Who beats Balgo, LaHood or Topinka?
DownLeft says the pundits are wrong: Ray LaHood has a better chance of beating Rod Blagojevich that does Judy Baar Topinka.
“LaHood has spent years getting support from union members, independents and moderates in both parties from the very central Illinois towns that could swing this election. His strongest base of support is among the same group of swing voters who gave Blagojevich a victory in ‘02.”
I can’t really argue with the observation. But I also can’t ignore the fact that there are maybe 10 percent of Republican — and a higher percentage of GOP activists — who loathe LaHood because he’s a RINO. There folks will stay home. The only question is whether the loss would be offset by the support from Chicago Machine, which generally prefers having Republican governors.
Myself, I prefer politicans who straddle the middle (but not as much as I prefer real libertarian-minded candidates). I’m just pointing out that the conservatives will do everything in their power to keep LaHood from winning to primary. Remember that these are the people who forced the GOP to accept Alan Keyes as its U.S. Senate candidate.
The GOP party organization is going to try this next election to wrest control of the party from the big-money candidates and return it to the county-based organization. That will help weaken the power of the single issue voting blocks and strengthen the party in the long run. The primary battle will be the test.
Billy Dennis is a former reporter and editor at small daily and weekly newspapers in Illinois and Missouri. He comments on media, news and politics. He also owns and operates 
