And of all people, AOC closer to the truth on Underwood seat about to be flipped

Cal posted an article comparing the campaigns of Republicans Jim Oberweis and Jeanne Ives against their respective opponents, Congresswoman Lauren Underwood and Congressman Sean Casten.

While Ives has already conceded to Casten and the Associated Press (AP) has called the race, Oberweis currently leads Underwood by a mere 628 votes as of late Thursday, with over, depending on whom you believe 5,000 to 20,000 VBM ballots to be counted.

While the messaging Cal compared, in mailers played a part, as well as the fact the IL-14 is more conservative than the more blue IL-06, particularly in DuPage County as well as Libertarian Bill Redpath siphoned some votes away from Ives in a few places, there’s a simpler reason why Oberweis potentially could win.

And of all people, it was Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D, NY-14) who included this quote in a mutli-tweet message this morning:

“Also, the decision to stop knocking doors is one people need to grapple with and analyze.”

AOC tweet 11/6/20
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AOC’s 11-tweet message was a response to many centrist Democrats who, through a leaked House Democrats conference call, were livid at the losses House Democrats took on Tuesday in races that have been called by the AP.

Additionally, many Democratic incumbents, including Underwood, are currently losing in their reelection bids. While the Democrats will likely retain the majority in the House, it could very well be the smallest House majority, by as few as 5-7 seats, in history.

The leaked conference call from Thursday included feedback from Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger (D, VA-07), a genuine centrist who was declared the winner in her reelection over Republican Nick Freitas. Spanberger is one of a few House Democrats who actually has a centrist voting record to back up the label, and was one of 6 Democrats who voted against Nancy Pelosi to be Speaker.

On Thursday, she said:

“We need to not ever use the word ‘socialist’ or ‘socialism’ ever again. . . . We lost good members because of that.”

“If we are classifying Tuesday as a success . . . we will get f—ing torn apart in 2022.”

Abigail Spanberger, “Centrist House Democrats lash out at liberal colleagues, blame far-left views for costing the party seats”, The Washington Post 11/5/20
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While AOC and Spanberger, without naming each other, fought over ideology, AOC pointing to decisions by many Democrat incumbents, including Underwood, to forgo grassroots, door-to-door campaigning, may be the real reason the IL-14 is so close.

Oberweis, in his effectively branded “Oberweis for Congress” face mask, did not ever abandon door-to-door campaigning by both himself, and numerous volunteers, across the 14th district.

Drive-thru rallies and virtual events cannot replace the person-to-person connection a candidate can have with voters, especially voters who are not afraid to split their tickets.

One thing a mainstream voter more likely to do at the voting booth, or filling out a VBM ballot at home, is remember which candidate or their volunteers came to their door asking for their vote.

And quite frankly, voters like and respect a candidate, or their volunteers who literally go the extra miles to see them, socially distant, at their door asking for support.

As returns made public thus far indicate, Oberweis’ best counties are McHenry and Lake counties, the largest and 3rd largest counties in the district.

Should Oberweis’ support hold through VBM ballots from McHenry and Lake, he will be declared the winner when the counting stops on November 24 and what put him over and sent him to Washington was good old-fashioned shoe leather.