McHenry County Blog

Bill Baar’s West Side, a blog from down the Fox River Valley, published the photo you see below:

A man wore this tee shirt to a Joe Walsh rally on Saturday.

The message on the tee shirt is

Walsh
U. S. Congress

_____

Friend of India

_____

Deeds
Not Just Words

So, if you are an Indian American who supported Raja Krishnamoorthi in the primary election where all the white Democrats supported Tammy Duckworth, who do you vote for in November?

Tammy Duckworth, who might end up being a lifer in the 8th District.

Or first-termer Joe Walsh, who promises only to serve three terms.

Interesting question, don’t you think?

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Just found three TV ads aimed at Indian Americans in the 8th Congressional District of Bill Baar’s West Side web side.

You can see them here.

A publication called IndoLink reports that Congressman Joe Walsh spoke to a group on Indian-Americans in Bartlett May 19th.

From reading the article, the first part is reproduced below, it seems that Walsh is reaching out to the community who backed Tammy Duckworth’s opponent Raja Krishnamoorthi, the most prominent Indian-American politician in Illlinois.

It would stand to reason that most Indian-Americans backed Krishnamoorthi against Duckworth.

Could that community end up back Walsh over Duckworth, knowing that Walsh has pledged to serve on three terms in Congress?

And, if Walsh should run against Dick Durbin in 2014, he might not even be running in the 8th District two years from now.

At that point, Krishnamoorthi could run again and be in a stronger position that this past spring–even against Duckworth–because she would then be a two-time loser.

“A large number of Gujaratis and a good number of well wishers of Gujarat and Chief Minister Narendra Modi flocked to Bartlett Jain Mandir Hall to participate in a grand celebration of Gujarat Day organized here on Friday May 19.

“The big attraction of the near three-hour function attended by over 1500 Non-Resident Gujaratis (NRGs) and Non Resident Indians (NRIs) was a live chat with and live televised address by Gujarat Chief Minster Narendra Modi.

“The attendees were highly impressed with the progress of Gujarat in the past decade under the leadership of Modi and the consensus was that not only Gujarat but India needed a capable leader like Modi to notch big progress and be a force to reckon with in the international community of nations.

Joe Walsh

“Among non-Gujarati and non-Indian dignitaries attending the event was William Joseph Walsh a Republican U.S. Representative for Illinois’ northwest suburban 8th congressional district.

“He has served in Congress since January 2011 after defeating three-term incumbent Democrat Melissa Bean in a surprising upset.

“Rep. Walsh is one of the top US political leaders who feels that denial of visa to Modi is gross injustice.

“In his brief address, he praised Modi’s leadership and presented congratulations to Gujarat and Gujaratis in USA and across the world on Gujarat Day celebrations…”

A press release about Joe Walsh about the two Democrats running to challenge him this fall:

Congressman Walsh: “Was that a Debate?”

My potential opponents debated each other for the first time last night.

The two Democrats who seek to challenge Joe Walsh in the 8th Congressional District were given air time on WTTW Wednesday night. Walsh was excluded because he has "no opponent."

Those voters who base their decision on literature, music and cinema are happy to now know Tammy and Raja’s favorite music group, the last movie they saw and the last book they read. Sadly, for the rest of us, many issues are still unclear.

DOES TAMMY SUPPORT THE PRESIDENT’S BUDGET?

It’s a simple yes or no question. Maybe if Tammy put Chris Matthews’ latest book down or stopped listening to Prince for five minutes, she could let us know her position.

The more I watch their primary unfold, the more I realize that the media and these candidates are not interested in a campaign focused on the issues.

A press release from Congressman Joe Walsh:

Joe Walsh

Congressman Walsh: “We’re Still Wondering Where Tammy Stands on the Budget”

Raja’s response came in and he supports the President’s budget.

Clearly, I do not.

But, despite our distinct disagreements, I respect Raja for making his position clear to the people of the 8th District.

The question remains, what does Tammy think?

Her press machine has been in overdrive promoting her recent endorsement by Mayor Emanuel but eerily silent on the major question of whether or not she endorses the President’s budget.

Unfortunately, the media have not asked her opinion on the matter despite affording her plenty of coverage on Rahm’s endorsement.

Why is it that Tammy hasn’t taken a position and how come the media hasn’t asked her?

Chris Wallace interviews Tammy Duckworth on a controversial move by the Department of Veterans Affairs she was trying to defend.

All the big hype in the 8th Congressional District after Joe Walsh decided to run in the 14th against Randy Hultgren was about the face off between Tammy Duckworth, the woman who lost to Peter Roskam for Congress, and Raja Krishnamoorthi, who lost the Democratic Party primary for State Comptroller to State Rep. David Miller.

Then Walsh changed his mind. He announced he would run in the new 8th District, designed to elect a Democrat.

Because of the Republicans’ remap challenge, filing for Congress was delayed until just now.

On the first day of filing, however, the only Democrat to file was Krishnamoorthi.

Duckworth was a no show.

So, why do candidates choose not to file on the first day.

I can think of two reasons:

1. The candidate does not have enough signatures.
2. There are lots of people running and the candidate wants to be last on the ballot.

The second reason makes no sense since in a two-person race whether one is first or second on the ballot has not been shown to make any difference.

So, that leaves the possibility that Duckworth’s petition gathering effort just wasn’t up to snuff, that her advisers wanted the Christmas weekend to get more signatures.

The last day to filed for Congress in Tuesday, December 27th.

No doubt Duckworth will file then.

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An insightful commenter notes a third possible reason for filing late–getting separate stories in the media about doing so.

The commenter, who has a better memory of things Democrat than also points out that Duckworth’s opponent Krishnamoorthi lost the Democratic Party primary to State Rep. David Miller, not Judy Baar Topinka. That correction has been made above.

Thanks again to a citizen-editor.