Kirk faces war on many fronts - The North Shore, once heavily Republican, has changed.
Kirk faces war on many fronts - The North Shore, once heavily Republican, has changed. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has taken notice.
By Susan Kuczka
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
July 26, 2007
As he left a Chamber of Commerce luncheon, U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) ignored the young man filming him as he exited the Hilton Hotel in north suburban Northbrook.
"Congressman, please take a stand on the war," the camera-toting man shouted as Kirk hopped into a waiting sport-utility vehicle for a ride to the airport to catch a plane back to Washington.
He wasn't the first heckler Kirk had encountered during the recent 4th of July break from Congress.
Throughout the normally tranquil 10th District, groups of Iraq war protesters lined parade routes that Kirk walked to hand out fliers criticizing Kirk for his votes in support of the war effort.
Similar scenes played out across the country as a nationwide anti-war campaign supported by political action groups sent supporters to 15 states to demonstrate against federal lawmakers who approved funding for the troops.
While the war is likely to be a hot-button issue in next year's congressional elections, it won't be the only battle Kirk will have to wage as he seeks election to a fifth term in one of the nation's wealthiest districts.
The North Shore, once heavily Republican, has changed politically since 2000, when Kirk succeeded his former boss, longtime Republican Rep. John Porter. A majority of the area's state legislative districts are held by Democrats, and presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry carried the 10th District in 2004.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the campaign arm of Democrats in the House, has taken notice and put a bull's-eye on Kirk.
"This is a top priority race for us, and not just in Illinois but in the entire country, because it's just very fertile ground for a pickup for Democrats," said Ryan Rudominer, the national committee's Midwest press secretary.
The district's political shift helped Democratic political novice Dan Seals of Wilmette give Kirk a competitive race last fall, despite being outspent 2-1 by the incumbent and largely overlooked by national Democratic Party officials until late in the campaign.
National party officials focused their attention mostly on the neighboring northwest suburban 8th District, where the GOP unsuccessfully sought to topple Democratic freshman Rep. Melissa Bean of Barrington, and the west suburban 6th District, where former GOP state lawmaker Peter Roskam of Wheaton beat Iraq war veteran Tammy Duckworth of Hoffman Estates.
Determined not to miss an opportunity to challenge Kirk in next year's election, Seals recently announced that he'll take another shot. Democrat Jay Footlik of Vernon Hills also launched a campaign, setting up a Feb. 5 primary showdown with Seals that will determine Kirk's eventual Democratic opponent.
Kirk, meanwhile, is wearing his game face as he tours the district, painting himself as a moderate lawmaker who can work both sides of the aisle to get things done at home. The district runs along Lake Michigan from Wilmette to Waukegan in Lake County and west to Arlington Heights in Cook County.
"I just won re-election only eight months ago, and you generally have faith that people tend to vote for the candidate they like, and they don't change their mind," said Kirk, who had more than $1.1 million in his campaign fund as of June 30, putting him near the top of all Republican members of Congress in fundraising for the second quarter.
Seals, a former marketing consultant who came within 6 percentage points of defeating Kirk last fall, had raised $264,808 as of June 30, according to Federal Election Commission campaign finance reports.
Footlik, a former aide in the Clinton administration, had raised $286,000 by the end of the quarter, the reports showed.
Although both Democratic candidates have pledged to hit Kirk hard on the war issue, the congressman said he believes his work on veterans affairs, immigration reform, the environment and congressional ethics reform will win out.
Nevertheless, a new group called Americans Against Escalation in Iraq recently targeted Kirk, along with U.S. Reps. Tim Johnson of Urbana and Ray LaHood of Peoria , with letters, e-mails and resolutions to pressure them to support a timetable for a U.S. troop withdrawal.
Unlike his two Illinois colleagues and other congressmen opposed by the anti-war group, Kirk has more than a voting record on the conflict in Iraq.
As an intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve, Kirk is the only member of Congress who spends one weekend a month inside the Pentagon, where the day-to-day military operations in Iraq are decided.
"It's an awesome experience because you're with the troops," said Kirk, whose only vote against the war effort came in February when he supported a non-binding bill opposing the recent troop surge in Iraq. "When the proposal for that operation came in, the senior commanders didn't like it, and I sided with them against the president," Kirk said.
Kirk also led a group of 11 House Republicans who visited President Bush at the White House in May to warn that if conditions in Iraq did not improve, their support for the war could evaporate, an exercise that Democrats such as Seals and Footlik believe fell short of what most 10th District residents want from their representative in Washington.
Back home, it's evident that Iraq is not one of Kirk's favorite things to talk about.
At the chamber luncheon in Northbrook, Kirk offered updates on everything from crackdowns on Internet pedophiles to efforts to keep raw sewage out of Lake Michigan. It was only when asked by a chamber member that Kirk discussed the war.
Kirk said rather than ignoring the issue, he's simply trying to address what he believes are the major concerns of his constituency. "I think most people would agree with me that they want to wind up this mission," he said. "My constituents ask way more questions about things like immigration."
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skuczka@tribune.com
By Susan Kuczka
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
July 26, 2007
As he left a Chamber of Commerce luncheon, U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) ignored the young man filming him as he exited the Hilton Hotel in north suburban Northbrook.
"Congressman, please take a stand on the war," the camera-toting man shouted as Kirk hopped into a waiting sport-utility vehicle for a ride to the airport to catch a plane back to Washington.
He wasn't the first heckler Kirk had encountered during the recent 4th of July break from Congress.
Throughout the normally tranquil 10th District, groups of Iraq war protesters lined parade routes that Kirk walked to hand out fliers criticizing Kirk for his votes in support of the war effort.
Similar scenes played out across the country as a nationwide anti-war campaign supported by political action groups sent supporters to 15 states to demonstrate against federal lawmakers who approved funding for the troops.
While the war is likely to be a hot-button issue in next year's congressional elections, it won't be the only battle Kirk will have to wage as he seeks election to a fifth term in one of the nation's wealthiest districts.
The North Shore, once heavily Republican, has changed politically since 2000, when Kirk succeeded his former boss, longtime Republican Rep. John Porter. A majority of the area's state legislative districts are held by Democrats, and presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry carried the 10th District in 2004.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the campaign arm of Democrats in the House, has taken notice and put a bull's-eye on Kirk.
"This is a top priority race for us, and not just in Illinois but in the entire country, because it's just very fertile ground for a pickup for Democrats," said Ryan Rudominer, the national committee's Midwest press secretary.
The district's political shift helped Democratic political novice Dan Seals of Wilmette give Kirk a competitive race last fall, despite being outspent 2-1 by the incumbent and largely overlooked by national Democratic Party officials until late in the campaign.
National party officials focused their attention mostly on the neighboring northwest suburban 8th District, where the GOP unsuccessfully sought to topple Democratic freshman Rep. Melissa Bean of Barrington, and the west suburban 6th District, where former GOP state lawmaker Peter Roskam of Wheaton beat Iraq war veteran Tammy Duckworth of Hoffman Estates.
Determined not to miss an opportunity to challenge Kirk in next year's election, Seals recently announced that he'll take another shot. Democrat Jay Footlik of Vernon Hills also launched a campaign, setting up a Feb. 5 primary showdown with Seals that will determine Kirk's eventual Democratic opponent.
Kirk, meanwhile, is wearing his game face as he tours the district, painting himself as a moderate lawmaker who can work both sides of the aisle to get things done at home. The district runs along Lake Michigan from Wilmette to Waukegan in Lake County and west to Arlington Heights in Cook County.
"I just won re-election only eight months ago, and you generally have faith that people tend to vote for the candidate they like, and they don't change their mind," said Kirk, who had more than $1.1 million in his campaign fund as of June 30, putting him near the top of all Republican members of Congress in fundraising for the second quarter.
Seals, a former marketing consultant who came within 6 percentage points of defeating Kirk last fall, had raised $264,808 as of June 30, according to Federal Election Commission campaign finance reports.
Footlik, a former aide in the Clinton administration, had raised $286,000 by the end of the quarter, the reports showed.
Although both Democratic candidates have pledged to hit Kirk hard on the war issue, the congressman said he believes his work on veterans affairs, immigration reform, the environment and congressional ethics reform will win out.
Nevertheless, a new group called Americans Against Escalation in Iraq recently targeted Kirk, along with U.S. Reps. Tim Johnson of Urbana and Ray LaHood of Peoria , with letters, e-mails and resolutions to pressure them to support a timetable for a U.S. troop withdrawal.
Unlike his two Illinois colleagues and other congressmen opposed by the anti-war group, Kirk has more than a voting record on the conflict in Iraq.
As an intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve, Kirk is the only member of Congress who spends one weekend a month inside the Pentagon, where the day-to-day military operations in Iraq are decided.
"It's an awesome experience because you're with the troops," said Kirk, whose only vote against the war effort came in February when he supported a non-binding bill opposing the recent troop surge in Iraq. "When the proposal for that operation came in, the senior commanders didn't like it, and I sided with them against the president," Kirk said.
Kirk also led a group of 11 House Republicans who visited President Bush at the White House in May to warn that if conditions in Iraq did not improve, their support for the war could evaporate, an exercise that Democrats such as Seals and Footlik believe fell short of what most 10th District residents want from their representative in Washington.
Back home, it's evident that Iraq is not one of Kirk's favorite things to talk about.
At the chamber luncheon in Northbrook, Kirk offered updates on everything from crackdowns on Internet pedophiles to efforts to keep raw sewage out of Lake Michigan. It was only when asked by a chamber member that Kirk discussed the war.
Kirk said rather than ignoring the issue, he's simply trying to address what he believes are the major concerns of his constituency. "I think most people would agree with me that they want to wind up this mission," he said. "My constituents ask way more questions about things like immigration."
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skuczka@tribune.com
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