Why donate to In These Times? Read Senior Editor Laura Washington's 8 reasons.

In an Illinois Primary, Threes a Crowd

The race for Henry Hyde’s seat raises the question of whether democrats should fight, keep the faith or grow the grassroots

By David Moberg

With its steam tables pushed off to the side, the cafeteria of Jackson Middle School in Villa Park, Illinois, didn’t look like the setting for great political drama. But it was an early scene in what could be a crucial shift in power favoring the Democrats, both locally and nationally. This moderately affluent DuPage County suburb west of Chicago, which… return to article

  • subscribe to print magazine

  • Zoom OutZoom In Reader Comments (8)

    Page 1 of 1 pages

    Great article, David. The overview is good and even adds new info for those of us who’ve sporadically followed the story.

    This primary race will be well worth watching. I wonder what we’ll be able to learn from its results. The question about the “potency of Duckworth’s veteran status in an affluent district” was brought up at a Daily Herald editorial boardmeeting with the candidates.

    United States Posted by carlosjwj on Feb 23, 2006 at 12:26 AM

    David - it probably wasn’t your decision, but why run a picture of Duckworth instead of Cegelis? 

    Duckworth is clearly in the DLC/hawk camp - “I believe in the Constitution and Bill of Rights. I was willing to defend it with my body.” As you point out, this “fighting Dems” strategy has not been all that successful.  It smacks of the “Republican Lite” approach that has never worked.

    Just out of curiosity, given your own interests: what are the candidates’ positions on unions/FTAs/corporate power/etc.?

    I would have expected In These Times to be a bit more supportive of Cegelis.  Not that ITT has all that much influence in DuPage....

    United States Posted by groundhog on Feb 23, 2006 at 10:41 AM

    Well, DuPage County, welcome to the world of Cook County, Clintonista
    politics.
    It’s kind of a spin-off of the old Daley, “don’t make no waves, don’t make no loosers”, theory. All you need do is look at where the support comes from and who brought who to the dance.
    you can add something else to your stone soup, “dance with the one that ‘brung ‘ya”, which is exactly what you’ll see should a ‘made’ candidate garnner a victory;-)!

    United States Posted by jeffery mcnary on Feb 23, 2006 at 11:09 AM

    Duckworth is a good candidate and probably deserves some support.  Anything to dump H. Hyde!  It is high time the Democrats come up with a realistic strategy to challenge the witch hunting tactics of the Republicans who question everyone’s patriotism while always seeming ready to do business with all the terrorism funders in the Gulf! The Republicans are the REAL unAmericans and should be shown up in 2006!

    United States Posted by cabdriverinchicago on Feb 23, 2006 at 6:07 PM

    cabdriver… “Anything to dump H. Hyde! “ that was John Kerry’s mantra, remember. I fell for it once. Never again! If that bought off pol had one we’d be right where we are now vis a vis Iraq, vis a vis the flobalization “race to the ottom”, vis a vis the colossal deficit and gravy train for the war profiteers.

    The Demoplican Party is the enemy of the people. They are clever operators, just as Karl Rove is.

    I’m not sure a vote for Cegelis is a real vote to end the war. You probably need another up-front “troops home NOW!” candidat in the p[rimary. Show these thugs that they and their counterparts at the Republicrat party have gone to the well too many times.

    Vote out every incmubent in their primary. Obama’s on the party gravy train now as well. Vote for grassroots candidates. I’m sure that Tammy Duckworth is a worthy human being, but she’s clearly the dupe of the Demoplican cabal at this point.

    If we don’t regain control of BOTH the Rupublican and Democratic parties we’ll have no one but ourselves to blame. Vote for Duckworth and start rehearsing your answer to the question “How could you have let that happen?” when your grandchildren ask it during the Anglo-American War Crimes Tribunal.

    Thailand Posted by John Francis Lee on Feb 24, 2006 at 7:04 AM

    Melissa Bean is one of the “Demoplicans” that Mr. Lee refers to.  Or is she a “Republicat”?  Her supporters think that her “yes” votes on CAFTA, the bankruptcy bill, and the Patriot Act are perfectly acceptable.  Barack Obama is one of her supporters too.

    Phil Crane must be going nuts.  She is voting along the same lines that he probably would.  Albeit, she is [so far still] pro-choice, and she hasn’t met a parade that she didn’t like.

    United States Posted by John Olsen on Feb 25, 2006 at 12:26 AM

    An excellent, balanced, and factual article. Too bad the readers are not as up to speed as the author.

    It is easy to cast firebombs from afar when you don’t know the district and have never met Cegalis. It is also easy to pretend that there is something nefarious about people who DO know the district and DO know Cegalis realizing they HAVE to find a better candidate. Always more fun to fantasize about conspiracies of evil (what did you call them, “demoplicans?” - sounds like something Rush would make up) than face the hard realities on the ground.

    Attack, Raum, Duckworth, Bean, even Obama all you want. Sadly, you do nothing but convince people Progressives have a closed-minded lunatic fringe of litmus-test waving ideologues just like the Right does.

    United States Posted by WorldFusionRadio on Feb 28, 2006 at 11:02 PM

    WorldFusionRadio: Ignoring your spelling of “Cegelis”, which leads me to doubt your claim to “know the district” - are you saying that opposition to CAFTA, the bankruptcy bill and Patriot Act makes someone a member of a “closed-minded lunatic fringe of litmus-test waving ideologues”?

    United States Posted by groundhog on Mar 1, 2006 at 1:26 PM
    Page 1 of 1 pages

  • register a new account »Posting Security

    To participate in our forums, please register for a free account.
     

    Retreive lost password »

Article Appeared in this Issue

Full contents
Past issues

Also by David Moberg
Popular Discussions