Stan Jagla on his battery conviction

To the anonymous commenter from yesterday:

This is what I meant when I said that Stan Jagla has plenty of his own dirt.

Jagla Talks About Battery Case

Let the Circus Begin

James Fuller of he Daily Herald reports today that IL-06 congressional candidate Stan Jagla will most likely stay on the ballot for the Feb. 5th primary. The final hearing with the Illinois Board of Elections is set for Friday.

Like everything about this race thus far, this misstep by the Morgenthaler campaign will prove to provide endless entertainment in the press. Stan, as nutty as he is, will hold nothing back and will become a Polish-American Alan Keyes of sorts. He'll rake Col. Jill Morgenthaler through the mud every chance he gets and he'll do it so humorously that the press won't be able to resist writing about it. The Daily Herald reports that Stan is gearing up to do just that:

"With the race on, Jagla pledged Monday to come after his Democratic competitor, Army Reserve Col. Jill Morgenthaler, with guns blazing.

Jagla said he believes the Morgenthaler campaign was behind Flynn's petition challenge.

Morgenthaler's campaign staff claims Flynn as a supporter, but has said Flynn is not working directly for the campaign.

"I'm going to be much more aggressive," Jagla said. "This pointless petition challenge showed me that being polite with these people doesn't pay."

This, my friends, is one of the reasons why trying to kick your opponent off the ballot is a stupid idea. Aside from being contrary to democracy, there's always a chance that it won't happen and that your opponent will quickly morph into a PR problem that will cost you money, time, and dirty laundry aired all over the place. For Col. Jill Morgenthaler, I suppose it's a good thing that Stan Jagla has plenty of dirty laundry of his own.

Barack O Bollywood!

This clip proves once again that Bollywood is appropriate in all circumstances. Witness "Barack O'Bollywood", Bollywood's homage to the B-man himself.

Bill Foster files for the special

Bill Foster will file 1,832 signatures this morning for the special election in IL-14. They like to point out that's after a week with two ice storms and 8 inches of snow. I like to point out that it's a perfectly sufficient number to avoid a challenge.

I think they needed 870 or so, so 1,832 pads their total nicely and they were still able to do other stuff the past week.

I was out helping the Foster campaign in IL-14 yesterday. I was struck by a few things.

Something I had wondered about with the Foster campaign early on was whether or not they would be able to expand their base and their volunteer pool sufficiently. As I read through their volunteer board on the wall of the office yesterday, I really got it that they are doing the right things to diversify their support. I suspected they were doing all the right things before and I had no reason to think otherwise, but yesterday seriously cemented it in my brain.

Like every campaign should, they started out building upon Bill's personal and professional relationships for financial and volunteer support. One of the things that I look for in candidates is whether or not the candidate's former colleagues like and respect him or her enough to invest time and money in the campaign. Bill certainly passed that test with flying colors! How many candidates can you think of who have world class scientists (and their families) writing checks AND pounding the pavement for them?!

The Foster Scientific Brigade have continued to be out in full effect for Bill and the campaign has managed to recruit many new, enthusiastic supporters form very diverse communities! I've met college kids from Aurora University and Northern Illinois University. I saw several of the Fox Valley Forge strikers and their families. Teachers from Batavia, Geneva, St. Charles and Elgin. Nurses from DeKalb, Aurora, and Oswego. At least two Kane County Board members and several other elected officials and their families. And, perhaps most importantly, many people who I know from firsthand experience who have the ability to influence large chunks of the voting bloc.

Couple this with the fact that Bill has raised the most money of any Democratic or Republican candidate (aside from his personal contribution) and has picked up some very impressive endorsements and things are looking pretty good for the Foster campaign. I'm pretty happy with their progress thus far.

Bombin'

Bob Latta
Bob Latta
Bob Latta