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Duckworth is the absent candidate

We are now less than 30 days away from this very important election. Voters will be making up their minds and newspaper editorial boards will be announcing their preferences. The criteria they use is varied but, regardless of political philosophy, a key criterion for a member of the House of Representatives is responsiveness to constituents. Behavior in the campaign is a good indicator of postelection representation.

One candidate has deliberately and consistently avoided interacting with the voters and debating her opponent. To nobody’s surprise, that absentee candidate is Tammy Duckworth, the darling of Emanuel, Axelrod, Pelosi, Durbin, and others, who apparently was expected to cruise to an easy victory without campaigning much. It is known that she has already turned down at least 10 invitations to appear at local events. According to her own website, she scheduled campaign events on only three days for the entire month of September. The site fails to mention she was able to spend the entire week of Sept. 24 in California.

The site does tell us her September events were limited to Democrat groups, a union, a Muslim group and a mystery meeting in Schaumburg. Duckworth likewise refuses to take public positions on key issues such as Medicare, instead just name-calling her opponent. The district has suffered absentee congressmen in the past: Melissa Bean and Phil Crane. It looks we may have another. We deserve better.

Neal Underwood

Arlington Heights

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