Battle for the Collar Counties: Daily Herald Goes for Brady and Kirk

The Daily Herald, which is the third-largest newspaper in Illinois (behind the Trib and the Sun-Times)(daily circulation over 140,000) has endorsed Republicans Bill Brady for Governor and Mark Kirk for U.S. Senate. According to Wikipedia, the Daily Herald serves Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, and McHenry counties and has a coverage area of about 1,300 square miles. Within these counties, it serves more than 90 communities.

On Brady, the Herald said:

Not an ideal candidate, Brady’s personal views veer to the right of our tastes and the well-being of the state, but we take him at his word that he won’t push a social agenda as governor and we call on him to govern from the middle.

Meanwhile, Brady has three things going for him:

1. He is committed to a philosophy that the state cannot spend what it does not have.

2. He believes strongly in transparency in government.

3. He is not Pat Quinn.

Ultimately, the question is this: How can we expect the state to get out of its historic mess if we keep electing the same people?

The answer, of course, is that we can’t. Bill Brady for governor.


The Herald had this to say about Kirk:

During the 10 years we've supported him as a congressman from the suburban 10th District, we have admired Kirk's knowledge of the issues and his willingness to shake the shackles of partisanship and look at issues from a broad perspective. He is, indeed, “Mr. Independent as several analyses of his votes during that time will attest.

He is a self-described fiscal conservative and that's what we think Illinois and the country needs as we face a soaring federal deficit and a national debt of an astounding $13 trillion. He lays out a plan to curb out-of-control spending while also helping small business owners in particular get back on their feet.

His independence is most evident in social issues in which he stakes out a more moderate record. He favors a woman's right to choose and he broke with his party on stem-cell research. He also is more environmentally aware than many of his Republican counterparts.

Kirk was a leader among GOP moderates in the House and his effectiveness working with both sides of the aisle sets him apart. That's the Kirk we know and the Kirk we expect in the upper chamber.

With the Chicago vote pretty much locked up for the Dems every year, the battleground for this election will be downstate and the collar counties. Any statewide Republican candidate needs to grab both to counterbalance the Chicago Machine and carry the day... for a new day for Illinois.