Friday, October 30, 2009

Mark Kirk Wins Milton Township Straw Poll

At the big Milton Township (DuPage County, for anyone who doesn't know where that is) dinner event tonight, Congressman Mark Kirk handily won the straw poll.

From Illinois Review, which liveblogged the event, here are the results:

US Senate #
Kirk -- 224
Arrington -- 3
Hughes -- 55
Lowery --4
Martin - 0
Thomas -- 2
Varga -- 1
Wallace -- 15
Zadek -- 0

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you endorsed Suzi Schmidt for the State Senate in the 30th district. We wouldn't really want her in the 31st. Yeesh. Too many cocktails, perhaps?

Anonymous said...

Hughes is finished.

Anonymous said...

It was a really nice event. Attendance seemed even higher than in previous years. Not bad considering many are cutting back.

Team America said...

Anon 10:36 - OK, ya got me once. Enjoy it while it lasts, and thanks for pointing it out.

And enjoy Suzi as your new state senator, sucker.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the great post, TA and for the outstanding straw poll results. Now if we can begin to pull together, stop the damn bickering and work to make Mark Kirk our next Senator we will be on the road to success. I know lots of people have lots to say but where I come from we keep our eyes on the prize and put pettiness aside and get the job done. Mark Kirk deserves our support so let's get going. We have a Primary in a couple of months, a general election in a year. Let's get moving now since we don't have time to waste.

Anonymous said...

Team,

be careful. If this gets too over the top, the concservatives might revolt-trust me these things happen, and become a major issue for mark. we need all the kids to play nice in our sandbox.

that said ditka clearly didn't teach this guy anything about offense, defense or special teams.

FOKLAES

Anonymous said...

Special teams, FOKLAES?

Team America said...

FOKLAES - you're probably right, and it's probably time we dial it back here a bit. I think we've done enough to expose the non-viability of the Hughes campaign, and now it's time to get back to business. I changed the headline on this post to something a little less confrontational, and now I gotta go catch up on Mark's efforts to propose an alternative health care bill.

Unknown said...

The so-called "straw poll" required candidates to pay a $600 "fee" to Milton Township in order to participate. Only two candidates did. To his credit, gubernatorial candidate Kirk Dillard condemned the process. DuPage County has become as corrupt as Crook County when it comes to intra-party politics. Most senate and gubernatorial candidates boycotted the event.

Andy Martin
Republican for U. S. Senator

Team America said...

Well, I guess Pat didn't get much for his $600 investment, did he?

Anonymous said...

Offense is kicking the other teams ellen with your ground game/gotv (once many moons ago the job of a young orangeman named magnuson and mainer named bundy), defense is defending against the garbage spewed by anti-israel clowns like pup and lauren beth gash, special teams is knowing how to get the conservative base that hates your guts on social issues behind you.

Yeah team, we need the conservatives, we have 6 years to make blog posts after mark gets elected with headlines like, whatever happened to hughes? or thank god we didn't make a hughes mistake and nominate him or this candidate pulled a hughes and talked a big game and walked a small game.

Also you need to start giving visibility to downballott guys running on the blog like chang so people get to know them.

FOKLAES

Anonymous said...

we also have to be very careful ta, this new york thing could mean that tea party people start going after moderates and if they do, mark is a very good chance of getting targeted. this dude in new york,hoffman came from nowhere with nothing and got whacked and 2/3 of primary votera in Illinois are pro-life. All it takes is one email with mark's positions on guns, gays and abortion,the surge and capntrade for a really ugly mess.

FOKLAES

Anonymous said...

Gosh, FOKLAES, your 11:05 regarding the need for Conservatives and what can be expected from you--at least-- during the subsequent six years is just so heartwarming.

Your approach to outreach is so warm and welcoming that it brings tears to my eyes and motivates me to want to do more and more each day--including running out to get my Conservative friends on board.

I've said it before--both here and on CapFax--FOKLAES, you can certainly "stir things up" well, can't you and add fuel to some of the darker things that are already being said.

But, hey, let's put all the pettiness off to the side and get focused because where I come from, people are motivated by getting kicked around.

Anonymous

Anonymous said...

And, funny, that at one point, I thought that we'd be able to not only replicate the "feel good" approach of the 04 Senate Race, but exceed it. (On what do you think Giannoulias is going to run and exactly what do you believe is needed to build a strong volunteer organization that's required for a US Senate Race?)

I do apologize, btw, for having so much to say, too. Silly me!

Anonymous said...

Anon,

Erik Erickson, who runs the super popular conservative blog red state that lead the charge to get rid of the RINO in upstate new york and is about to set upon beating the daylights out of RINO charlie crist in florida among others has said that Mark is ok, because unlike those tools he is a fiscal and national security hawk. His exact line is that "Mark Kirk is like lamar alexander, with us 60 percent of the time".

I have issues with Mark, but he's not the RINO that kirk dillard, beth coulson, and andy mckenna are.

FOKLAES

Anonymous said...

There's more to campaigning--and serving Constituents well, I'll add--than websites, blogs, press releases, polls, etc.

There's the "human factor", which includes making people feel welcome, thanking them for their efforts, responding to their requests and needs whenever possible, and otherwise treating them with respect.

And many would argue that it's the latter that's most important and is the key to *ongoing* success.

Ever hear the story about the guy who was running for office, lost, found out that his neighbor didn't vote for him, and asked why? Just one very basic example of the human factor at work.

Try to at least understand that concept, FOKLAES, even if unable to actually embrace and "live" it.

Anonymous said...

Anon,

agreed. I've hit team kirk for these things in the past. He doesn't have the sort of connection with the district that porter had. This I believe is due to the fact that porter was a local guy, he practiced law here, was a statehouse rep from here, and was a gut politician. Mark's been a d.c. guy his entire career and is more of a d.c. politician that comes home to check on things rather than a local guy who just goes to d.c. to vote.



FOKLAES

Anonymous said...

I was actually referring to your comments and perhaps one other "Anonymous" posting on this thread, FOKLAES.

Anonymous said...

you need to use a name so we know who you are. Like FOEE fan of eric elk or catwoman's right wing nightmare.

Anonymous said...

As a Republican, FOKLAES, take some responsibility for YOUR posts and positions--rather than trying to make this a "Kirk" problem.

Anonymous said...

How about a hybrid like "Anonymous?".

Is that clear and descriptive enough?

NChicagoVeteran said...

Kirk wasn't in the district...because he was in Haiti, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan fighting for us.

Anonymous said...

Good point, 11/1, 9:50 pm.

Anonymous?