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| Illinois republican wins seat by 291 votes |
| 2010-11-17 |
| Dan Rozek, Chicago Sun-Times By a margin of 291 votes out of more than 200,000 cast, GOP challenger Joe Walsh emerged Tuesday as the winner over U.S. Rep. Melissa Bean in their nail-biting 8th District congressional race. Bean, a three-term Democrat, made the results official late Tuesday, conceding the contest after calling Walsh to congratulate him on his upset victory. Walsh, a Tea Party-backed conservative, led Bean by 347 votes at the beginning of the day, but absentee and provisional ballots tallied Tuesday narrowed that margin to less than two-tenths of a percent. Life's been good to him so far. I'm amazed: the Cook County machine should have been good for another 400 cemetery votes. |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #3 She didn't mess with the machine - this is just the machine setting up for 2012. Walsh and the GOP have no redistricting power, so the dems will try to draw the maps to eliminate 3 GOP congressmen - and Walsh is the weakest of the three in the strongest GOP district. The machine is more than willing run against him in 2012. Also, the Lake County GOP machine could've trumped the Cook County machine if it came down to it, since most of the votes where up there. Finally, in 2012, Waukegan will have enough "immigrants" to dominate the voting - watch the DREAM Act voting during the lame duck session - Illinois may have the most to gain by creating new hispanic voters. I think that's as PC as I can put it. The machine was always based more on immigrant blocs than cemetery blocks anyway. |
| Posted by: Halliburton - Mysterious Conspiracy Division 2010-11-17 17:23 |
| #2 "I'm amazed: the Cook County machine should have been good for another 400 cemetery votes." My thoughts exactly - wonder who Bean pissed off? |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2010-11-17 14:15 |
| #1 This is a very interesting development. I'm in the district next door, and these two will be gerrymandered like crazy by our all-not-new-democratic state government, so I wouldn't read too much into the machine failing. Joe Walsh also has loads of personal features - foreclosed out of home, suspended drivers license, longtime non-resident of the district, etc... This is just the democrats catching there breath for 2012. Remember, Ms Bean was a reliable "progressive" vote for six years in a conservative suburban district - look for a nice appointment from POTUS for her. |
| Posted by: Halliburton - Mysterious Conspiracy Division 2010-11-17 13:51 |