What kind of Republican manages to lose Denny Hastert's old seat? Jim Oberweis, that's who. I remember hearing about him when the Senate primary was about to happen for Peter Fitzgerald's seat (obviously now better known as Obama's seat). Now that I remember who he is, I'm utterly unsurprised he lost.
Bill Foster becomes the first Democrat to represent my parents in the House since James R. Jones. In between there were Jim Inhofe, Steve Largent, and of course (after the move) Hastert.
By contrast I've in the past 10 years been "represented" by Joe Kennedy II, Tom Lantos (RIP! - I meant to post a tribute but never did), Nancy Pelosi, Ellen Tauscher, and now Fortney Stark. (You can call him Pete if want.)
Posted by Matt Bruce at March 10, 2008 11:14 AMWe were gerrymandered out of Hastert's district and into Henry Hyde's a few years ago, so we did not have the opportunity to vote in this special election. We are now represented by Peter Roskam, who defeated Tammy Duckworth (helicopter pilot who lost her legs in Iraq war) in a major upset 2 years ago when Hyde stepped down. This year's special election was held because Hastert played games with his retirement, choosing to do so too late for a special election to be held in conjunction with the main primary election, yet early enough that the electee would have seniority over the freshmen Congressmen elected in November. He was so sure a Republican would win both the special election and again in November -- how overconfident! Our soon-to-be-indicted Gov. Blago (friend of Tony Rezko)chose to set the special election on a Saturday as an "experiment to see if voter turnout would be better" and of course it wasn't. Now Foster and Oberweis will be on the ballot again in November. What a waste of taxpayer dollars!!!!! Just another chapter in the crazy Illinois politics that gave you Barack Obama!
Posted by: your mom at March 10, 2008 11:01 PM