Tuesday is primary day in Illinois and progressive George Gollin's insurgent campaign in IL-13 won two big endorsements yesterday. Early in the morning the biggest local paper, the Champaign News-Gazette came in for him, following the lead of the other two most read newspapers in the district, the Chicago Tribune and Springfield's State Journal-Register. Each of them has included negative comments about Steve Israel's putrid "mystery meat" candidate, Ann Callis, and the DCCC's strategy of all platitudes all the time, while avoiding real issues that voters might be interested in. A couple of hours later, Orlando Congressman Alan Grayson also endorsed Gollin and urged his supporters to contribute to Gollin's grassroots campaign. First, the News-Gazette:
Democratic leaders like U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin believe-- correctly-- that they missed a great chance in 2012 to pick up a U.S. House seat from the state's 13th Congressional District.Determined to correct that mistake this year, they've painted a bulls-eye on the back of Republican Rep. Rodney Davis and focused all their efforts on defeating the first-term incumbent. Davis, who barely eked out a win over Democrat David Gill, is certainly vulnerable. But the key for Democrats to defeat him is to find the right challenger.Just as they did in 2012, party leaders have focused on an individual they believe can win, retired Madison County judge Ann Callis, and anointed her as their choice. But just as they did in 2012, they failed to clear the field of party challengers.In 2012, Gill defeated the establishment's choice in the primary election. This year, two local Democrats, University of Illinois physics Professor Gollin and university policy analyst David Green, hope to knock off Callis in the March 18 Democratic primary.Of the three Democratic candidates, Gollin is best suited to represent his party in the fall election. A physicist by profession, he has the intelligence to understand complex issues. Now a politician by choice, Gollin has shown that he's both comfortable on the platform and willing to clearly articulate his positions on the issues. Although he's certainly more liberal than the politically divided 13th District, it would be our expectation that Gollin would pursue practical solutions to serious problems rather than fall back on liberal orthodoxy. After all, he condemns what he calls the political orthodoxy of tea party conservatives.Our enthusiasm for Gollin is heightened by our disappointment in Callis. Gollin has enough respect for the voters to state his positions in a clear and informed manner. She uses her intelligence to shape vague responses to important questions. While he has been forthcoming, she has been willfully nonresponsive.It's not enough for Callis to fall back on her resume and promise that she'll determine her congressional votes the way she formed her judicial opinions-- by examining all aspects of the issue and then deciding. That's just a dodge, not even a particularly clever one. It's hard to imagine that even Callis' most enthusiastic supporters get excited listening to her non-answers.Having said all that, it's our clear expectation that Callis would follow the lead of her Democratic patron, Durbin, and be a reliably liberal vote if she is elected. She just won't say; her campaign strategy is to say as little as possible for as long as possible to avoid alienating various groups of voters.As for the third candidate in the race-- Democrat Green-- he's been entertaining to watch. Like the libertarian candidate in the three-way GOP House primary, Green offers a rigidly ideological point of view that is highly critical of both foreign and domestic policy under Democrats and Republicans. While that extreme left-wing point of view makes him interesting to hear and watch, Green would be hopelessly ineffective as both a party nominee and a member of the U.S. House.
Grayson's endorsement was premised on other priorities-- first and foremost Gollin's expertise. In his endorsement letter of the Illinois particle physicist, Grayson mentioned that Congress is severely lacking in experts about issues they have to legislate on.
I serve on the House Science and Technology Committee. It is bleak, really bleak. A few months ago, one of our Members on the Committee said that evolution is "a lie straight from the pit of hell." Most of the Members are climate change deniers. I keep encouraging them to transfer from the House Science Committee to the House Religion Committee, and follow their true calling. (There is no House Religion Committee, but their eyes light up anyway, when I tell them that.) I need George Gollin's help on the Science Committee, and in Congress. So we should help him get there. Here's another really good thing about George Gollin-- he's a liberal Democrat, and he's not afraid to say so. In fact, that's exactly what his TV ad says-- that he's a proud progressive Democrat. For that reason alone, he deserves our support. A progressive who is proud to be a progressive-- how refreshing! I hope that this catches on. By the way, there is another good progressive in this three-way primary, named David Green. I respect Green's stands on the issues, but I don't think that he has a chance to win. Gollin does. George Gollin is in a tough primary race on Tuesday. It looks like he'll come in ahead of David Green, but his real opponent is a Democrat-in-name-only, the choice of the local political machine, who appears to suffer from issuephobia. She's a lawyer. Maybe Congress always will be crawling with witless lawyers and businessman, like vermin. But if someone like George Gollin can win, then maybe not. Maybe there is hope.
The Establishment Dems, as they always do, have worked hard to confuse voters of all persuasions into thinking that Callis believes whatever they believe. They even have some sensible liberals thinking she's a liberal-- the same way they did last year for Democratic candidates like Kyrsten Sinema, Patrick Murphy, Brad Schneider, Cheri Bustos, and Sean Patrick Maloney, all of whom have voted more frequently to support Boehner and Cantor on crucial issues than progressives. If Callis is elected, there is every reason to believe she'll be another one just like those. If Gollin is elected, something very different is likely to unfold. Last night he told me that "My vision is a more just, more fair America, where EVERYONE has the opportunity to participate and benefit. I am at a loss to tell you Ms. Callis’ vision, because-- as all three endorsements point out-- she hasn’t really presented anything besides cliches and anecdotes."You can contribute to Gollin's Get Out The Vote effort here on ActBlue.