– who’s the stronger candidate, Randi or Bill?
Need to figure out which of the two had a better showing – Randi in the primary of 2002, or Bill in 2006, in terms of votes. Will tell us which of the two may be more viable; since both have run inside the last 3 terms, chances are good they have residual name cred built up on the ground. The challenge will be messaging – can they run on “Bean’s a corporate whore/I was f*cking right about your being sold out”? It’s a tough one to pull off.

– did either Randi or Bill make efforts to contact Greens and Libertarians in that district?
I ask this question because if they can get within MOE, these groups make a critical difference. Look at a similar suburban Michigan district; there’s nearly 20K voters who went Independent/Green/Libertarian, might be enough for a swing vote in a tight race. Also don’t know what IL’s voting requirements are like, whether these groups can vote in a primary as Dems, could make an even bigger difference.

– what about the unions, would they continue to back a progressive but non-Dem against Bean?
Again, depends on how you slice this; if they aren’t a sizable block, they can still make swing vote and they can bring both manhours and money to a campaign, particularly if they are helping removing Bean and her CAFTA-loving ways.

– what’s the lay of the land with the Dem Party in the district; are they happy/unhappy with Bean? can they be persuaded to sit on their hands in 2010?
I hear you about the ‘burbs thing, but I can point to two very similar districts in Michigan, MI-09 and MI-11. MI-09 was won this year by Democrat Gary Peters (who you’ve likely seen grilling banksters as part of the House Financial Subcommittee); his district has been one of those reliably “Reagan Democrat” districts, where they may have been white/blue-collar and white flight voters who went for God-guns-gays. MI-11 is a targeted race, with Republican Thad McCotter hanging on by the skin of his gruesome teeth in a district that has not seated a Democrat in 44 years. In both districts a progressive Democrat can win, but it takes a solid, effective candidate with adequate money and other support to do it. I feel certain IL-08 is very similar.

– what about DCCC – can they be persuaded to sit it out until the primary is over?
If there are enough other targeted races, they may stay out of it.

– what about other progressive organizations, like MoveOn and DFA; do they have much of a presence which can muster against Bean?
Again, we may be talking small numbers here, but they may have just enough organizing power to build the ground game. I see that Northside DFA has 359 members, not exactly puny numbers, might be able to find enough resources with DFA and MoveOn members combined.

– And either of the Scheurers – will they swear to be the Bernie Sanders of IL, caucus with Dems when Dems are doing the progressive thing?
Based on what I see on the internet, this isn’t even an issue.

– Got about 6 months to nail all this down and muster $100K-plus for Scheurer, too, which brings up another question: were they good fundraisers?
The test of a candidate’s viability with the state party and other larger, organized political groups is their ability to raise funds. If a Scheurer (or other progressive candidate) can pull together this much by Jan. 1, they may be able to attract other sources readily. Naturally, $1M would be a much better number with which to work.

Phew. That’s a lot to chew through, but there it is. I sure hope that the progressive community in IL-08 can coalesce and rally around a strong candidate soon, because I have a nasty feeling that Bean is going to continue to be an ugly lump under our mattress for the rest of this term.

Don’t know

– did either Randi or Bill make efforts to contact Greens and Libertarians in that district?

Don’t know CB12 @28

The 8th had historically been the most Republican district in the Chicago area, and by some accounts was the most Republican district in all of Illinois. Bean’s performance was even more notable since the 8th had reportedly been redrawn to protect Crane

Not many non GOPers
the Rolondo cruz case, the Drivers license for cash scandal killed the state GOP Melissa heck any Dem needs a good economy to win that district.

– what about the unions, would they continue to back a progressive but non-Dem against Bean?

Maybe but Unions don’t have the pull in that district like they do elsewhere

– what’s the lay of the land with the Dem Party in the district; are they happy/unhappy with Bean? can they be persuaded to sit on their hands in 2010?

I think she is the first Dem to hold office in that district in decades so she is the democratic party. Look at Mchenry county college there might be a young Dems club there

– what about DCCC – can they be persuaded to sit it out until the primary is over?

Maybe if Rahm is distracted but not likely this district is GOP heaven it should be Blue Dog heaven if we get a Progressive elected here then we are allot stronger than I thought. I expect Rahm to defend this district like he did Tammy Duckworth.

– what about other progressive organizations, like MoveOn and DFA; do they have much of a presence which can muster against Bean?

No

And either of the Scheurers – will they swear to be the Bernie Sanders of IL, caucus with Dems when Dems are doing the progressive thing?

ask them

Got about 6 months to nail all this down and muster $100K-plus for Scheurer, too, which brings up another question: were they good fundraisers?

You can rise $100,000? I Don’t know if they are good fundraisers I can tell you they like rising property values
they hate taxes. Banks are taking away people’s homes causing real estate to drop. Melissa giving bankers their tax dollars for bonuses?
That will be real unpopular.

So, lots of questions:
– who’s the stronger candidate, Randi or Bill?
– did either Randi or Bill make efforts to contact Greens and Libertarians in that district?
– what about the unions, would they continue to back a progressive but non-Dem against Bean?
– what’s the lay of the land with the Dem Party in the district; are they happy/unhappy with Bean? can they be persuaded to sit on their hands in 2010?
– what about DCCC – can they be persuaded to sit it out until the primary is over?
– what about other progressive organizations, like MoveOn and DFA; do they have much of a presence which can muster against Bean?

And either of the Scheurers – will they swear to be the Bernie Sanders of IL, caucus with Dems when Dems are doing the progressive thing?

Got about 6 months to nail all this down and muster $100K-plus for Scheurer, too, which brings up another question: were they good fundraisers?

On other matters, I just can’t get worked up over the use of “Democrat Party.” When our Dems act more democratically, maybe I’ll feel more insistent that they be called Democratic.

Finally, anyone who slights the Swedes in my home I will personally crush with my Ikea armoire. How can you not like the people who gave us cloudberries? Cloudberries, for chrissakes!

I’ve sent an e-mail to Time magazine about this, I ask you to consider doing the same to keep up National reporting on this hypocrisy.

No. We don’t just vent here and pat ourselves on the back. How about you?