Illinois delegates told to broaden appeal, emphasize successes

MINNEAPOLIS - A subsidiary of John McCain's "straight-talk express" stopped at the Illinois Republican delegation breakfast Thursday, with a party icon blaming weak organization for the state GOP's woes and a downstate congressman telling delegates that Illinois Republicans can win only by broadening their appeal.

Those challenges, flung down by Robert H. Michel and Ray LaHood, punctuated a final-day breakfast that otherwise featured a delegation buoyed by vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's Wednesday speech and entertained by state Senate Republican leader Frank Watson's recreation of the hugfest shared by Illinois Democrats meeting in Denver last week.

"The difference is that when we hug each other, we mean it," Watson said, after taking the stage and telling everyone to hug a fellow Republican.

But former downstate Congressman Michel, long the House Republican leader in Washington, offered his party colleagues a blunt assessment of their eroding numbers in Washington and Springfield.

"Let's face it folks, our organization as a party in the state of Illinois is wanting," said Michel. "That's why we don't have a constitutional office in the state of Illinois, because our organization has been weak. And it's your obligation to go back home and stir things up."

Questioned by reporters after the meeting, Watson said Michel's assessment is outdated.

"I think he's talking about the past," said Watson, of Greenfield. "He certainly can't be talking about today. Certainly we've had our problems; there's no doubt about the fact that we have, and we are rebuilding. I think tomorrow's going to be brighter day for Republicans because of what we're doing now."

U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood, speaking after Michel, said the party must broaden its base.

"You can't win in these congressional districts and you can't win in Illinois with just Republicans," LaHood said, adding that the party can win back statewide offices only by recruiting candidates capable of reaching out to Democrats and independents.

"This is not to give up on principle and not to give up on philosophy," said LaHood, of Peoria, "but to recruit candidates who can say, 'This is what we believe in, and we know there are discerning Democrats and independents who believe the same thing that we do.' "

Also addressing the delegates' breakfast, state House Republican leader Tom Cross, of Oswego, said Democrats have created an opening for the GOP by feuding and failing to advance an agenda.

"Anybody who has spent any time focusing in what has been going on in Illinois in the last six years can't make a single case for explaining to me why anybody in this state would vote for a Democrat in Illinois politics,"Cross said.

Republicans must give residents reasons to vote for them that go beyond dissatisfaction with Illinois Democrats. He cited this party's "agenda for change," which includes creating jobs, shoring up ethics law and making college more affordable. He said party leaders have not written off the November elections even though Chicagoan Barack Obama tops the Democratic ticket.

Citing Chicago school reform and welfare reform, Watson urged delegates to tell voters that Republicans made progress on issues when they controlled both legislative chambers and the governor's office in the mid-1990s.

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