Shorter Dana Perino

Five billion years from now, the sun will expand into a red giant, wiping out all life on Earth, so it can't be said that we have permanent bases anywhere.

Election results, and random thoughts (continued)

IL-14 is also a contested race, though it is mostly outside of Dupage. In Dupage alone, Bill Foster is comfortably ahead, and in the district as a whole Foster, barring any recounts, has narrowly edged out last year's nominee John Laesch.

Now let's look at our opposition on the Republican side. John McCain takes the Republican Presidential vote in Dupage with 57090 votes out of 107769, and seems poised to win the Republican presidential nomination. As always, with any mention of McCain we should put up this picture:


In the Senatorial race, physician Steve Sauerberg wins the Republican nomination and the honor of being stomped flat by Dick Durbin in November. Judy Biggert (R-13) defeats challenger Sean O'Kane. Noted milk magnate and homophobe Jim Oberweis wins the nomination in IL-14, and will face Foster in the special election to succeed Dennis Hastert.

In the County Board primaries, most of which were contested on the Republican side, inertia prevails, as incumbents defeat challengers. The exception to this is in District Four, where incumbent Thomas F. Bennington is knocked off by Woodridge trustee John Curran. These results are, one would surmise, bad news for County Board chair Schillerstrom, who backed Bennington as well as a number of challengers.

Election results, and random thoughts

(Updated to fix an error: I had inadvertently switched the Green and Republican vote numbers. Wishful thinking on my part, obviously.)

Here's the results for the Presidential race:

Clinton	48499
Obama	80690
other	2156

And in the contested IL-06 Congressional primary:

Jagla	12178
Morgenthaler	42187

Who the winners are here are hardly surprising. This is Obama's home state, and he is a popular Senator. Jagla was widely regarded as a longshot against the more experienced and charismatic Morgenthaler. But the real story here is in the magnitude of the numbers. Holy huge turnout, Batman! Let's compare the total number of ballots taken for the past few primaries:

Year	Democratic Ballots	Green Ballots	Republican Ballots
2004	63951	n/a	86993
2006	44184	n/a	98104
2008	131635	166	107769

While Republican turnout has been steadily increasing over the years, Democratic turnout just took a quantum leap upwards, to the point where more people in Dupage are pulling Democratic ballots than are pulling Republican ones. Is this the year we turn Dupage blue? Stay tuned.

Encouraging numbers

This information comes from Jon at DuPage Democrats HQ, who in turn got it from the election committers. As of closing on January 21, the following numbers of early voting ballots have been cast:

Democratic - 2661
Republican - 2000
Nonpartisan - 33
Green - 6

There are, of course, a number of possible explanations for this. Maybe Democrats are more likely to vote early. Maybe Republicans are voting absentee, or maybe a substantial number are crossing over because they don't like their party's Presidential choices this year. But it's hard to look at these numbers and not be optimistic about our chances for turning DuPage blue in the fall.

Thank You for Caring, Sharing

The joint holiday party with OTDB and the DuPage Democratic Party was a great success, with a good turnout and therefore a sizable donation made to the Midwest Shelter for Homeless Veterans. Thank you to everyone who attended and those who participated in the 50/50 raffle to raise more money for the shelter -- including the winner, Roger Tauchman, who generously donated his share back to the shelter. Anyone wishing to learn more about the shelter or make additional contributions is invited to visit: HelpaVeteran.org.

Operation: Turn DuPage Blue also thanks everyone who submitted entries to win a $100 donation to the charity of their choice. The winner was Steve Stawarz and OTDB will make a contribution in his name to DuPage PADS, which works to prevent and eliminate homelessness in the county. Please visit DuPagePADS.org if you would like to learn more about this fine organization or make a donation.

Thanks again for your generosity.

OTDB warmly wishes all the best to you and yours.

Iron Peickert and the Scarlet Barton?

Don't ask. Just go read So-Called Austin Mayor.

Here's the Plan

Bob Peickert and Michelle Barton have released the outline of their plan for improving the DuPage Democratic Party.

You can read it here.