Chicago Daily Observer

Anita Alvarez, Candidate for Cook County State’s Attorney is interviewed on Gun Owners Rights and other issues by Jeff Berkowitz on Public Affairs.

Illinois’ former Governor Jim Edgar on McCain-Palin: “That’s the ticket.”

Jeff Berkowitz: …people say that Sarah Palin energizes the base of the Republican Party. Do you agree and …what is it about her that energizes the base, if it does.

Former Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar (R-Charleston, 1990–1998): …Energy just kind of comes out of her…I don’t think it is an ideology thing, although… some from the far right might say, “Gee, this is good.” Republicans I have talked to, particularly women Republicans, who were for McCain, who are not ideologues—they maybe weren’t enthusiastic, they’re enthusiastic, now….I’ve learned a long time ago that in Illinois politics if you can get the Republican women motivated, you’re going to win.

Jeff Berkowitz: …one issue is…you’re known as a moderate Republican, you’re pro-choice; McCain is pro-life, Sara Pelin is pro-life; do you have any trouble with that? Do you think any of the pro-choice ... Read More...

Sarah Palin’s foreign policy knowledge, background and experience: Hillary argued Obama wasn’t ready for that 3:00 am call? Is Sarah?
*************************************************************************************
Jeff Berkowitz: Mrs. McCain—
Cindy McCain: Hi, how are you?
Jeff Berkowitz: Is Sarah Palin ready to be President?
Cindy McCain: Absolutely.
*********************************************************
Jeff Berkowitz: Is Sarah Pelin ready to be President?
Andrea Mitchell: NBC Correspondent and married to former Fed Chairman, Alan Greenspan: I have no idea.
Jeff Berkowitz: You’ve seen her for a week. What do you think?
Andrea Mitchell: It’s way too early. A day is a lifetime in politics. I’ve got to go.
Berkowitz: She has no foreign policy experience. You agree?
Mitchell: Sorry, I’ve got to do my job.
*****************************************************
We spent last night at the Republican Party convention in St. Paul, Minnesota speaking to ... Read More...

In his acceptance speech last night, Obama outlined his goals, placing him squarely in the image of a generic Democrat, especially those anxious for more government safety nets. That would help him connect with his most troublesome demographic (according to Charlie Cook of the Cook Report): whites over fifty years old. Obama knows generic Democrats are outperforming him, so he has apparently decided to join them.

Obama built last night on the blocks that had been set out by the Democratic Party speakers earlier in the week: the soaring rhetoric of Ted Kennedy’s fight for universal health care, the sympathetic bio laid out by Michelle Obama of her husband: a hard working, smart, empathetic family man; a Hillary Clinton who told us if you liked her programs, you’ll like those of Barack Obama; a Bill Clinton, who stamped his endorsement not just on the Obama programs, but on Obama himself ... Read More...

Reflecting and Reporting on the Democratic Convention: The Kennedys, the Obamas, Ald. Burke and “moving on.”

On Monday night, it appeared Teddy Kennedy upstaged Michelle Obama a bit. It was not that Michelle was not warmly received at the Pepsi Center [This reporter kept hearing the Billy Goat’s and Second City’s “Pepsi, Pepsi, no Coke.”]

Michelle was warmly received, performed and spoke well, and she may have achieved what she set out to do. That is, be irresistibly likeable by the great majority of Americans [If not as much as her husband, at least in his league] and remove that bad taste in America’s mouth from her comment about being proud of America for the first time in her adult life—as a result of Barack’s run for President.

But, standing on the floor with the Illinois delegation, this reporter felt the tremendous warmth and affection of that crowd that Democrats ... Read More...

As we look toward Senator Obama delivering his acceptance speech this Thursday night, few, if any, mentors loom so large in Obama’s methodical march toward the presidency over the last quarter of the century, as State Senate President Emil Jones. From community organizer in Chicago to becoming the first African-American President of the Harvard Law School to being a practicing civil rights lawyer active in politics on the South side of Chicago to becoming a State Senator and a lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School to becoming a U. S. Senator who would make and win the improbable run against the best the Democratic Party had to offer, i.e., the Clinton partnership of Hillary and Mr. Bill, there has been Senate President Jones, who spoke to Barack as recently as last Monday.

Of course, Jones and Obama are quite different in style, age and in their public persona. ... Read More...

Well, Michael Sneed, as usual, is, at best, half right: Article 1, Section 2, of the U. S. Constitution, prior to Sneed’s amendment of today, stated, “No person shall be a Representative …who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state in which he shall be chosen.”
**************************
Sneed’s homework assignment tonight: Read the Constitution. She might find it even more appealing than Desperate North Shore Housewives, soon to be showing at…
*****************************
Dumbsville No. 1

The nice thing about working for the Chicago Sun-Times, if you are Michael Sneed, is that you can often write dumb things and nobody- at least nobody in a position of authority over Sneed at the paper- will notice or give a damn. You might think an editor would catch Sneed’s errors. Think again.

Cong. Mark Steven Kirk [R-Highland Park, 10th CD] has been running first to the center and then to the left ever since he won his ten candidate Republican Primary in March, 2000 and his tough general election contest with former State Rep. Lauren Beth Gash [D-Highland Park].

Although John Kerry won the District in 2004 [53–47], Kirk faced nominal opposition from the Democrats in 2002 and 2004. Why? Cong. Kirk had co-opted, starting with the 2000 general election, traditionally Democratic constituencies, e.g., pro-choicers, gay rights activists, environmentalists, pro-Israel segments and pro-gun control groups.

Further, in 2004, the War was simply not unpopular enough with independents and moderate Democrats in the 10th CD to give Kirk’s anti-war opponent, Lee Goodman, much more than a third of the vote.

However, by late summer, 2006, Cong. Kirk knew his constituents were upset with Republican Congressional corruption. Further, Kirk also understood that independents and ... Read More...