Reply #38: Poshard did not have strong support from selected groups. [View All]

It wasn't any ONE issue, IMO, it was the whole package. Poshard is NOT a bad guy--if you talk to him he's really quite personable. However, here in Champaign County, you can SEE where support dropped off for Poshard next to the rest of the ticket.

I was looking at those numbers on a precinct by precinct basis for some other race after the fact, and it was literally a consistent drop off when it came to the Poshard race. I was tracking Dem performance across the races and you could SEE it.

Something else you need to consider is that primary that put Poshard in the Gov races was kind of an odd one. Poshard had labor support, Burris had no real campaign to speak of but pulled well with minorities and Schmidt was one of the worst stump speakers I've ever seen in my life, but he pulled well with progressives.

Anyhow, the point I'm making on that is that the electorate was really carved up in that race--more then in most others. We actually had Dem women picketing Poshard when he was in Champaign county--THAT is how angry they were about him. (Schmidt carried Champaign County--but we are very liberal compared to the rest of downstate, and should be no shock to anyone.) I found out while calling for Lisa Madigan that Poshard is just beloved by folks in some of the downstate counties, however.

Like I said, I like the man fine to talk to--but he was just not the ideal candidate at the time. I'm not sure who really would have been ideal, to be honest, but the Dems were badly fractured over that race.

Obama is not in that same situation, and he's gonna be fine. He's gonna draw from all the groups--across the boards. His lifetime record with labor votes is excellent--over 90% I think-and even if labor backed Hynes in the Primary, they WILL be there for Obama.

Obama has generated excitement in several of our minority precincts--areas that usually just don't turn out were THERE for him in this primary--and he's the darling of the Urbana "sprouts and tofu crowd" (roughly comparable with the North Shore liberals in Chicago.)

Obama is not any place close to being where Poshard was at in his race.

Laura

Oh--and did I remember to add that Obama has his excellent legislative history from a time when the Dems did NOT control the Senate? THAT is what people need to think about!