IL-14: Obama For Bill Foster

by Todd Beeton, Tue Mar 04, 2008 at 09:44:03 AM EST

And just for the record, while I've expressed some criticism of Barack Obama for not speaking in more partisan terms, I don't doubt his partisan allegiances for one second either -- his actions alone have spoken volumes. He was a huge asset to Democrats all over the country in 2006 and has already proven that he intends to do the same this year.

The latest example is his endorsement of Democrat Bill Foster in IL-14 who is running in a special election on March 8th to win the seat formerly held by Dennis Hastert. Obama even recorded this ad for Foster:

Obama has also set up an ActBlue page for him.

This race will be an excellent test case of how Obama's message of change (Foster's tagline is "Democrat For Change"), and his endorsement for that matter, play downticket around the country this fall whether or not he's the nominee, particularly in red-leaning districts.

Tags: Barack Obama, Bill Foster, IL-14 (all tags)

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13 Comments

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Re: IL-14: Obama For Bill Foster

Good for Obama. Does Foster have a shot?

by OrangeFur 2008-03-04 09:49AM | 0 recs
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Re: IL-14: Obama For Bill Foster

Seems to.  Polling shows him neck and neck with Oberwies.

by Meng Bomin 2008-03-04 09:50AM | 0 recs
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Re: IL-14: Obama For Bill Foster

This is a very nice ad.  I don't know how much Obama had to do with actually designing the ad, but something he's excellent at is the "ask" - the part of the message where you tell voters exactly what you'd like them to do for you.

In a special election, or in a confusing situation like today's Texas vote, it's not enough just to persuade voters that one candidate is awesomer than the other.  You need to make sure they're in the right place at the right time to cast that vote, or it means nothing.  Some politicians seem to act like this kind of nuts-and-bolts stuff is beneath them, but Obama seems to understand that it's often more important than all the issue-based messaging in the world.

by Steve M 2008-03-04 09:51AM | 0 recs
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Re: IL-14: Obama For Bill Foster

If Foster wins this, Obama should be the nominee without question.  We need a candidate who can bring in several more Democratic Congresspeople if we are looking for any type of change in 2009.  If we have only the numbers we have now, look for nothing to get done in 2009.  

by Toddwell 2008-03-04 09:56AM | 0 recs
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How many candidates are going to ask Hillary

to appear in their ads?

by highgrade 2008-03-04 10:02AM | 0 recs
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Re: How many candidates are going to ask Hillary

I can't think of anybody who would want her near any of their ads.  Many of them will probably run ads denouncing her in order to survive.  

by Toddwell 2008-03-04 10:08AM | 0 recs
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Chicago Tribune endorses Bill Foster
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opini on/chi-0304edit2mar04,0,519644.story
by Ajax the Greater 2008-03-04 10:08AM | 0 recs
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Re: IL-14: Obama For Bill Foster
For crying out loud, this is Illinos where Obama is senator, I wonder why he didn't come out earlier.
Instead of saying this will be a test for Democrats in Nov. Congress, Obama, Clinton) you are portraying this as an Obama v. Clinton race (without actually saying so)
by rolnitzky 2008-03-04 10:22AM | 0 recs
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Re: IL-14: Obama For Bill Foster

Reading comprehension appears lost on you.

Overweiss -- as he has always done in every race he's ever run -- has gone scorched attack, full-throttle attack.

Oberweiss's GOP primary opponent still hasn't forgiven him attacks Oberweiss launched and has pointedly failed to endorse him.

This WILL be a test.  Foster's fired back, but Oberweiss hasn't run a single positive ad all cycle.  He's gone Rovian overdrive.

IL-14 - a +12 R district home to former GOP speaker Denny Hastert - is a good test about whether a "post-partisan" message can overcome the same old smear tactics.

It's "Obama v. Clinton" --- it's "new v. old", "1990s vs. the 21 century".

If Foster makes it a 2-3-4 digit race - much less wins the thing, it's an enormous boost for the type of campaign Obama has run and would send plenty of smear merchants looking for a new line of work.

by zonk 2008-03-04 10:32AM | 0 recs
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Not Just Campaigned...

He's also raised huge amounts of money for Democrats that were up for re-election through  his PAC.

by Brillobreaks 2008-03-04 10:58AM | 0 recs
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Re: Not Just Campaigned...

He did.  Compare that to Hillary sitting on a $50 million warchest in a noncompetitive Senate race and not giving anything to anyone else.  

by Toddwell 2008-03-04 11:09AM | 0 recs
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Re: Not Just Campaigned...

The sad thing is not that she sat on it (sad though that would be) but that she somehow spent as much of it as she did, I mean what the hell how do you burn through that much cash in a rubber stamp race.

by Socraticsilence 2008-03-04 11:59AM | 0 recs
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Re: IL-14: Obama For Bill Foster
wait.... if foster wins, does that mean obamas gets another superdelegate?
 lol
by Lazeriath 2008-03-05 07:53PM | 0 recs

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