The Democratic brand name in central Illinois is heavily damaged. The area is traditionally Republican leaning, but for a brief time in the years following the indictment of a Republican governor shifted to the Democratic Party. But things have changed in the past few years as a Chicago-Ran Illionois government has led Illinois into deeper budget deficits, , raised fees on nearly every business in Illinois, driven medical professionals out of the State, and mire in corruption. No area has been hit harder than the capital city in which nearly 50,000 local residents work for state agencies.
2 Weeks ago, during Democrat Day at the Illinois State Fair, the highly unpopular Governor Rod Blagojevich had to bus down supportive state employees from the Chicago area so that he would have a friendly crowd during the festivities. The employees were given the day off and of course a free ride. But the Governor was shocked when during a speech he was met not with a friendly crowd, but rather a large crowd led by Unionized State Employees who boo-ed him off stage and protested his presence. The primary platform of Blago was his promise of health care to all Illinois Citizens, but even as he dramatically expanded health care benefits in Illinois, this year he cut back on Healthcare benefits to his own State Employees to pay for the program. Ironic Isn't It?
Blagojevich, who is not only heavily involved in the Rezko corruption, is currently involved in no fewer than 4 different State and Federal corruption investigations. Illinois Residents fully expect Blago to face indictment following the end of his current term, and with the retirement of Emil Jones, it is likely that he will face impeachment sometime after the November Elections. Ironically, despite his close friendship with Obama, Blago announced on Thursday that he will not be in attendance of Obama's speech in Springfield on Saturday for obvious reasons.
Obama's speech on Saturday is expected to draw a smaller crowd than the 5,000-7,000 that he drew when he announced his candidacy in Jan. 2007. The Obama campaign expects a crowd of around 2,000. What the main stream media will fail to report about this crowd, is the Blues and Backyard Barbecue event that his happening on the adjacent corner of the Old State Capital. The event in it's fifth year will run from noon in the late night and is expected to draw in around 2,000-4,000 attendees. Ironically, Obama's speech which was originally scheduled to occur at noon has been pushed back to 3PM, during the height of the Blues festival taking place just a few yards away.
In addition, reports have also surface that Obama campaign is busing several hundred supporters from upstate Illinois and the Metro-East area of St. Louis to boost the attendance of his Springfield speech. Even in his own backyard, the Senator has to work just to maintain appearance. As for myself, I will happily be on the opposite side of town enjoying a day with children and wife.
J Brown
August 23rd, 2008
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1 comments:
I was downtown yesterday. Many reports quoted one estimate of 35,000. Looking at the parking alone, we were able to park 5 blocks away a half hour prior to the speech. That would be impossible if 10,000, yet alone 5,000 were there yesterday!
Another vantage point: Wrigley field holds a little more than 40K. Yesterday's crowd paled in relation to that.
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