I have a question about Duckworth.

I just caught the tailend of her talk with George Stephanwhatever on ABC's "This Week." Did she just say that she has no intention of ever living in the 6th Cong. District? Is that even legal?

Part of Hoffman Estates is in the 6th and part is in the 8th. She lives in the part in the 8th, however her husband works in the 6th and many of their friends live in the 6th. Her mentality is in the 6th. The house she lives in has been completely refurbished to make it totally handicaped accessible by family friends (many of who live in the 6th) and she cannot move at this point.

Yes it is legal, Melissa Beane does not live the district she represents, she was redistricted out.

It just never occurred to me that it could be legal (or desirable) to have a Congressman who doesn't live in the district they represent.

I know that there is a distinction between running and serving. This particularly comes into play after redistricting. But I thought that candidates who live outside the districts they run in eventually are required to move into the district or step down.

Does that mean she could represent my downstate district (the 15th)? Could she represent a district in Indiana?

I think this might be a problem for a lot of voters in that primary...

. . .she could legally run in the 15th, however from a practical standpoint this probably only works when some lives in an adjacent district. Also I think another thing to consider is what is a districts identity, given the make-up of the 6th and similarities it may share with the the 8th it may work.

and you're right. All it says is you must live in the state. (Damn! There goes my plan to be the next congressman from Hawaii...)

As to what constitutes a district's identity, while that is a very reasonable argument, it strikes me as a very abstract, almost academic type of discussion. I think that might be lost on the majority of voters, who I suspect may have a much more visceral response.

Please don't be sending anybody else in to run down here--OK? We are quite content as it stands now.

The really cool part of it all is he actually LIVES in the district! :)

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All joking aside, if I was associated with the Duckworth campaign I'd be most worried about the whole issue of being seen as some kind of "carpetbagger."

I have no idea how it will play out up there--you probably have a much better feel for that area than I would--but I'll tell you that if I was working the opposing campaign the entire primary would be about the fact that she doesn't even LIVE in district.

She seems to be quite at home in front of a camera, and she's gonna do well on the doorstep (my way of saying she'll appeal to the voters as a human being.) I think her veteran status will play pretty well, too.

I'm certain this is no news flash after the fireworks here on DU, but THAT is gonna be an ugly primary all the way around. I do hope the party will be able to line up behind whoever is the winner when they go to vote in the General...


Laura

. . .if Cegelis goes after Duckworth on that then she runs the risk of alienating Melissa Bean, however I can see the GOP making a big issue of it but by that time Duckworth may have put herself in a better position. I think Rahm thought about that already. He was also in discussions with a friend of mine about running, she lives in the district and has more than enough $$$ to self finance, however he went with Tammy instead so I think a lot of research went into this decision. Tammy was not his only option, just his best, so I think they have already polled on this issue.

What you have to understand is that, to many of us in downstate districts, this sort of attitude toward residency seems cavalier almost to the point of being alien. I suspect that some of this may come from the differences in the geographical scale of the districts.

The 15th includes parts of 22 counties, and stretches over 200 miles, from just south of Kankakee all the way to Kentucky. It would never occur to us that anyone from the next district over could ever possibly have a complete grasp of what things are like here. Hell, it's hard enough even for those of us who live here to keep all of it in our heads at once...

Aren't there a number of districts there. If someone ran who was outside of one of the districts by say 1 mile would it be really controversial? How many districts are in Springfield?

but Springfield is not the dominant factor in any of them. 17 is pretty much dominated by the Quad Cities, while 18 is mostly Peoria's domain. 19 is just a mess, but most of it is south of I-70. I really don't see a new candidate from Springfield ever being able to win in any of the three.

:kick:

We get a tiny piece of Decatur (we share Macon County with 17 and 18), and some of Bloomington (we share McLean County with 11), but most of it is to the east (Champaign, Urbana, Danville, Mattoon, Charleston, Paris, etc.)

The 15th is a gawd-awful mess--beaten only by the 17th in the category of creative gerrymandering.



Laura

Compact and contiguous...yeah--right! That sucker is in no way defensible. Lord knows how they managed the population standards with that mess.

You win!!! The 4th sucks more than the 15th!!!


Laura

drawn to encompass pockets of hispanic population. for what that is worth.

the close-in suburbs have a very, very, very strong dislike of chicago politics. nationwide, rahm is just another congressman. in dupage county, he is the congressman from chicago. he is rolling over a lifetime district resident, who has turned the local democratic party into a real party after decades of being a token opposition.
as far as cegalis not wanting to step on bean's toes, i don't know. she is a sorry excuse for a dem, and i would have to assume that christine knows it. i can't imagine she would fear the fallout from pissing off bean enough to walk away from THE issue in her race. she isn't stupid, or a coward. besides, at least bean did live in the district when she ran the first time, and is a long time resident of the area.
i am not sure what will meet more hostility, the fact that she was sent by the boys from chicago, or the fact that she was raised in hawaii. yeah, she has a lot in common with the voters of the 6th. sure, sure, that's the ticket.

;)

obviously, they are pulling out all the stops for her. above all i regret what this is doing to the party in a place where it was growing. i know this is happening in several other races, and that is no way to grow your party.