Tweet
It is primary day in Illinois, and voters are going to the polls to vote for Presidential and Congressional candidates, as well as local elections. Polls close at 7 pm local, which is 8 pm Eastern.
The big event tonight is obviously the Republican Presidential primary. Indications are that it will be a good night for Mitt Romney. The latest polling shows him with a double digit lead over Rick Santorum. PPP has it Romney 45%, Santorum 30%, Newt Gingrich 12%, Ron Paul 10%. Similarly, ARG has it Romney 44%, Santorum 30%, Gingrich 13%, Paul 8%.
The race in Illinois was relatively close only two weeks ago, but since then momentum has clearly swung to Romney. This is probably in large part due to Romney and his allies being able to invest heavily in the state. Latest data shows the Romney camp has outspent the Santorum Camp by an incredible 7 to 1 margin in Illinois. Once again, Romney is exploiting his financial advantage for all that it is worth.
The other Illinois race worth keeping an eye on tonight is the Democratic primary in the 10th Congressional district. It features Ilya Sheyman against Brad Schneider. Sheyman, who previously worked for Moveon, has the backing of many left leaning groups like PCCC, USAction and Moveon. Schneider on the other hand is viewed as the moderate business friendly Democrat and has the backing of Steny Hoyer. This fight is sure to be framed as a proxy battle between progressive activists and the party establishment. The only recent publicly available poll has Sheyman leading 45% to 27%.
7 Comments
I don’t know how accurate this is, but I read the other day that the two are virtually identical on the issues or substance–that it’s really just a matter of a difference in style.
Since the DCCC is headed by a DLCer this election cycle (as usual), it certainly wouldn’t surprise me if it’s true.
Probably the biggest differences between the two are on health care and Social Security: Schneider seems willing to tamper with Social Security and Medicare (“everything’s on the table” type); Sheyman wants to keep SS, as is, for all and to gradually implement Medicare for all.
Sheyman’s team is really hustling. I had an older man at the door this afternoon doing get-out-the-vote work for Ilya. Told him I’d already voted. Ilya isn’t my idea of a dream candidate (we didn’t have any independents running, unfortunately) but he strikes me as an old-fashioned Dem, which is better than the Repubs pretending to be Dems that we’ve been getting.
A 45% haul for Romney will positively help his momentum. BUt, he needs 47% of ALL the delegates still “at stake” from here on out. That’s asking a lot. I still think, and many experts agree, this thing will be a wrestling match in Tampa. Back-stabbing, back-biting, back rooms, and dirty deals.
“I love it when a plan comes together”.
Hannibal Smith, “The A Team”
Thanks for the info. I will defer to you, since you obviously reside in Illinois.
I’m a former MoveOn member/contributor, and had to leave them because they’ve shown so little intellectual honesty these past three years, supporting the Obama Admin no matter how far right they veer. For a while, I was enthusiastic about PCCC and Adam Green until I discovered that Adam worked for Clinton (as an intern, I think), and that he was a former communications director of MoveOn. I could have disregarded that, if Adam hadn’t conceded that he would support Obama no matter what Social Security and Medicare “reforms” he signs into law. That was the clincher for me.
I didn’t have any problems with the scanner reading my ballot, but it apparently is an issue with others here in Dupage County:
http://dupagegreens.org/2012/03/widespread-election-irregularities-in-dupage-county/?utm_source=DuPage+Greens+-+Winfield%2C+Milton%2C+York&utm_campaign=203a1e6c56-Election_Irregularities_in_DuPage03_20_2012&utm_medium=email
Yes, that response from MoveOn doesn’t surprise me. The organization’s founders really don’t seem to care what their members want. I was never a member of MoveOn, and long ago stopped being a Dem. Ilya having worked for MoveOn was not a big plus for me, but he seemed the least conservative of the 4 candidates on the Dem ballot.
MoveOn.org is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of the DNC.