State GOP needs to fix itself by 2010
The irony can't be lost on Illinois Republicans. It certainly isn't lost on us.
And it likely isn't lost on Barack Obama, who can thank the state Republicans for playing a big role in helping to put him into the position he is today - the Democratic nominee for president.
It was just four years ago that the best the Republicans could do to battle Obama, then a state senator, for the open U.S. Senate seat was to fly in conservative Alan Keyes from Maryland. That election was over before it started and the Democrats knew it. So they put Obama in as the keynote speaker at their 2004 national convention and the rest, as they say, is history or at least history in the making.
Perhaps that's why only one Illinois Republican - Rep. Mark Kirk - gets a speaking role this week in St. Paul at the Republican National Convention. In comparison, Illinois Democrats were all over the dais in Denver as they tried to put aside their dysfunctional arguments long enough to shine a light on Obama and the host of state Democrats who hope to take his seat should he win in November and the others who hope to win the governor's race in 2010.
Kirk, for his part, needs some speaking time. He's in a tight battle to retain his seat in the 10th Congressional District. No longer are Republicans assured of winning suburban races - just look to former Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert's seat, now occupied by a Democrat - and that too is a testament to the state of the GOP in Illinois. Unfortunately, Kirk's speaking role and that of all the Republicans this week may be overshadowed by Hurricane Gustav.
We believe in the two-party system. We want to see strong candidates in every race. It's better for the voters. It's better for the state. So it's time the Republicans in Illinois regroup and figure out what they need to do to be competitive. One way, some top party leaders say, is to limit the intraparty attacks that have occurred in recent primary elections.
"We need candidates who can be firm in their convictions but communicate those convictions, their desires, in ways that don't offend other people," state Sen. Bill Brady of Peoria, one of the rising GOP stars, told the Daily Herald.
Not all are willing to do that, however. Jack Roeser, head of the Carpentersville-based Family Taxpayers Network, said: "We've got to get rid of these skunks who are running the Republican Party." And he'll put up the money in that effort.
Clearly, there is work for the GOP to do before statewide elections in 2010. It's amazing to see the party, which occupied the governor's office for 26 years until it relinquished it to Democrat Rod Blagojevich, could be in such disarray.
But they do have some hope. Democrats are doing all they can to turn off voters with their own infighting. Neither party can really hold their heads up high right now.
For voters' sakes, we hope that changes. We want to see strong candidates from both parties emerge and have them debate the real issues facing our state.