Oct 13, 2008 5:15 pm US/Central
Ill. Republicans Have Strategy To Counter Obama
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
New polls in critical states show Obama with a big lead in electoral votes, so Republicans across the country worry that their candidates farther down the ballot will get clobbered. CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery reports that Illinois Republicans have their own strategy for countering Obama.
Rep. Tom Cross said Illinois Republicans think they can clip the coattails of Barack Obama here in his own home state. They are reminding voters that should Obama move to the White House, several other local Democrats will stay behind to run things in Springfield and Chicago.
"Not only Governor Blagojevich, Speaker Madigan and Emil Jones have done things, Todd Stroger has done an awful job at Cook County government," Cross said. "But as you move down that ballot, you say to yourself, 'What? Why another Democrat in the Illinois General Assembly? It makes no sense.'"
Republican polling shows Obama running strongly in suburbs around Chicago. It also shows Gov. Blagojevich and Cook County Board President Todd Stroger are extraordinarily unpopular. Like other Republican leaders across the country, Rep. Cross would like presidential nominee John McCain to retool his campaign.
Some conservative leaders suggest McCain cancel his attack ads, in favor of nationally televised town halls, in which he would challenge Sen. Obama to join him.
Republicans think tax-raising Democrats in Chicago and leaders in Springfield give them an opening that could help them even if Obama wins Illinois by a big margin.
"I think we're gonna set ourselves up nicely for 2010 with what we're gonna see from this election," said Patrick Brady, Republican National Committee. "But it's gonna be a tough year for Republicans."
Illinois Republicans readily admit that it might be easier to execute their strategy if Gov. Blagojevich and Todd Stroger were actually on the ballot next month. They are not until 2010. Local Democrats think that the negatives of those two men will be outweighed by the fact that Barack Obama is on the ballot, and they're counting on a big victory.
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