Ranger

When your opposing party is spending tens of millions in the primary trying to ensure the candidate you support wins, you may be supporting the wrong candidate. Jeff Foxworthy might word it differently; but I'm pretty certain he would be handing out signs. Realpolitik is real. A former president was once described as being as liberal as he had to be and as conservative as he could be. If we hope to have influence, the choice in Illinois primaries shouldn't be who is the most ideologically aligned with us; but who is the most ideologically aligned with us that might actually win. I voted for Trump twice and have the hats, etc. I think he did more positive for this country than any other president in recent history and shudder to think how much worse off we would have been under clinton and clintons scotus. That said, I also believe that Trump's mouth / ego were among the major reasons why he didn't win a second term and his actions / candidate involvement in this midterm were a major reason (along with dem support of those same candidates in primaries) why the red wave fizzled out pathetically. Now Trump is bashing DeSantis who is one of if not the most viable candidate on the republican side to win the general in 2024. If he keeps up bashing electable Republicans, he's going to lose his support and deservedly so.

Looking a bit better. Senate might be close.

Just a little bit of a difference there... ;-) I watched it too. Bailey did much, much better than I anticipated. He made some flubs like saying "our" part of the state once; but did pretty well overall. For some reason, Pritzker's closing statement kept replaying on my phone and i had to shut it down to stop it. Don't know what happened with that. If it happened on others, that was a very clever move. Kind of spooky though.

Molly: I wanted to listen in; but life has been pretty hectic. Is it archived somewhere so we can listen when we have snips of time?

FWIW: I truly felt voting for Bailey in the primary was a big mistake; but we'll see. If the election margin is within 10%, I'll be very surprised and impressed. If Bailey wins, I'll be as stunned (and pleased) as when Trump won back in 2016. If Bailey won Governor and DeVore (who I can't really say anything positive about as a person; but might vote for) were to win, it would certainly be interesting times.

I would not be a bit surprised that Dems got someone to run as a libertarian and siphon votes from Bailey. That stuff works. Repubs should have found some far left green candidate to siphon votes from JB.

There is absolutely no comparison between Bailey and Pritzker on the 2nd amendment. Pritzker is vehemently anti-gun. Bailey is vehemently pro-gun. Bailey wins that gun rights contest hands down.

JDW: I remember that. Prompted a gun buying panic and price surge. It is going to be very interesting to see what happens.

Gtx: I hadn't heard of them. Thanks for adding. I wish their site was easier to navigate.

Illinoisbuckeye: I hope it backfires big time on the anti-gunners. I fear it will not.

Thanks for making us aware of this!

The shift since the SCOTUS abortion decision and the republican primaries has been scary. I'm not sure if the polls are far off or if people are just that... I hope the Republicans can get control of both the US House and Senate.

I'm not seeing how to search for posts I've made or responded to. Is there an easy way?

I hope; but history has shown it to be an effective strategy. I suspect it will work in many cases. Democrats do too otherwise they wouldn't be spending the tens (hundreds?) of millions they are / have been on boosting certain GOP candidates.

I used to follow capitalfax. They leaned left back then and have only gotten more radical left as time progressed. I've tried to post factual information there and had it deleted or not post before. I don't bother often any more. We can only change the minds of those open to logic.

Well... I vowed to avoid political posts / websites for a while; but... couldn't do it. Saw where the Democrats have spent big in some other republican primaries too to get the candidate they wanted to run against in the general. It will probably work well, may enable them to keep their majorities, and frustrates the bejeebers out of me.

They know this is unlikely to withstand SCOTUS; but believe it will help them win votes and keep majorities this fall. I hope they are wrong abou tthat.

Overall, would it be better for the girl to have that abortion or for the girl to have never been raped? If you think the later, then you should also probably note that the rapist was in the U.S.A. illegally and consider which political party tacitly encourages illegal immigration and occupation before going far down that road... As to the clean air, clean water, etc... There is a balance point with everything. The EPA's interpretations related to Waters of The U.S. were way too far reaching. Essentially, they were trying to control a huge amount of land within the U.S. As a pond owner and land owner, I am a great steward of the land. I don't need a bureaucrat with little knowledge and no skin in the game telling me how to best utilize my land or requiring thousand's of dollars worth of consultant fees and permits to do something on it. The group over on pondboss.com are huge advocates of taking care of their ponds and environments and huge opponents of waters of the US / EPA overreach. As to healthcare... There are certainly cases where an individual develops health issues through no fault of their own. I am very empathetic to them and do not object to some of the taxes I pay helping them. On the other hand, there are also a number of individuals who bear great responsibility for their health issues - whether that is from heavy smoking / drinking / drug use / etc. - and have never worked a real job in their life. I feel far less compelled to pay taxes to assist them. Facebook and Twitter shape / censor / distort public perception and discussion. Social media companies were given protections that print media doesn't have at one point to help boost a growing area. The time has passed for the social media companies to follow the same guidance. Either they censor and face liability or they don't censor based upon a clear bias and continue to enjoy the immunity.

You definitely can't blame people for buying guns for protection. My question is given these numbers and the assumption that a decent percentage of these are first time buyers, how can the politicians who are pushing woke agendas / defund the police / no cash bail / etc. still be polling so well? Mind boggling and frustrating to me. Is the percentage of the population who are that stupid / brain washed really that large? Guess we might find out with the next election.

Thought it might be of interest to post links to some of the more prominent election projection websites so we could have them in one location. What some project will make us feel better while others will cause us anxiety and disbelief. I think most show the Republicans taking control of the House. Many show the Senate as a toss up. On the 2024 Presidential race, some show Biden / Harris / Newsome polling well against Trump / Desantis / Cruz / etc. That should cause all of us angst and instill a desire to do whatever we can to influence it. If you track some of the political stuff, you'll have read that Democrats were very active in the Republican primaries in many states this time. They were generally pretty successful in increasing the odds for Democrats winning in the general by pushing Republican candidates in the primaries who are less likely to get elected in the general election. Very smart for Democrats. Very frustrating for Republicans. It is what it is. https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2022-election-forecast/ https://www.racetothewh.com/ https://www.realclearpolitics.com/elections/2022/ https://www.270towin.com/2022-senate-election-predictions/ https://www.politico.com/2022-election/race-forecasts-ratings-and-predictions/ https://centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/articles/the-outlook-for-the-2022-senate-elections-a-state-by-state-analysis/ https://www.cookpolitical.com/ratings https://ballotpedia.org/United_States_Congress_elections,_2022 https://www.predictit.org/markets/detail/6874/Which-party-will-control-the-Senate-after-2022-election

2A4Cook has an excellent point. Bailey would need numbers not percentages. That northeast corner of the state that Bailey called a ****hole has a whole lot of numbers. https://www.cochranshow.com/podcast/the-nominee-the-chancellor-and-the-ceo With a very low turnout in heavily democrat areas (possibly due to far fewer real races on the democrat side and to democrats switching in the primary to vote for Bailey to ensure he is the candidate), almost as many people voted for JB as voted for all the Republican candidates combined. Although Bailey / DeVore both have pretty widespread support among republicans, I think they are going to get absolutely creamed in the general. Who has and is willing to spend the money to support either that Pritzker has / will spend on his own behalf? Griffen showed what he thought when he announced that Citadel was moving from Chicago to Miami. Of perhaps more concern... I noticed that the bets (odds) related to republicans taking control of the US House and US Senate each dropped pretty significantly (although still favorable) on a betting site from when I looked at it right before the primary. I haven't paid attention to primary races or anything anywhere else. Don't know if that is related to primary race winners, SCOTUS rulings, the Jan 6th coverage, or what. I still think the odds are good unless the Republicans blow it; but am also sure that the Republican party can blow it as I've seen it over and over. If it happens, I think Trump bashing Desantis / intraparty fighting will play a role in it. Think I'll stop reading / visiting political sites for a while to minimize frustration for a while. My wife stopped watching the news after the last Presidential election (she was / is very disappointed with results) and it has probably helped her avoid some frustration.

I think political strategists will study the Illinois Governor and Attorney General races and try to emulate the Democrat's strategy for years. It was masterful. Get your opponents to select the candidates with the least chance of beating you. It worked. I bet they already have the hit pieces against Bailey and DeVore already polished up and ready for distribution when the timing is optimal. They were easy enough to find and craft. I saw on one betting sight this morning that JB's odds are now at 94% up from 85%.

Seems like now is the time to do some spanking though.

I thought so too; but have heard they could never be certain of outcome until Amy was appointed so better to delay and defer rather than risk bad ruling.

Results like I'm seeing tonight are what makes me worry about Republicans messing up and blowing a great opportunity in the general for control of the US House & Senate.