Seven More Weeks of Sunlight on Dem Candidates and Agenda

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, taking about transparency in government, once said "sunlight is the best disinfectant." I think that for the Democratic candidates, the sunlight of seven more weeks of primary battle after Hillary Clinton's big win in Ohio, along with Rhode Island and what seems to be the victory in Texas, is going to do wonders for further shedding light on the smoke and mirrors campaign of Barack Obama.

We pretty much know what we're getting with Hillary, love her or loathe her. As she herself has noted, the GOP knows her better than she knows herself, and more likely than not, every scrap of dirt that can be gathered on her has been gathered, and most of it is known, although there's always more to learn it seems, especially as to hubby Bill.

However, with Obama, there seems to be a lot below the surface of a nice smile and a good speech that no one has really investigated. With the Tony Rezko trial underway (sure to shed light on the Illinois culture of corruption which molded Obama's political formative years, if not in fact revealing some more embarrassing direct Obama connections to Rezko), issues about his campaign saying one thing to the Canadian government on NAFTA and another on the stump, and Obama's new apparent trick of ducking questions and then ending press conferences (remind anyone of Blago?), the press can smell that there is more there to reveal than they have sniffed out already--or at least, that's what they think, and they will now pursue these loose ends relentlessly.

What the press hath builteth up, they shall now teareth down. Exhibit 1: See the editorial in today's Chicago Tribune.

Meanwhile, GOP candidate John McCain has wrapped up the presidential nomination for the Republicans. That means that while the Dems continue to battle each other for the heart and souls of the liberal base of the party, which prevents either from sliding to the center, McCain is going to spend the next seven weeks rallying the GOP base and solidifying his support. President Bush is expected to endorse McCain today, and while you might say that will further annoy Dems, the ones that hate Bush already are in the Obama or Clinton camp, so there is little risk to McCain and a lot to gain from the GOP base (a fair number of whom still like Bush).

MEANWHILE, on the local front, Obama has stepped up to do a TV ad for 14th CD candidate Bill Foster, who is running against Jim Oberweis. This is no doubt a harbinger of things to come in Illinois, where Obama (win or lose) will likely endorse every Dem candidate from Dog Catcher on up. But, I wonder if Obama risks diluting his brand by endorsing everyone under the sun. He'll probably have to hire more staff just to give local Dem hopefuls the brush-off, as EVERYONE is going to want Obama to do an event for them. I think that, especially if Obama is the Dem nominee, he's going to be a bit busy to do that much on the local scene. But we'll see.

KIRK NEWS: Congressman Mark Kirk continues to be very visible in the news, speaking out most recently on the need for enforcement of a 2003 law that requires hospitals to reveal their data on infections during hospital stays. Haven't heard much out of challenger Dan Seals lately.

THE 52nd WILL BE A RACE: The Daily Herald reports that the Dems will appoint Rich Garling, a relatively new Island Lake trustee, to run against incumbent GOP representative Mark H. Beaubien Jr.

Beaubien didn't have an opponent last cycle and is pretty well-entrenched in his district. The Herald article listed property taxes, efficient roads and environmental protection among Garling's top issues. That puts Garling in the interesting position of having to run against his own party, considering the Dems have a virtual lockdown on state government and have failed miserably in each category Garling mentions. That's going to be a real fine line to walk, and one that Beaubien should be able to exploit. Not to mention, for a Republican, Beaubien has a pretty liberal voting record (but one that reflects his district). So, one wonders exactly what Garling's pitch to the district is going to be.