Rodriguez best bet to beat Bean in fall

After learning more about each candidate and attending two debates, I have come to the obvious conclusion that Maria Rodriguez is the strongest candidate for Congress in the 8th District Republican primary.

What separates her from the rest of the pack is not her position on the issues. All of the candidates running are conservatives who are virtually indistinguishable from one another on the issues. Rather, Maria Rodriguez is the candidate Republicans can most confidently expect to unseat Melissa Bean this November.

Unlike her opponents, Rodriguez has demonstrated her strong appeal to voters in several previous elections. As a local mother of three, she did not like how things were being run in her community, and not unlike Sarah Palin, she decided to do something about it. She ran for mayor against an incumbent politician and to the surprise of the local establishment, she won that race by a substantial margin. She remains so popular with voters that she ran unopposed in her last election.

The other candidates in the race either remain untested or bring too many liabilities with them. Dirk Beveridge and Chris Geissler are both well spoken, but have never run for office so their ability to appeal to voters remains unseen. Joe Walsh is a tested candidate, but voters have rejected him at the ballot box in two previous races. Walsh would also be easy for Bean to paint as a flip-flopper since his positions on issues like abortion or gun control have changed back and forth depending on the politics of the area in which he was running.

So Maria Rodriguez is the obvious choice. She is a strong conservative who has demonstrated her appeal to voters and she is the only candidate Republicans can confidently expect to beat Melissa Bean in November.

Jim Uren

Mundelein