Followup: An open letter to Kathy Salvi
Jim Oberweis announced at the joint ICRC-TAPROOT Christmas Party that he is recruiting Kathy Salvi as his running mate
Dear Kathy,
Hi! I am one of the conservative volunteers on your contact list and I have been looking forward to a chance to stop by the Mundelein campaign office during Christmas break when I have the chance to help your campaign.
At the recent ICRC/TAPROOT Christmas party event I attended, Jim Oberweis said he plans to run with Kathy as his candidate for Lt. Governor. I have no problems voting for Jim against Blago, but I think it would be a MISTAKE for Kathy to drop out of the Congressional race and run for Lt Governor at the last second. Keep up your current campaign! Please Kathy, we need you to crush Bean!
Pairing Kathy with Jim seems similar to the Topinka-Birkett matchup as it greatly benefits the Governor candidate but does little to help the prospective Lt. Governor candidate's career. The Salvi name is strong in the 8th district precisely because her husband Al was elected state rep. and swept all 24 townships there in his statewide campaign. The Salvi family is beloved in THAT part of the state, but a statewide campaign is much harder because Illinois as a whole is heavily controlled by Democrats right now and everyone in Chicago votes Democrat.
With the Congressional campaign, Kathy stands out as the LONE conservative woman in the race (Bartles is a woman and pro-life, but clearly the "moderate" candidate on almost every issue). With the Lt. Governor race, Kathy has to go up against people with bigger oomph than McSweeney, Bartles (famous names like Rauschenburger and Birkett).
She also would be entering a race where we ALREADY have an elected "conservative woman" who has been campaigning for the job for months (Sandy Wegman). Either Kathy and Sandy run against each other and compete for the same voter base, or Sandy (who has been campaigning hard for this race), "steps aside" for Kathy's 11th hour entry. It seems unfair to tell Sandy to "get out" after all the time and money she put into this effort leading up to filing to run. There is room for both Sandy and Kathy on the ticket -- when they run for different offices!
Oberweis has lobbied Kathy to get out of the "crowded" GOP primary in the 8th district -- but if she accepts his offer, she enters an EQUALLY "crowded" Lt. Governor primary where she would have JUST as many opponents (at last count: Birkett, Rauschenberger, Kathuria, Bruckner, AND Shearer -- and that's assuming Raymond Poe keeps good on his plan to drop out). Either way, it's a lot of people to run against in the primary!
As you can see, the Lt. Governor race would be very difficult for Kathy, but it would certainly help Oberweis win the primary. Pairing Oberweis with Wegman doesn't accomplish much because they are both from Kane county, but recruiting Kathy into the race gives Oberweis support in GOP-rich Lake Country. A win-win for Jim Oberweis, a lose-lose for Kathy Salvi.
Kathy would be a terrific Congressional candidate and a great Lt. Governor. I would be proud to vote for her for either office. But in terms of her own vitality, I urge her to pass on a last-minute switch to the Lt.Gov. race's and to instead focus on beating Melissa Bean. She'll be glad she did.
Best wishes,
Bill M. Leubscher
P.S. Remember -- Bean is a total phony and 10X worst than Lt. Governor Quinn anyway (at least he's honest about his liberalism!) Stay the course!
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Posted by WML
Dear Kathy,
Hi! I am one of the conservative volunteers on your contact list and I have been looking forward to a chance to stop by the Mundelein campaign office during Christmas break when I have the chance to help your campaign.
At the recent ICRC/TAPROOT Christmas party event I attended, Jim Oberweis said he plans to run with Kathy as his candidate for Lt. Governor. I have no problems voting for Jim against Blago, but I think it would be a MISTAKE for Kathy to drop out of the Congressional race and run for Lt Governor at the last second. Keep up your current campaign! Please Kathy, we need you to crush Bean!
Pairing Kathy with Jim seems similar to the Topinka-Birkett matchup as it greatly benefits the Governor candidate but does little to help the prospective Lt. Governor candidate's career. The Salvi name is strong in the 8th district precisely because her husband Al was elected state rep. and swept all 24 townships there in his statewide campaign. The Salvi family is beloved in THAT part of the state, but a statewide campaign is much harder because Illinois as a whole is heavily controlled by Democrats right now and everyone in Chicago votes Democrat.
With the Congressional campaign, Kathy stands out as the LONE conservative woman in the race (Bartles is a woman and pro-life, but clearly the "moderate" candidate on almost every issue). With the Lt. Governor race, Kathy has to go up against people with bigger oomph than McSweeney, Bartles (famous names like Rauschenburger and Birkett).
She also would be entering a race where we ALREADY have an elected "conservative woman" who has been campaigning for the job for months (Sandy Wegman). Either Kathy and Sandy run against each other and compete for the same voter base, or Sandy (who has been campaigning hard for this race), "steps aside" for Kathy's 11th hour entry. It seems unfair to tell Sandy to "get out" after all the time and money she put into this effort leading up to filing to run. There is room for both Sandy and Kathy on the ticket -- when they run for different offices!
Oberweis has lobbied Kathy to get out of the "crowded" GOP primary in the 8th district -- but if she accepts his offer, she enters an EQUALLY "crowded" Lt. Governor primary where she would have JUST as many opponents (at last count: Birkett, Rauschenberger, Kathuria, Bruckner, AND Shearer -- and that's assuming Raymond Poe keeps good on his plan to drop out). Either way, it's a lot of people to run against in the primary!
As you can see, the Lt. Governor race would be very difficult for Kathy, but it would certainly help Oberweis win the primary. Pairing Oberweis with Wegman doesn't accomplish much because they are both from Kane county, but recruiting Kathy into the race gives Oberweis support in GOP-rich Lake Country. A win-win for Jim Oberweis, a lose-lose for Kathy Salvi.
Kathy would be a terrific Congressional candidate and a great Lt. Governor. I would be proud to vote for her for either office. But in terms of her own vitality, I urge her to pass on a last-minute switch to the Lt.Gov. race's and to instead focus on beating Melissa Bean. She'll be glad she did.
Best wishes,
Bill M. Leubscher
P.S. Remember -- Bean is a total phony and 10X worst than Lt. Governor Quinn anyway (at least he's honest about his liberalism!) Stay the course!
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Posted by WML
posted by Jon Zahm at 11:13 PM
1 Comments:
Update: I got a responce back from the Salvi camp informing me that while Kathy was flattered to be offered the Lt. Governor slot, she has decided to stick to the Congressional campaign. Wow! If only Joe Birkett could have persuaded likewise. His decision is much worse because it puts him on the dark side of the force. Please Joe, I know there is still in you! Turn away from Empress Topinka.
Jon also pointed out I erred in saying Al Salvi won every 8th CD township in his statewide campaigns. I haven't looked it up but I'll take Jon's word for it that Churchhill won most of them in 1998 (Salvi still beat Churchill in the primary though) I suppose I was thinking of the 1996 campaign.
I should point out for the record that I think Bob Churchill has been a great conservative leader for our issues and he is my second choice after Kathy. Still, I would love to see a conservative woman go toe to toe with Bean and we're long overdue to elect a conservative woman to Congress after having "moderates" like Judy Biggert representing the face of Republican women.
Posted by WML
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