Judy Topinka to run for Governor.

And if I were Blagojevich, with his low poll numbers, I'd be very worried right now. Topinka is popular...and she's not a part of the Alan Keyes wing of the party. I think Topinka will be the Republican nominee and will do very well downstate and in the suburbs.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0511070247nov07,1,736732.story?coll=chi-news-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true

With two pro choice candidates in the running, what well motiviate the Il GOP fundie base to vote? If anything Topinka will be outted as a rhino in weeks with by the il leadder. Okay am optimistic but am a democrat and I dont want our state turning red again.

She is viewed as centrist and it could pull some democrats away. She will play the fiscal conservative card and do well in the burbs and downstate. I agree

they are pissed at Blagojevich and the only way they'd vote for him would be for the Reichwingnuts to get their way in the GOP primary.

And then this Topinka candidacy becomes very frightening to me. Some of the IL Leader people call her Tostinka as she is not conservative enough for them, but there may not be all that many of them. But even most of them will rally around her versus Blag, at least that's what I saw last evening on their web site. A few of the worst radical right there will vote another party rather than for her. What this means is most GOP will go for her and maybe plenty of Democrats. Thirty years straight of GOP governors was way more than enough for me.

What do these Democrats want? DO they somehow expect Blag to straighten out 30 years of GOP mess, corruption and deficits in 2 or 3 years? Every time someone starts up with me on that, I have been blowing them off, like what do you expect Blag to do? And when Blag was "fighting" with his wife's father there for a while , that was bothering some people too and I was saying, that's nothing, don't worry about it. Like, give the guy a chance already.

This is making me very concerned, if Democrats shift and vote for Topinka.

:hi:

I doubt she will win the GOP primary. Rauschenberger is already rallying the base by attacking A&F T-shirts.

It was obvious that she would run and the lollygagging got her lots of publicity. She is an excellent politician and I don't mean that as a compliment. My sister lives in the district she used to represent as (I forget)...either state senator or rep and likes her a lot. Of course, my sister normally votes repuke. She did vote for Obama, however, hated Keyes.

He has a year to get his shit together.

It would be impossible for him to win with an approval rating below 40%.

rating? As far as Topinka goes I think this will be good for Blago. Remember all the fundies saying that you cant be a christian and vote for a pro choice candidate? Of course it's nonsense but the rw wingers believe thier own hype. If anything else it will give me great pleasure watching them eat thier own words.

he should had never have raided the pension funds to balance the budget at the risk of putting lifelong teachers at risk. This will be the reason why he will not be re-elected.

ok, i think that fully funding pensions is a good thing. i think raiding pension funds is up there with stealing candy from babies. BUT. are any teachers actually having their pensions cut? i mean, you are entitled to bitch if your ox is actually gored, but are you really gonna try to tell me that you think that we should dump a dem governor because of an accounting gimmick? let's get real here.

And she is their best candidate. The vagina patrol (I'm in a PC mood tonight) will whip themselves and the base into a lather. I would not be surprised to hear of mailings stating Judy is for mandatory abortion, birth control, and is a lesbian. And these will be her good points.

If Topinka runs, Bean has no chance in hell, Roskam will have a cake walk and you can forget about challenges to Kirk and Weller. I think Rauschenberger could end up getting more support than Topinka though. I believe he's pro-life and against the Patroit Act and the war in Iraq. While such things shouldn't really matter in a governor's race, he can use them to distance himself from the Republican party. I think if he wins, he'll be able to appeal to many Republicans and Dems as well.

greatly. if obama proved anything, it is that in illinois, coattails are short.

I am no fan of Blagojevich. And I might have voted for Topinka over Blagojevich---'til I read this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/11/politics/11rove.html?hp&ex=1131685200&en=c2ac3f5915f21de9&ei=5094&partner=homepage



There's no *way* I'd vote for Topinka in *any* scenario now....

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

:hi: Glad to have you!!

Thanks for the heads up on the NYT piece. That deserves some debate in the GD. :)

I have to believe that people in IL are smart enough to figure out we don't want out of state people, especially treason-man, picking our candidates. He wants hands off as she is pro-choice and I think this could be used as a wedge issue. And it will, by Judy's opponents. Can't wait till Syverson and his ilk get going on this.