Uhh, Dabuddy, umm, is there anything the Cegelis people have to do in order to patch things up besides accept apologies?

shouldn't have refused to endorse Duckworth.  She got beat, it may not have been fair that the DCCC backed Cegelis but you know what, the people who vote ultimately decide things, not the DCCC, DNC, or fellow politicians.  Obama, Durbin, and Emmanuel had every right to support Duckworth just like Cegelis had every right to stay in the race.  Politics isn't a friendly game and a lot of times, bad things happen to good people.  This is something bloggers are just going to have to accept.

I am frankly amazed that the majority show YES or NOT SURE (67%) and only 10% NO.

I think it more likely for pigs to fly than that reptoid Rahm should suddenly acquire a human soul and that he, Durbin and Obama should publicly recant their evil doings. (Step #2)

BTW, was there a Step #3 in the post originally?

For the skeptics -- 03/31/2006 The Frontrunner

Coming on the heels of a March 13 fund-raiser featuring Vice President Dick Cheney, Roskam, 44, was joined Friday by Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman for a closed-door strategy session, followed by a 30-minute roundtable discussion with the media." Mehlman's visit was "the first-ever to the 6th District by an RNC chairman. But this no ordinary election year. For the first time in a long time, the playing field in the district is close to level for both the Republican and Democratic candidates."

03/29/2006 Chicago Sun-Times

The National Republican Congressional Committee sent out a release with the taunting headline, ``Tammy Duckworth-WWRD: What Would Rahm Do.''

The NRCC -- the GOP counterpart to Emanuel's Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (both organizations are based in Washington) -- is injecting Emanuel into the race as Duckworth is faced with the challenge of uniting Democrats in the wake of the divisive March 21 Illinois primary.
[. . .]
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who was as instrumental, if not more, than Emanuel in getting Duckworth to run and helping her to win.

But it was Emanuel who essentially pulled the rug out from Cegelis early on by shopping around for
another candidate, so he wears the jacket.

The day after the primary, the NRCC sent out a release asking Duckworth where she stood on 10
bills the House had voted on in 2005, which Duckworth's team understandably ignored.

Tuesday, the NRCC sent out a revised version of the same release this time adding Emanuel's votes.
``Until she answers these questions, voters can and should assume that Duckworth, who has been
recruited and paid for by the National Democrats, will vote with her liberal leaders.''
[. . .]
The NRCC craftily asked Duckworth in its release where she would stand on roll call vote 648, a
resolution sponsored by Hyde ``expressing the commitment of the House of Representatives to
achieving victory in Iraq'' that was voted on Dec. 16. The resolution said that setting an ``artificial timetable'' for deploying troops out of Iraq is ``inconsistent with achieving victory.''

03/24/2006The Washington Times

'A little too cute'

"The 'Iraq veteran' political strategy that Democrats hope will sweep them into Congress could be coming up short - much-touted vet Tammy Duckworth, a helicopter pilot who lost both legs in combat, barely won her Illinois Democratic primary," the New York Post's Deborah Orin writes.

"Duckworth scraped by in a squeaker, winning by just over 1,000 votes and 44 percent of the vote in a three-way race - despite the backing of stars like Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the only TV ads, and outspending her chief rival 7-1," Miss Orin said.

03/18/2006 The Associated Press State & Local Wire

"When someone decides to run for office, the first people they go to for support is their base family, friends and folks they know locally," said Jonathan Collegio, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, which is helping Roskam. "Tammy Duckworth lives outside the 6th District, raises 98.9 percent of her money from outside the district."

03/15/2006 Chicago Tribune

. [. . .] when Sen. Durbin called me in the summer and said, 'Henry Hyde's retiring, your house is not that far from the district, would you consider running?' I didn't hang up the phone on him," Duckworth said.

03/02/2006 The Chicago Sun-Times

[. . .] some of the nation's biggest Democratic names are raising money for wounded Iraq war vet Tammy Duckworth, taking sides in a suburban congressional contest.

Duckworth travels to New York on March 12 for a fund-raiser hosted by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton
(D-N.Y.), who is the Democrats' star draw.
[. . .]
On Wednesday morning, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) sent out an e-mail appeal for Duckworth and other Iraq war vets running for Congress. By the afternoon, Duckworth spokesman Billy Weinberg told me the Kerry letter in just six hours raised tens of thousands of dollars for Duckworth. Kerry ``also raised some money for us today,'' Cegelis told me. After Kerry's e-mail hit, ``they went to our site and made a contribution in unfavorable reaction to what he did.''

Duckworth got in the race at the urging of Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and the packaged campaign
Durbin, Emanuel and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) created for her has spawned resentment in segments of the grass-roots activist Democratic community.

Duckworth's campaign seed money was provided by political action committees and donors connected to Durbin, Emanuel, Obama, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

Professional fund-raisers working for the four Illinois lawmakers -- all with golden Rolodexes
full of national contacts -- are helping Duckworth. And Pelosi and Emanuel also joined in another
e-mail plea for money, setting a goal of raising $250,000 by Feb. 24 in order to bankroll
Duckworth's TV spots. Retired Gen. Wes Clark also sent a letter to benefit Duckworth.

On Sunday, Duckworth's Finance Committee chairman, bankruptcy turnaround specialist William Brandt, and his wife, Patrice, hosted a big-dollar event at their Winnetka home, with special guests Schakowsky, Rep. Lane Evans (D-Ill.) and former Ambassador Joe Wilson, whose wife, Valerie Plame, was the CIA agent whose outing became the basis for a leak probe led by Chicago-based U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.

Wilson was in the Chicago area also appearing at a Schakowsky fund-raiser to benefit her political
action committee.

Cegelis will probably endorse Duckworth one of these days -- when she's ready.  She is truly a class act, & her more vocal critics just don't get that.  Unfortunately, she's right.  Duckworth will need a lot of luck.  She'll need that more than a Primary opponent's endorsement despite a campaign entirely orchestrated by Emanuel's team of political professionals.