New poll shows Obama gaining among Dems in Senate race (Illinois)

Having seen Obama numerous times on Chicago Tonight (local PBS news/discussion show), I think he's for real: an intelligent, caring, liberal that would be ideal for Illinois and the US of A...

Snip:

The telephone survey of 806 likely Democratic primary voters was conducted in late July. It showed that 41 percent of Democratic voters are undecided.

Among voters having a preference, state Comptroller Dan Hynes led with 21 percent, Obama and Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas tied at 14 percent, commodities millionaire Blair Hull with 6 percent, former Board of Education President Gery Chico with 3 percent, and health care executive Joyce Washington with 1 percent.

In the 12-county Chicago media market, which usually casts about three-fourths of the Democratic primary vote, Obama is favored by 20 percent, followed by Pappas with 19 percent and Hynes with 17 percent.

As Obama becomes better known, it is probable that he will extend this lead. Washington is known to 38 percent of African Americans. Black leaders supporting Obama include the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, former Judge R. Eugene Pincham, Rep. Danny K. Davis and Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/neal/cst-edt-neal18.html

My vote goes to her!

The DLC listed him as one of the 100 future New Democratic leaders. People have criticized Dan Hynes for people part of the DLC but it looks like Obama might be as well. However, Obama isn't listed as a member of the DLC. I'm quite confused about what his relationship is with the New Dems.

Barack Obama has spent a lifetime fighting effectively to empower working families and the poor - as community organizer, civil rights attorney and a leader in the Illinois Senate. He has brought new ideas and approaches in pursuit of traditional Democratic ideals to make a real difference for people -- from better schools to affordable health care to criminal justice reform.

On The Issues:

Education. Obama helped push through an expansion of early childhood education and accessible, high quality day care for working families. He co-sponsored legislation that expands innovation through charter schools, increases accountability for all school districts, improves the recruitment, training and retention of a highly skilled teaching corps, and limits tuition increases and maintains scholarships to make higher education more accessible.

Health Care. Obama passed laws extending health coverage to children and families without insurance, co-sponsored legislation establishing a prescription drug discount for seniors, passed a Hospital Report Card that makes hospitals more accountable to consumers, championed increased funding for AIDS prevention and other public health initiatives, and sponsored legislation to move the state towards universal health care.

Jobs and Opportunity. Obama passed legislation to provide targeted tax breaks for investment in depressed areas and to hold corporations accountable for tax breaks they receive from the state. Working with community colleges and area employers, he helped design and fund an innovative job-training program that has moved hundreds of unskilled, low-wage workers into high skill, high wage jobs. He was the driving force behind a state Earned Income Tax Credit, which has provided over $100 million in tax cuts to working families over three years.

Criminal Justice. In the wake of a series of shocking exonerations of innocent persons on death row, Obama drafted and passed landmark legislation requiring the videotaping of interrogations and confessions in all capital cases, and was chief co-sponsor of comprehensive reform of the death penalty system in Illinois. He has been a leader in reforming the juvenile justice system to keep more young people in school and out of prison, and has fought to increase penalties for domestic violence.

Civil Rights and Liberties. As a constitutional law professor, Obama has been a leading voice in the Senate in protecting a woman's right to reproductive freedom. He passed model legislation designed to curb the practice of racial profiling by law enforcement.

Ethics Reform. Working with former U.S. Senator Paul Simon, Obama was a chief architect and sponsor of the first state campaign finance reform legislation in 25 years, and has helped toughen rules governing government contracting and procurement.

Obama graduated from Columbia University with a degree in political science and a specialty in international relations. He worked as a community organizer in some of Chicago's toughest neighborhoods, helping church groups create job-training programs, reform area schools, and improve city services.

He went on to Harvard Law School, where he graduated magna cum laude and served as the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. After law school, Obama organized one of the largest voter registration drives in Chicago history to help Bill Clinton's election, and worked as a civil rights lawyer on cutting edge voting rights and employment discrimination cases in federal and state courts.

Currently a law professor specializing in constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School, Obama has served on the boards of some of Chicago's leading foundations and chaired the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a $50 million philanthropic effort to reform the public schools.
http://www.obamaforillinois.com/bio.shtml

Obama is very liberal. I saw him speak last year at an anti-war rally, with Jesse Jackson. I don't think that is exactly DLC type of behavior.

are talking about Obama here in DeKalb county

I've volunteered my time to Obama on his website. I haven't heard back yet, but it's still early. Not sure how much help he'll need here in the 2nd Dist. He's pretty much got this area sewn up.

getting them out to vote in the primary and then getting people out, if he wins the nomination, for the general election.

Are you going? I will be there.

John

For Dean. In Park Forest.

Damn. . .I was hoping I could get you to be on the Clark team (I am a Chicago coordinator), but if Clark does not announce I will be on the Dean team. Where in Park Forest? . .that is where I grew up, mom and dad are still there and I go back once or twice a week.

Not sure how many are signed up there.

Anyway, it would be at Changes Bookstore.

Go to http://dean2004.meetup.com/ and sign-up.

The Hotel Allegro would be nice too. It's right down the street from work.

John Ostenburg, a strong Democrat. He backed the State Rep. (Robin Kelly) I worked for. My mom is the director of community relations for Park Forest.

I am in two meetups (Clark and Obama) so I will wait to see what Clark is going to do before I join a Dean meet-up.

Obama will confront the ruinous, Republican policies that are undermining basic principles of fairness and opportunity. He will speak for millions of working families and the dispossessed with a message of opportunity and hope.

Barack Obama believes that America has the resources to expand the economy, employ those who want work at a living wage, educate our children to compete in a global economy, provide basic health care to all Americans, and help insure a dignified and secure retirement for our elderly. As a U.S. Senator, he will fight for:

Universal preschool education for every child in America, no matter their background or economic status.


Access to quality health care for every child in our nation; prescription drug coverage for seniors who need it; and protecting families from the economic devastation of a catastrophic illness.


Investment in job training and job-development programs, with a special emphasis on young people with less than a college education.


Pension protection for Americans who've worked hard for their retirement, but whose golden years are threatened by corporate bankruptcies and corruption.


Retool trade agreements to include protections for American workers and the global environment.


Steadfast defense of our basic rights and liberties as Americans, especially our rights of free speech, privacy and reproductive freedom, which are under increasing assault by John Ashcroft and a Congress cowed by the terrorist threat.

Uh do you think that will confuse some people?

...those who wouldn't vote for him anyway.

:kick:

When I saw that name. Thought it was a typo and that this was a joke. Oh well, if we can deal with a Democrat named "Gobush," I think we can handle an Obama.

After I met him and talked to him, I told my husband I'll march into the gates of hell with Obama... I like hm that much! He's sincere, passionate and has done a lot in the Illinois Senate when it was under Repub control. I can't think of a candidate at the level that I've liked this much in a long time (Well, except Durbin... He is amazing if you ever get a chance to watch him work a room.)

Obama is a Progressive and makes no bones about what he thinks. I have never met a DLCer who made me want to give a standing ovation during a stump speech--Barak Obama did. The only DLC candidate I know of in that race is Hynes...

Laura

That is a REAL endorsement! From previous posts I got the impression you were a Hynes supporter.
I'm with you on this one...

and she will be the turtle. She will start slow but we know who won the race. :)

Obama is a good guy, and definitely not easy to pigeonhole. He's very smart (pres. of the Harvard Law Review), biracial (white mother from Kansas and father a native Kenyan), and grew up in Hawaii. He's not an old school Illinois politico, in other words. I really want him to make it, not just because I think he'd be a great Senator, but also because it's another "take that!" to those timid DLC types.

I interviewed Obama for a newspaper article when he was running for Congress in 2000. I have mixed feelings about him. He's extremely intelligent, but he's also pompous and arrogant. He was unable to connect with black voters in the 1st District in the same way that Bobby Rush did. Rush is a Georgia-born African-American, descended from slaves. Obama is the son of a Kenyan exchange student and a white mother, raised by a white family in Hawaii. South Side blacks never accepted him as "one of us." I suspected he'd make a better senator than a congressman for a majority-black district, because his experiences help him bridge the gap between the races.

My worry is that if Obama goes to Washington, he won't think of himself as a senator from Illinois, but as a Harvard Law graduate who has finally achieved his proper station in life. He talks about Harvard constantly. That has not endeared him to his colleagues in Springfield, where he has a reputation as an ineffective state senator who won't do the wheeling and dealing necessary to pass a bill. The other senator know that Obama thinks he's too big for the joint.

At the moment, I'm leaning toward Dan Hynes, because I know his loyalties belong to Illinois. Obama can still change my mind, though.

Whenever I saw him on Chicago Tonight I was very impressed. As for 'not thinking of himself as a senator from Illinois', I wish ALL senators took a more national/global view of their duties and responsibilities. It ain't ALL about bringing home the pork. I can see how some of his fellow local politicos in Springpatch would be irked by 'someone who won't do the wheeling and dealing', and that indicates he must be doing something right (to me). Ineffectual? Sure; the Repukes have controlled state politics since he's been there, usually in agreement with the Chicago Machine. Kass (Tribune) calls it the Combine. Kind of like Daschle and Pelosi and Gephardt being 'ineffectual'.
Anyway, I DO appreciate reading your thoughts. Thanks again.