Illinois 10th: Time for a change

After college I spent six years living in the 10th congressional district of Illinois. This district covers the northern suburbs of Chicago from Waukegan down to Wilmette. Historically, the Chicago suburbs have been as Republican as Chicago itself has been Democratic, but the 10th district is less conservative than most suburban districts. It has been represented by moderate congressmen from both parties (Abner Mikva and John Porter).

When I was living in the 10th, there was not much of a Democratic Party organization in the area. Come election day, I'd usually have a choice between John Porter and ... well, just John Porter. The Democrats didn't even contest the seat. Good strategy for victory, guys. In 2000, when Porter retired, Democrat Lauren Gash ran against Mark Kirk, but Kirk won the seat by the slimmest of margins, 51% - 49%. This year, the Democrats have a strong candidate in Dan Seals. A recent poll (warning: PDF file) shows Kirk ahead of Seals by just 2 percentage points (46-44, MoE +/-3).

Congressman Kirk often claims to be moderate and independent, in the mold of his predecessors, but he is no maverick. In fact, he's the Assistant Majority Whip of the House, whose job it is to make sure his fellow Republicans toe the party line. In early September, the local CBS TV station ran a story on Mark Kirk that looked with a skeptical eye into his claims of independence (link to the video).

[01 NOV 2006 14:00:00] Update: In my update to the October 25 posting, I noted how the links in this posting weren't working quite as expected. The guys at mydd.com have acknowledged this and have offered an alternate link. I've replaced the CBS video clip with an article from the Daily Herald.