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Elections Wed Feb 03 2010
Yes We Can?
I sat down this morning to write a piece about how disappointment over the Hoffman defeat last night--who, by the way, was supported by every individual in Chicago I spoke with about the subject, though he lost here 36-29-29 (thank you, @chitownpolitics)--should not end our commitment to the Senate fight. If our health care and foreign policy goals remain today what they were yesterday, it is exceedingly important that the seat is filled with not just a Democrat, but a Democrat as faithful an Obama supporter as Giannoulias.
At election's close, listening to Hoffman concede on WBEZ, I sent out some comments into the twitter-shpere and the vocalo live blog (which deserves its own post--seriously, that shit was crazy):
we tried. At an unusual moment, we've got an uphill battle ahead. But we can work together and do it.
Chicagoans are going to have to show mobilization of Obama proportions--large swaths of state will love Kirk's banker narrative of Giannoulias.
The disappoint stems from this:
Hoffman graduated cum laude from Yale, then attended the University of Chicago Law School, where he graduated with honors and edited the Law Review, later clerking for a Supreme Court justice and serving as inspector general of Chicago; the man is exceedingly intelligent, and has an erudite sense of the legal process. His Yale degree was in history and he served as a legislative assistant on foreign policy for a former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee; the man knows his foreign policy.
It's not just the impressive, wide-ranging resume and broad experience with legislation, or the clean record that Republicans would have a hard time finding flaw with, it was that David Hoffman is Senate material, a candidate I would gladly ask my neighbor to vote for (and already did.)
Mark Kirk is a veteran and member of the Navy reserves; has served five terms as a legislator; has a Master's from the London School of Economics and a law degree from Georgetown. He's worked in the State Department and the House International Relations Committee. Watch out for TV ads trumpeting his service in Afghanistan for a month or so while still a sitting member of Congress-- "the first member of Congress to serve in an imminent danger zone since 1942."
Giannoulias started out at the University of Chicago, but transferred to Boston University. To play basketball. He later got degrees in economics and law, but then came back to work for his family's bank--which is now in quite a bit of hot water--as a chief loan officer. He began the campaign touting his success with the Bright Start program, which has also seen it's share of problems.
Oh, and the country hates bankers and loan officers right now.
So I wanted to write a piece about how we can't quit now, how we face an up-mountain struggle of epic proportions. But, as serious as the political realities are, there's something beyond that keeping me from writing the piece I wanted to. Giannoulias just does not feel like a senator. I'm not sure I'm won over by his experience, or any demonstrated acumen, legislative or otherwise.
I don't know if I've got the fight in me, because I'm just not exactly sure what I'm fighting for.
jJoe Lake / February 3, 2010 11:27 AM
David Hoffman--wanna run for mayor of Chicago in 2011? Let's get going. Time's running out. Don't be nickeled and 'quartered' again. Go to ChicagoNLA2011 at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ChicagoNLA2011