by Frank James

Mark Brown, the Chicago Sun-Times columnist, argues President-elect Barack Obama should either tell Roland Burris directly, or have some tough-talking emissary (Rahm Emanuel perhaps), tell the senator-in-limbo to end his bid to be seated in the Senate.

Obama doesn't want to do that. He's got bigger fish to fry and would prefer to stand pat with what he's already done, which was to issue a statement from a safe distance saying Burris is a great guy but agreeing the Senate shouldn't accept an appointment made by a governor accused by federal prosecutors of selling the very same seat. While that was helpful, it's not enough. We need Obama's direct intervention.

But we're in a bind here, one created in part by Obama's run for president. He bears some responsibility.

by Frank James

Dan Rostenkowski has forgotten more about political wheeling and dealing than most people will ever know.

So it's worth listening to the former congressman from Illinois and House Ways and Means Committee chairman who knows what it's like to be caught in a political and legal scandal, to be convicted on federal charges and to serve prison time.

He also has the years between his humiliation in the early 1990s and now to have a useful perspective.

Writing in The Daily Beast, Rostenkowski wants it known that Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who once occupied Rostenkowski's old House seat, doesn't represent Illinois's political class or politicians generally.

It is painful to recall my situation and, on a personal level, I can sympathize with the pain the governor's family must feel and can uniquely understand their concerns about what comes next.

But I find his reported behavior troubling. There's a big difference between running a sloppy office and staging a personally-beneficial auction to make policy and personnel decisions. That's what disturbs the public. It bothers me, too.

by Frank James

So do you still get to pick the Senate replacement for President-elect Barack Obama if you've been arrested on federal corruption charges as Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was today?

Some pretty stunning allegations are being made by federal prosecutors, including U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. According to a story on the Chicago Tribune's Breaking News site:

On the issue of the U.S. Senate selection, federal prosecutors alleged Blagojevich sought appointment as Secretary of Health and Human Services in the new Obama administration, or a lucrative job with a union in exchange for appointing a union-preferred candidate.

Blagojevich and Harris, along with others, obtained and sought to gain financial benefits for the governor, members of his family and his campaign fund in exchange for appointments to state boards and commissions, state jobs and state contracts.

by Jason George

The Illinois ball for president-elect Barack Obama's inauguration might be Washington D.C.'s hottest ticket, but the event's headliners aren't exactly Kanye, The Boss or any of those A-list entertainers who've endorsed Obama.

In fact, wedding singers, corporate-events crooners and bar mitzvah bands make up the list of the musicians scheduled to perform at the Illinois State Society's Jan. 19 Inaugural Gala, according to a partial list obtained by the Tribune.

Planners say they are still hoping to hire a handful more professional acts, who will also be joined by two high school choirs.

Of course, it's not the musical entertainment that's making the D.C. event so popular but the assumption that Obama will keep with inaugural tradition and hit his home state's party. In 2001 and 2005, Texas' "Black Tie and Boots Inaugural Ball" reigned as the not-miss affair because of Pres. George W. Bush's Lone Star connections. In 2005, headliners at that ball included Asleep at the Wheel, Lyle Lovett and Clay Walker.

by Frank James

Sen. Dick Durbin, the senior senator from Illinois, is the person who gets credit for asking President-elect Barack Obama in 2006 the critical question that helped the junior senator decide to run for the White House: "Do you really think sticking around the Senate for four more years and casting a thousand more votes will make you more qualified for president?"

Durbin obviously knew something a lot of other people didn't at the time. Today, Durbin issued a statement in response to Obama's announcement that he will resign his Senate seat on Sunday.

"No Senator in our history has made such an impact on America in so short a time.

Though he will no longer be by my side in the Senate, I will be by his side as he leads our nation forward."

By Andrew Zajac

One of the weird little ironies in the massive failure of political leadership in Monday's defeat of the Wall Street bailout package involves the role of Republican Minority Leader John Boehner.

After striking a deal with Democrats, Boehner was unable to deliver his caucus. Somewhere, Vernal Riffe and Corwin Nixon are groaning and rolling their eyes.

Boehner has spent the last 17 years in the House, but he cut his political teeth in the Ohio House of Representatives under legendary Democratic Speaker Riffe and Minority Leader Nixon, a canny survivor of numerous plots against him by his own colleagues.

If Boehner learned nothing else from them, he should have learned how to count votes.

by Laura Olson

The problem isn't whether college students want to vote -- it's whether they can maneuver through a complicated system, activists told the Committee on House Administration at a hearing this afternoon.

Lawmakers listened to testimony from activists and students on the barriers preventing students from voting, including voter identification laws, the absence of same-day registration and intimidating voter misinformation campaigns.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) spoke on the Student Voter Act of 2008, legislation she introduced in July, which she said would "take one step forward" in making registration available to college students.

The Student Voter Act of 2008 would require all universities that receive federal funds to offer voter registration to students at the same time they register for classes. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) has sponsored similar legislation in the Senate.

American winner of eight swimming gold medals Michael Phelps (2nd R) attends a photocall for the Speedo Athlete Media Day fellow U.S. team member Ryan Lochte (2nd L) and Australian swimmers Eamon Sullivan (L) and Grant Hackett (R) during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games on August 19, 2008. (Photo: TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images)

by Laura Olson
Swimmer Ryan Lochte, a four-time medalist at the Beijing Olympics, lent his medals and celebrity Tuesday to Capitol Hill efforts to fight muscular dystrophy.

Lochte spent the day meeting with congressional leaders, including Illinois's Sen. Dick Durbin and Rep. Rahm Emanuel, about reauthorizing legislation to fund research on the genetic disease.

"It's an honor and a privilege to give back and help out the awareness," said Lochte, his four Beijing medals, including two gold ones, clinking against each other.

Lochte, 24, said his uncle's brother suffered from the disease, and he was inspired by watching his uncle's work for the cause. Lochte said he is donating a portion of his endorsement earnings to Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy, an organization focused on individuals affected by Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

He said the lawmakers he met with voiced enthusiasm for the legislation. Durbin was impressed by the group's efforts and offered to help them, said Durbin spokeswoman Christina Mulka.

Lochte, from Gainesville, Fla., was joined by two victims of the disease as he talked with lawmakers about the need for a cure.

by Rick Pearson

DENVER--An African-American woman who is an Illinois delegate for Sen. Hillary Clinton maintained today that Senate President Emil Jones, a mentor of Sen. Barack Obama, called her an "Uncle Tom" at the Illinois hotel for the Democratic National Convention.

Earlier today, Jones, a veteran African-American legislator who is resigning at the end of his term in January, denied using the racial slur and said he referred to Clinton delegate Delmarie Cobb as among the "Doubting Thomases" who should embrace Obama's candidacy as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.

"Clearly that's not what he said," Cobb said, adding that Jones shouted the slur to her across the lobby of the Marriott hotel the delegation is staying at on Saturday night.

"When I went back to him and asked what he said--I said, 'Excuse me, what did you say?--he grabbed me by the shoulders and laughed," she said. "He didn't say anything. I asked, 'Did you call me an Uncle Tom?' He never said anything. At that point, I proceeded to call him a few things. Then I walked away."

Cobb said the comments from Jones reflect the pressures that have been placed on African-American women who backed Clinton's candidacy against Obama in the extended Democratic primary season.

"There's this feeling out here that we've somehow betrayed the race," Cobb said. "The attitude (from Obama supporters) is that they're going to beat you into submission and make you admit you were wrong for supporting Hillary."

She said, as she did in the 1988 contest, she evaluated which candidate had the best record for advancing the causes of African Americans. A decade ago, she said, it was Rev. Jesse Jackson.

(Photo by AP)

by Rick Pearson

DENVER--Already shunned for a national nominating convention speaking role by home-state Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign, Gov. Rod Blagojevich won't attend the Illinois Democratic delegation's opening breakfast Monday and may miss later podium appearances by three potential rivals.

Sources close to Blagojevich, who were not authorized to speak about his schedule, said Sunday that the governor was considering traveling to Denver either Monday night or Tuesday, following a possible news conference in Illinois.

The Democratic National Convention's opening theme is Obama's life story, in part delivered through narratives by a host of Illinois characters.

Michelle Obama, the candidate's wife, will be the featured act, speaking after a lineup that includes her brother, Oregon State basketball coach and Chicago native Craig Robinson.

And there's the Illinois Democratic up-and-comers, seeking their moment on a convention stage that vaulted Obama to political stardom four years ago. Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan, Comptroller Dan Hynes and Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, possible contenders for governor in 2010, are scheduled to speak as are U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and former Obama state Senate colleague, Chicago City Clerk Miguel del Valle.

by Jim Tankersley

Congressional negotiators have reached a deal on what supporters are calling the most far-reaching set of product-safety reforms in decades.

The agreement, announced this afternoon by a congressional conference committee, sets the stage for what is expected to be quick passage in the House and Senate and a signature from President Bush. Once law, the bill would mandate new federal safety testing for toys, including a strict standard for lead; create a searchable database of product complaints filed with the government for consumers to access; require manufacturers to make it easier for consumers to learn about recalled products; increase fines and other penalties for safety violations; and beef up the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission and its budget.

The House and Senate passed versions of the bill earlier this year. In the compromise measure, the stricter standards appear to have won out almost every time.

"It's a really strong, strong bill," said Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), a longtime product-safety advocate who sat on the conference committee. "It really, in many ways, is the birth of a new agency that will have much broader authority particularly to keep our children safe."

Schakowsky and other lawmakers have credited the Chicago Tribune's reporting on recalls and toy safety dangers - in a series that won this year's Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting - with spurring many of the changes. Two other Illinois lawmakers - Sen. Dick Durbin and Rep. Bobby Rush, whose name is attached to the final legislation - played key roles pushing the bill through Congress.

Read on for a breakdown of the agreement's key provisions, per a Senate committee summary:

by Christi Parsons

Before you breathe a sigh of relief that the real culprit of the summer salmonella outbreak has been found, consider this critique from Sen. Dick Durbin.

It took three months for the FDA to figure out the problem, Durbin points out, a stretch of time when the tomato industry suffered and people kept getting sick off of peppers.

"That's unacceptable," Durbin said today. "The serious delay in tracing back the source of this problem -- only to find that jalapeno peppers, not tomatoes, were at fault -- has put the health of many Americans and an entire industry at risk."

The current food safety system is dysfunctional, Durbin says, and Congress should stop "plugging holes" in it and "retool how we protect the nation's food supply."

by Jim Tankersley

Like Cubs or White Sox fans booking their World Series seats at the All-Star Break, Illinois residents are snapping up tickets to celebrate Barack Obama's potential inauguration in Washington next year.

Never mind that native-son Obama is running barely ahead or statistically tied with Republican John McCain in recent polls. The Illinois State Society of Washington, D.C., reports that corporate and individual interest in its traditional, bi-partisan inaugural gala is "running far ahead of previous years" some six months before the next president takes office.

The Society has held inaugural celebrations dating back to 1861, when another local boy, Abraham Lincoln, entered the White House. In recent decades, the Society reports, its parties have been second only to Texas (where, to be fair, everything is bigger) among state-society festivities in D.C.

This year, the Illinois folks opened ticket sales early, anticipating an Obama-inspired surge. Read on for the full details from the press release. No word on whether tickets are refundable - or transferable to the Arizona state gala - if McCain wins.

by Jim Tankersley

Money isn't everything in a House race, but it can be a good thermometer for which races - and which candidates - are hottest. So Tuesday was a "heat check" of sorts for candidates in a half-dozen Illinois congressional races analysts expect to be most competitive this fall.

Quick takeaway: The 10th and 11th congressional districts are as hot as advertised. The 8th, maybe not as much.

Campaign finance reports due Tuesday show fiery races in a pair of suburban, Republican-held seats. In the 10th, incumbent Mark Kirk is one of a handful of Republicans nationwide to represent districts carried by Democrat John Kerry in the 2004 presidential race. He raised about $900,000 for the quarter ending June 30, per the Associated Press; Democratic challenger Dan Seals raised about $645,000. Kirk ended the quarter with about $2.85 million on hand, compared to about $1.75 for Seals.

In the 11th, where Republican Jerry Weller is retiring, both candidates turned in a claim to strength. Republican Marty Ozinga raised more than $800,000 in his first quarter in the race. Democrat Debbie Halovorson raised more than $365,000, but she closed the quarter ahead in cash-on-hand, with more than $900,000 to Ozinga's $670,000.

Democrat Melissa Bean has a far wider cash advantage in her re-election bid in the suburban 8th, which Republicans call their best pick-up opportunity in Illinois. She outraised GOP opponent Steve Greenberg by nearly $200,000 for the quarter and ended June with more than $1.5 million in the bank. Greenberg reported about $100,000 on hand.

by Jim Tankersley

Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill.) is styling himself a Reagan Democrat - at least when it comes to birthday festivities.

Foster, the businessman and scientist who won a special election earlier this year to replace former Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) in a Republican-leaning district, announced today that he's signed onto a bill to give former President Ronald Reagan a royal rememberance on what would have been his 100th birthday.

Reagan, of course, was the most celebrated Republican president in recent decades. The bill Foster is co-sponsoring would create a commission to coordinate national and state-level celebrations for Feb. 6, 2011 - the centennial anniversary of Reagan's birth - which would include exploring a special postal stamp and $1 coin to honor "The Gipper." A similar commission is currently planning the bicentennial anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln's birth.

Plenty of Democrats admire Reagan, and plenty of them don't. Foster has bucked party leaders in his brief congressional tenure on issues such as the federal budget - refusing to vote for a plan he called a massive tax increase - but has also voted along party lines on issues such as expanding federal health coverage for kids. His press release on the Reagan commission praises the former president for transcending party lines - and also gives a strong secondary rationale for his co-sponsorship.

"As the Representative of President Reagan's birthplace in Tampico and boyhood home in Dixon," he said in the release, "I am privileged to pay tribute to him by co-sponsoring legislation to create a Centennial Commission in his honor."

Here's the full press release:

by Jim Tankersley

A pair of Republican congressmen from Illinois are set to unveil a plan that promises to all-but end America's foreign energy addiction within 15 years.

Reps. Peter Roskam and John Shimkus will detail the proposal - which they dub the Energy VISION Act - at a Chicago press conference this morning. It seeks to cut American oil imports by 9.5 million barrels a day, which would theoretically allow the country to run only on oil produced in Canada, Mexico, and the United States and its territories.

The plan mixes conservation and alternative fuel production with aggressive domestic energy exploration, including drilling offshore and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and opening vast swaths of land to oil shale development. Democrats have criticized similar domestic production proposals in other Republican energy bills, saying they will do little to reduce gasoline prices in the short- or medium-term.

In a press release, Roskam and Shimkus say the time has come for energy independence.

"Soaring energy prices place an enormous financial weight on our family's budget today, far greater than any time in this nation's history," Roskam says. "Energy costs now consume nearly one-fifth of the after-tax incomes of low and middle-class families - double that of just 10 years ago. It has come time for a national energy policy that places us on a path to independence. This is a common goal to all Americans - Republican and Democrat. For our economic security, our national security and environmental security we must be energy independent within the next 15 years."

"It is past the time to take action," Shimkus says. "There are concrete solutions available. We need to develop our own oil supplies in places like Alaska and off our coastlines that are currently off-limits. We must continue to advance our technology in ethanol, biofuels, wind, and solar power. And even more importantly for the economy of Illinois, we need to use available technology to convert our vast supplies of coal to environmentally safe liquid fuels. No single source is going to be a magic bullet, but by diversifying our efforts we can go a long way toward energy self-sufficiency."

Read on for details from the VISION plan, which is based on the calculation that America needs to replace 9 million barrels of oil a day to wean itself from non-U.S./Mexico/Canada oil.

by Frank James

Rep. Rahm Emanuel, one of Congress's best trash talkers, has some ideas on where President Bush can go.

Riffing off Bush's recent farewell tour to Europe, Emanuel, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, suggests, tongue-in-cheek, the president take a similar tour of the U.S.

Obviously, Emanuel is engaging in some Bush-bashing here, but it's a clever and entertaining form of Bush-bashing. Take a look.

EMANUEL CALLS ON BUSH TO TAKE AMERICAN FAREWELL TOUR

Visit the Treasury Department and learn more about the $236 billion annual surplus you turned into a $410 billion deficit this year. Ask how we managed to accrue $3 trillion in new debt.

by Amanda Erickson

Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill.) made at least $1 million last year, according to financial records released Monday, while the campaign of another Illinois Democrat, Rep. Danny Davis, paid his wife Vera $13,000 for unspecified work.

The annual disclosure forms filled out by lawmakers--which include information on their assets, mortgage payments, debts and investments--offer a glimpse but not a precise picture of their financial affairs because the forms require officials to list only income ranges.

Some interesting tidbits:

• Bill Foster (D - Ill.) sold Electronic Theatre Controls Inc., the theater lighting company that he started with his brother at age 19, for between $1 million and $5 million last year, and promissory notes from the sale may eventually net him another $5 million to $25 million.

•The report of Democratic Rep. Rahm Emanuel shows that a family member invested between $1,000 and $15,000 in Wal-Mart, the retail giant that has drawn the ire of those protesting its treatment of workers.

A spokesman for the congressman said the investments were made by Emanuel's wife, Amy Rule, with her income. "She has some of her own individual assets, including this investment," said Emanuel spokesman Nick Papas.

• Rep. Davis won $5,000 in a lottery last year. It's unclear how the lucky congressman spent his winnings.

See the full story here.

(Photo by Tim Sloan/AFP/Getty Images)

by Frank James

Sen. Richard Durbin knew he potentially could be stepping on a cow pie yesterday if he didn't carefully answer a reporter's question yesterday about the inflationary effect U.S. ethanol mandates might be having on food prices around the world.

The Senate's second-in-commade represents Illinois, after all, a state with large farm interests. And his party's presidential and congressional fortunes also depend on voters in states significant agricultural interests.

So Durbin was not only careful in what he said, but he was clear in asking reporters to report his answer accurately. He basically acknowledged that ethanol is part of the problem without saying much that would offend farmers. Budding politicians should study it as a great example of how to straddle an issue.

REPORTER: Senator Durbin, a lot of people, hunger experts, say that the demand for biofuels, ethanol and other biofuels, is contributing a lot to the increase in prices.

But we have to understand that it's had an impact on food prices, and let's be honest about it. Even in the corn belt, we'd better be honest about it.

by Jim Tankersley

A pair of Illinois lawmakers are taking vocal roles in the debate over the Colombia Free Trade Agreement, which President Bush submitted to Congress this week.

In one corner, supporting the deal, Republican Rep. Jerry Weller, who writes in an op-ed released by his office that "Illinois farmers and manufacturers are big winners in this agreement... If you’re looking for an even playing field for Illinois corn, pork, and heavy machinery, this agreement is for you."

In the other corner, Democratic Rep. Phil Hare, who joins House colleague Michael Michaud (D-Me.) in a Huffington Post op-ed today that begins: "If we had been born in Colombia, we would probably be dead. That's right. As members of our respective labor unions, the fight for higher wages, better working conditions, and a secure pension could have cost us our lives."

Hare and Michaud focus on violence against labor leaders in Colombia and accuse the government there of doing little to stop it. They also warn the agreement could cost America jobs. Weller defends the Colombian government as a good ally, particularly in comparison to Venezualan president Hugo Chavez. He says the deal would boost the U.S. and Illinois economies.

Both pieces are worth a read.

by Jim Tankersley

Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) wants to steer about $114 million in federal funding to Chicago-area groups and projects, according to a list of "earmark" requests for the 2009 fiscal year that his office released this morning.

Nearly half of that money would go to a pair of rail projects -- the CTA Brown Line and METRA's UP-NW Line. Other multi-million dollar requests include road work on Milwaukee Avenue and Lake Shore Drive, initiatives by Children's Memorial Hospital and Chicago Public Schools, and a Navistar International "next generation diesel engine" for military ground vehicles.

"Earmarking" is the practice of reserving portions of appropriations bills for specific projects, often in a lawmakers' home district. Fiscal conservatives often deride the practice as an example of wasteful federal spending; many have called for a moratorium on "earmarks" entirely. New House rules require any earmarks that make it into a bill to include the name of their sponsoring congressman. Emanuel's release goes further than that by detailing all of his earmark requests, even though it's highly unlikely all the projects will win funding.

“In the spirit of this effort to make the process more transparent, I am happy to make public today the complete list of meritorious projects for which I have requested federal help,” he said in a press release today. “I have never opposed the ability of Members of Congress to direct federal funds to vital programs and projects, but the taxpayers deserve to know where their dollars are being spent.”

Read on for the full breakdown of Emanuel's requests.

By Jim Tankersley

Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill.), the newest member of the House, delivered the Democratic Radio Address today. Topic: the economy. Gist: Democrats working hard for the middle class.

“Good morning, this is Congressman Bill Foster from Illinois’ 14th District," he began. "Just three weeks ago, I was elected to Congress in a special election. I haven’t been on the job long, but even at my first constituent meeting at a grocery store in Aurora, Illinois, voters reminded me of what I learned in the campaign.

“The families I met know the challenges our nation is facing better than anyone in a government office building.

“My constituents are worried about the economy, and with good reason. They can barely afford groceries or a trip to the gas station. If they talk about health care, it isn’t about the latest medical advances, but about the latest increase in costs. They want a good college education for their kids, but they’re nervous about tuition increases. And virtually everyone I talked to was worried about their homes and the mortgage crisis.

“I’m a scientist and a businessman, so when I went to the voters of Illinois, I pledged not to continue the endless political bickering in Washington, but to work on solving problems.

“So today, I am proud to report that Democrats in Congress are putting middle-class families first and fighting for real solutions."

By Jim Tankersley

House Democrats have tapped their newest member to rebut President Bush on the airwaves this weekend.

Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill.), who won a special election this month to replace retired former Speaker Dennis Hastert, will discuss the economy in this weekend's Democratic radio address. The speech will be broadcast across the country.

“Now, Democrats in Congress are fighting to cut taxes for middle-class families who need relief, and we’re working to keep families in their homes by addressing the mortgage crisis head-on," Foster will say, according to excerpts of the speech his office released today. "Next week, the House of Representatives will continue to work on a comprehensive plan to help families who are on the brink of losing their homes. Our plan will help more families avoid foreclosure and gives cities the chance to rehabilitate foreclosed homes and put them back on the market."

He goes on to urge an end to foreign oil dependence, additional alternative energy tax incentives and expanding a federal children's health insurance program.

“I am honored to be chosen to speak on a national stage on behalf of my constituents," Foster said in a press release. "From Dixon to DeKalb and from Geneseo to Geneva and everywhere in between, the problems of the 14th District are the same ones felt across the nation – and these are the problems, that both Democrats and Republicans, must work together to solve.”

By Jim Tankersley

Even in a rhetorically charged political season, House candidate Steve Greenberg stands out: He's all but accusing Rep. Melissa Bean (D-Ill.) of disloyalty to the United States.

At issue is Bean's support for Serbia, the country her grandparents left for America, and Serbian-Americans' financial support for her re-election campaign. Greenberg, a Republican, said in a press release this week that Bean was "flagrantly working on behalf of foreign interests against the interests of the United States"—and that the Serbian government was repaying her by illegally steering contributors her way. He's also charged Bean with supporting "Serbian criminals" and "anti-American fundamentalists," referring to the attack on the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade

Bean's spokesman and her supporters rejected Greenberg's comments, which have touched off a surge of donations from across the Chicago area, home to the largest ethnic Serb population in the U.S.

Ryan Rudominer, a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said Greenberg "has resorted to saying anything to get attention—regardless of how shameful and desperate." Bean's spokesman Jonathan Lipman said the congresswoman "doesn't respond to ethnically and religiously divisive attacks, even when they go so far as to demonize an entire ethnic community and question their patriotism."

Greenberg campaign spokesman Brad Goodman responded: "It's very typical of Washington politicians, like Ms Bean, when caught under ethical clouds, the first thing they do is blame someone else."

Read the whole story in today's Tribune.

By Jim Tankersley

The candidates who lifted Democrats to House control in 2006 were a carefully culled, largely centrist team that included military veterans, business executives, a tough-talking sheriff and a former pro quarterback.

The list of Republican recruits for House races this year tells a much different story. Against freshman Rep. Phil Hare (D-Ill.), the GOP has ... no one. Same for the race to replace retiring Rep. Jerry Weller (R-Ill).

In the 29 House districts nationwide that Democrats consider most vulnerable for a Republican pickup, only 19 boast a challenger the Democrats deem "credible." For the last 75 years, parties that lost power in the House and Senate, as the Republicans did two years ago, have almost always rebounded to gain seats the following election -- most recently in 1996, when Democrats recovered from the "Republican Revolution" of 1994 to net eight House districts.

But for the GOP this year, all signs point to another election under siege.

Click here for the rest of the story from today's Tribune.

By Jim Tankersley

It didn't take long for Bill Foster to make an impact in Congress.

Foster, a Democratic scientist/businessman, won a special election Saturday to replace retired former Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) in the House. He was sworn into his seat representing the exurban 14th Congressional District on Tuesday afternoon. By evening, he was casting what was arguably the deciding vote on a white-hot ethics bill.

The bill, pushed aggressively by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), creates an independent, outside panel to investigate ethics complaints against House members. The House approved it last night, 229-182, with most Democrats in favor and most Republicans opposed. That margin is deceptive: Before final passage, the bill first had to clear a much closer procedural vote, which gave House members a chance to kill the idea without, technically, voting against it.

The bill survived that test by a single vote, with Foster voting in favor.

Only four Republicans joined Foster and 202 other Democrats on that vote. We can't say for sure what Jim Oberweis, the Republican whom Foster beat in the special election, would have done if he were in Congress. But given the party-line nature of the vote, some Democrats on Capitol Hill (who favored the outside panel) are crediting Foster today with the bill's passage.

by Jim Tankersley

Here's the top of my story in today's Chicago Tribune on the nation's great coin crisis...

WASHINGTON - These days, your thoughts are worth 1.7 cents.

That's what it costs the government to forge a penny, thanks to the rising price of metal. A nickel costs 10 cents. Congress, in its infinite wisdom, has concluded that's a pretty bad deal.

A House subcommittee led by Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) convened a hearing Tuesday on a proposal to change the composition of both coins. Republicans and Democrats like the concept, particularly its promise to save taxpayers $100 million a year by using cheaper metals at the U.S. Mint. If the legislation clears the House and Senate and President Bush signs it, you could be plucking steel pennies off the street before year's end.

In Washington, of course, nothing is that simple.

Go here for the rest....

by Jim Tankersley

For all the heated disagreements of Congress, Democrats and Republicans typically sugar-coat their criticisms of one another when speaking on the House floor. But Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) pulled no punches this evening, when she defended her friend (and presidential endorsee) Sen. Barack Obama from an attack by a House Republican.

Schakowsky took to the floor to denounce remarks by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), who said last week that terrorists would be "dancing in the streets" if Obama won the presidential election. Schakowsky called the remarks a "smear campaign" and urged colleagues to condemn them.

Here is Schakowsky's statement:

"I rise to strongly condemn the remarks made about U.S. Senator and Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama by Congressman Steve King of Iowa who said that if Barack Obama became President, Al Qaida terrorists would, (and I quote) 'be dancing in the streets in greater numbers than they did on Sept. 11'. Why? Because, he said, 'of his middle name...' and 'because of who his father was.'

"Senator Obama, like all of us in this House, swore on the Bible to defend our country from all enemies foreign and domestic. He has done nothing to warrant this attack. He has served his country honorably in the US Senate. This attack on his patriotism, religion, heritage, and middle name amount to nothing more than a smear campaign.

"I would fully expect these comments to come from people like Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter; not from one of my House colleagues. There is simply no room in this country for remarks like these, remarks that Mr. King declares he stands by.

"I urge my colleagues to join me in condemning these hateful remarks."

By Jim Tankersley

The architect of the Democrats' 2006 takeover of the House of Representatives weighed in this afternoon on his party's upset win in Illinois' special congressional election, chalking it up to residual frustration with congressional Republicans, "tactical errors" by the former Speaker and a sleeper issue that could resonate through November.

Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, seemed positively gleeful in an interview that Democrat Bill Foster beat Republican Jim Oberweis on Saturday in the race to replace retired former GOP Speaker Dennis Hastert – particularly when juxtaposed with Democrat Nick Lampson's 2006 win in the race to replace former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas.

"Never in history have both the Majority Leader and the Speaker lost (their seats in back-to-back elections) to the other party," Emanuel said. "It's unprecedented. It reflects a huge level of anger at the Republican Party."

Emanuel said Hastert erred in stepping down mid-year – perhaps in hopes of handing off his seat to a Republican before the general election – and in backing Oberweis, who had lost three previous political races.

He also said Foster scored by focusing his campaign heavily on a children's health care program that Congress has repeatedly voted to expand in the last year, each time drawing a veto from President Bush. Foster devoted television and mail ads to the issue – which, coincidentally enough, is Emanuel's baby – and said he wanted to help the House override the veto.

Emanuel expects other Democratic candidates to follow suit this fall and warned the special election results signal a "target-rich environment" for Democrats in Illinois in seats such as Rep. Mark Kirk's. The special election, he said, "is the first shot fired in a change election. This is not a one-off."

by Jim Tankersley

Democrats in Illinois and Washington are celebrating today, after scientist/businessman Bill Foster beat Republican dairyman Jim Oberweis in yesterday's special election to replace retired Rep. Dennis Hastert, the former Republican Speaker of the House. And with good reason.

Republicans have cautioned against reading too much into the results and their implications for the fall elections. History, indeed, shows special elections sometimes foreshadow general-election trends and sometimes do not. But there are several reasons why this appears to be more than a typical pick-up of a House seat for Democrats - and why Republicans should worry in the coming months. Consider:

* This was not a "normal" seat in Congress. This was the home of the congressman who, until the GOP lost control of the chamber in the 2006 elections, was the most powerful man in the House. Oberweis was the candidate he backed to replace him. As psychological victories go for a party, this is on par with Republicans knocking off former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle in 2004.

* Oberweis' loss will fan fears that Illinois demographics are trending away from Republicans. When Melissa Bean beat GOP Rep. Phil Crane in the suburban 8th Congressional District in 2004, Republicans called it a fluke. Then she won re-election, and now she has another suburban/exurban Democrat joining her in Congress. Other Republicans in similar seats outside of Chicago - including Reps. Mark Kirk and Peter Roskam - are surely taking notice of that trend.

by Matthew Hay Brown

The House Democrats' chief fundraiser said the victory in today’s special election for the Illinois seat vacated by Republican former Speaker Dennis Hastert is only the beginning of the hurt his party is going to lay on the GOP this fall.

“Despite spending 20 percent of … their cash on hand, the [National Republican Congressional Committee] was unable to hold a seat easily won by President Bush and held by Speaker Hastert for 20 years,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen crowed. “Americans of all political stripes are rejecting Republicans’ divisive, status quo politics and turning to Democratic candidates for change.”

Democrat Bill Foster, a physicist running his first campaign, scored a 52-48 upset over Republican Jim Oberweis, a dairy owner who was expected to hold Illinois’ 14th Congressional District for the GOP. Foster won even in Kendall County, Hastert’s home base, reliably Republican – until now.

The NRCC took exception to Van Hollen’s analysis.

“The one thing 2008 has shown is that one election in one state does not prove a trend,” spokeswoman Karen Hanretty said. “In fact, there has been no national trend this entire election season. The presidential election is evidence of that. The Democratic candidates are trading election victories from week to week and the nomination could hinge on a few news cycles. The one message coming out of 2008 so far is that what happens today is not a bellwether of what happens this fall.”

By Jim Tankersley

DAYTON, OH – For the past week, and with increasing intensity, Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have tried to top each other in their critiques of American trade policy and its effects on factory jobs in Ohio and the nation. They've decried outsourcing and promised to rewrite trade rules to protect U.S. workers.

In Dayton, a city where many workers blame trade for thousands of lost factory jobs in recent years, it got to the point this week where you couldn't watch "SportsCenter" or "Ellen" without Obama or Clinton bashing trade policy at the commercial breaks (er, or so we're told).

But other members of Congress say trade has benefited the country and should keep expanding, including the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, John McCain – and a small contingent of Cabinet secretaries and House and Senate members who flew to Colombia this weekend to build a case for a proposed trade deal between that country and America that is currently pending before Congress.

Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.), a freshman who favors expanded trade, called the Tribune from Colombia today to recount a morning of meetings with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, who made "a very compelling case" for the proposed agreement, Roskam said.

(Actually, the first topic on Roskam's mind was the news, which Colombian leaders shared with the American contingent earlier today, that Colombian troops on Saturday had killed the No. 2 leader in a cocaine-trafficking rebel group that the U.S. State Department designated a foreign terrorist organization in 2001.)

Supporters cheer for their candidates before the Democratic Presidential Debate between Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton at Cleveland State University on Tuesday, February 26, 2008, in Cleveland, Ohio. (Mike Cardew/Akron Beacon Journal/MCT)

by Jim Tankersley

CLEVELAND - "We are all witnesses," the giant Nike billboard downtown proclaims. Tonight, more than ever, that's true.

Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will supplant the man on the billboard, LeBron James, as the biggest stars in Cleveland tonight, when they debate at 9 p.m. at Cleveland State University.

It's the political equivalent of a playoff atmosphere. The debate is the last faceoff between the Democratic presidential candidates before next week's critical primaries in Ohio and Texas. For Clinton, who trails Obama in delegates and has lost every nominating contest since Feb. 5, it could be her final chance to change the tide of a race that is on the brink of slipping out of her grasp. For Obama, who is tied with Clinton in Texas and has cut her early Ohio lead to single digits according to recent polls, it could be his night to all-but clinch the nomination - or commit the sort of mistake that opens the door for a Clinton comeback.

The hype has electrified the local media (though the city itself seems to be hiding inside from a snowstorm today). The Plain Dealer, Cleveland's local newspaper, devoted its entire front page to a debate preview (sprinkled with weather forecast) this morning. Television coverage is ramping up. Ohio is used to this sort of presidential frenzy, but not usually until the general election, when it proudly assumes its role of pivotal swing state.

Tonight, we'll be watching for how the candidates address Ohio's struggling economy, how they reassure "security mom" voters in the state's suburbs that they can keep America safe and how populist they get in their economy-themed pitches to blue collar voters.

Mostly, though, we'll be watching to see how Clinton tries to change the race. Will she attack? Emote? Pull a surprise of some kind?

The Swamp's own Jason George will be live-blogging those answers, and everything else debate-related, here tonight. Tune in and join him. Remember, you're a witness too.

By Jim Tankersley

It will be weeks, quite possibly months, until we know for sure if Barack Obama and John McCain will square off in the November presidential election. But early next month, the senators are set to match political muscle in a special congressional election in Illinois.

Obama took a break recently from his presidential primary race with Sen. Hillary Clinton to cut radio and television ads for Bill Foster, the Democrat running to replace former House Speaker Dennis Hastert in Illinois' 14th congressional district, Foster's campaign announced this week. In the ads, Obama extends his presidential campaign theme to declare that Foster can "deliver change" in Washington.

McCain, meanwhile, is headed into Illinois next week to raise money for Foster's opponent, Republican Jim Oberweis, as the Tribune's James Kimberly noted this week. Along with cash, the Oberweis campaign is hoping McCain can bring their candidate votes from independents in the district.

The congressional candidates are also previewing the debate over Iraq that a McCain-Obama contest would surely bring, with Foster accusing Oberweis of wanting to continue President Bush's course in Iraq and Oberweis (and national Republicans) accusing Foster of undermining American troops with his pledge to vote against further funding for the war.

The special election is scheduled for March 8. The 14th has been solidly Republican in recent elections, but a Foster internal campaign poll -- keep in mind, that means it was conducted on his behalf -- showed the race to be deadlocked this week.

By Jim Tankersley

As President Bush prepares to give his final State of the Union address, Rep. Rahm Emanuel has prepared a handy scorecard for the president's seven-year tenure. As you might expect, it's scathing.

Emanuel is far from an unbiased source when it comes to the Bush administration. He's a Democrat, for one, and the fourth-ranking Democrat in the House at that. He also worked in the Clinton White House, and it's fair to say he's partial to the way he and his colleagues ran the ship back then.

His indictment of Bush today, though, rested less on rhetoric -- an Emanuel specialty, to be sure -- and more on cold, hard statistics. Here's the chart Emanuel displayed at a press conference critique of Bush's record on America's economy, quality of life and role in the world. The upshot: Growth is down, prices are up, and other countries just don't like us as much these days.

UPDATE, 4 p.m.: Republican National Committee spokesman Chris Taylor responds with this: "If only Rahm Emanuel would put as much effort into finding bi-partisan solutions to America's problems as he does into these political attacks, maybe then he wouldn't be leading the lowest rated Congress in history."

By Jim Tankersley

This holiday season, Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.) is taking his family over the river and through the woods ... to the Louisiana State Penitentiary.

Roskam, a freshman from the O'Hare-area suburbs, is on his way to address inmates in the prison chapel tomorrow, thanks to a passing aquaintance he made some time ago with Burl Cain, the warden of the maximum-security prison in Angola, La.

Cain impressed Roskam with a program he instituted that allows inmates to take classes through the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Roskam credits the program for a decline in the prison's murder rate. The prison's web site proclaims that the penitentiary "in its previous unhealthy condition was known for its violence and frequent escape attempts. Currently, Angola displays a peaceful and safe environment, which is the best evidence of a successful, healthy religious program."

But is it a good vacation destination? Depends on which Roskam you are.

Peter Roskam called The Swamp this afternoon from Memphis. He estimated he, his wife and their two sons would hit Angola tonight. Later in the week, he said, they planned to check out Baton Rouge and the Louisiana State University campus.

The two Roskam daughters, he said, passed on the trip.

“Our boys are pretty game," the congressman said. "Our girls kind of had a twinkle in their eye when they actually had other obligations.”

by Jim Tankersley

Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) doesn't get confused with Dennis Kucinich very often. But now the veteran Chicago congressman and the quixotic Ohio presidential wannabe have something in common: a desire to boot the vice president from office.

Gutierrez and two of his colleagues on the House judiciary committee - Florida's Robert Wexler and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin - have penned an op-ed piece calling for committee hearings on a bill to impeact Dick Cheney on a variety of charges, including allegations of manipulating intelligence to boost the case for war with Iraq.

"The issues at hand are too serious to ignore, including credible allegations of abuse of power that if proven may well constitute high crimes and misdemeanors under our constitution," the op-ed says. "The charges against Vice President Cheney relate to his deceptive actions leading up to the Iraq war, the revelation of the identity of a covert agent for political retaliation, and the illegal wiretapping of American citizens."

House leaders - and the leading Democratic presidential candidates - have said they don't support impeachment, in part because they remember how President Clinton's impeachment proceedings ground Congress to a near standstill as they played out. Gutierrez and his committeemates disagree, sayig hearings "need not tie up Congress for a year and shut down the nation."

Read on for the full op-ed.

By Jim Tankersley

Hey there, congressional sports fans - the Sunlight Foundation has a new game for you. Let's call it "Where in the World is Rep. Jan Schakowsky?"

The Foundation, a watchdog that promotes government transparency, unveiled a new tool on its website today that allows users to track the movements of members of Congress who publicly release their appointment schedules. It's an extension of the Foundation's "Punch Clock Campaign," which in 2006 challenged lawmakers to post their schedules online.

A whopping eight of the 535 House and Senate members accepted the challenge - including Schakowsky, an Illinois Democrat. So now, with a few clicks, you can see that Schakowsky met with the CEO of the Walgreen Company on Sept. 18 in Chicago, or with America's deputy chief of mission in Pakistan on Oct. 3, or with the Consumer Product Safety Commission in the D.C. area on Nov. 1.

No one else from Illinois has accepted the challenge so far. But if you like, you can see the entire Montana delegation -- all three of them.

By Jim Tankersley

At approximately 6:30 p.m., the House will pause for a moment of silence in honor of a man whose voice often rang loud and passionately through the chamber - former Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., who died last week. (Update: See the video at the top of this post.)

It's the first step in what will be an evening of memorials for the longtime congressman, who chaired the Judiciary and International Relations committees, led impeachment proceedings against former President Bill Clinton and impressed colleagues with his rousing ovations on the House floor.

Reps. Peter Roskam and Don Manzullo, both Illinois Republicans, will lead the House in a "very special tribute" for Hyde starting around 9 p.m., Roskam's office said today. The tributes will include "members from across the nation and from both parties" commemorating Hyde's "life and legacy," Roskam's office said.

CSPAN will televise the proceedings.

By Jim Tankersley

As young Capitol Hill staffers are apt to do, Peter Roskam often showed up early for work in the mid-1980s. Often, he recalls, his boss was already in the office.

"You could smell cigar smoke," Roskam said today. "His door would be open and there he was, writing on a legal notepad with a felt-tip pen. A couple hours later, he’d be one of the clean-up speakers on the key foreign policy issue of the day.”

The boss was Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.). Roskam worked a year for him as a legislative assistant. Later, he would represent portions of Hyde's congressional district in the state senate. When Hyde retired, Roskam won the 2006 election to succeed him in the House. Today, following news of Hyde's death at age 83, Roskam reflected on his former boss with sadness and stories.

“There’s no replacing Henry Hyde," Roskam said. "I’m his successor, but I’m not his replacement.”

by Jim Tankersley

It's fair to say Jay Footlik has a unique background for a congressional candidate. He's a lawyer, a Middle East and renewable energy policy wonk and a former Clinton White House advisor. His father left his family when Jay was four, an experience Footlik recounted in his first campaign commercial in Illinois' 10th district, where he's running against business consultant Dan Seals in the Democratic primary for the right to challenge Rep. Mark Kirk.

Footlik is also a former child actor. His career features small parts in two 1980s movies. One was Iron Eagle with Louis Gossett Jr. The other, a Michael J. Fox classic, features prominently in Footlik's new campaign ad.

The ad, airing on cable starting today, mimics the opening credits of The Brady Bunch and includes several local Footlik volunteers talking about why they're switching from Seals -- who narrowly lost to Kirk in 2006 -- to Footlik this year.

“I voted for Dan last time, but Jay’s got the experience we need in Congress,” one says. “I think Jay is the one who can beat Mark Kirk,” another adds. Eventually, a smiling young woman appears.

“I loved him in Teen Wolf,” she says.

For the record, imdb.com says Footlik played "Student No. 1" in the 1985 teenager-discovers-he's-a-werewolf-and-uses-his-powers-for-basketball-domination flick. Footlik's campaign elaborates by saying he auditioned for a leading role but was apparently too tall -- the actors weren't supposed to be taller than Fox. As consolation, Footlik got a scene with Fox and a line of dialogue.

Seals, on the other hand, "fully admits that he cannot compete with Jay on his acting credentials," campaign manager Patrick Mogge said today. "But Dan's second grade daughter did a great Thanksgiving dance in her recent school play."

By Jim Tankersley

A lot of American travelers will unwittingly stop off in Peter Roskam's congressional district this week, en route to grandmas' houses coast to coast. Roskam wants to make sure they don't run into anyone unexpected along the way - at 20,000 feet.

Roskam, a freshman Republican whose district includes O'Hare International Airport, has written the Federal Aviation Administration with some sharp questions about a pair of barely averted midair collisions near the airport. He wants to know how adequately staffed the nation's air traffic control system is, in light of a recent wave of retirements among controllers - and what procedures are in place to avoid collisions in the future.

Midwestern skies saw two near-miss collisions within a week's span this month, the Tribune reported recently, both attributed to an FAA radar station near Chicago. Roskam said in the letter that the reports worried him.

"Any air traffic control mistake that resulted in a mid-air collision would be a tragedy not only for those on board the airplanes, but also for those who live and work around the crash site," he wrote. "The aftermath of a mid-air collision could be devastating to my Congressional District."

Read on for the full letter to the FAA:

by Jim Tankersley

Forgive Reps. Rahm Emanuel or Jan Schakowsky if they seem a little lonely these days: The Chicago-area Democrats are watching their constituents move away at a quick clip.

Data from Polidata and the Almanac of American Politics show Schakowsky’s district lost more than 50,000 residents – or nearly 8 percent of its population – from 2000 to 2005. That’s the third-fastest-shrinking district in the country. Emanuel’s is the eighth-fastest shrinking – down 33,000 people, or about 5 percent.

“It’s concerning," said Kathleen Connery, an Emanuel spokesman, "and that's why Congressman Emanuel has spent so much of his time in Congress working for a viable mass transit system, for modern public schools, and to bring good jobs and opportunity to the families in his district. Just last week, for example, Microsoft announced it's bringing a 550,000 square-foot data center to Northlake.”

Rep. Melissa Bean with Sgt. Rodney Walters, a Joint Visitors Bureau medic, in Iraq. Photo courtesy Bean's congressional office.

by Jim Tankersley

Rep. Melissa Bean saw improved security and "military progress" on a visit to Iraq - but nothing that changed her mind about how the ungoing war funding debate should unfold in Washington.

Bean, an Illinois Democrat who has voted in the past to tie war funding to a timeline for troop withdrawal, got a rare firsthand look at America's elite terrorism-fighting forces on a congressional trip to Baghdad and undiclosed locations beyond last week.

Much of the trip was classified, though Bean did say she met with the commander of American troops in Iraq - Gen. David Petraeus - and leaders of both American and Iraqi special operations forces. She said the Iraqis were "better trained and better prepared" than she observed when she last visited the country two years ago, and that she saw evidence supporting the statistics that show violence has decreased in the country over the last month.

“There was definitely a more relaxed attitude toward security," she said -- which she admitted was both encouraging and disconcerting.

Still, Bean said she continues to wait for Iraqis to progress more toward a stable government - and that she continues to believe that America's goal should be to redeploy its troops as soon as Iraqis can handle their own security. She continues to support linking war funding to progress benchmarks.

In terms of fighting terrorism in Iraq, she said "there has clearly been progress ... but military progress and political progress are two different things."

By Jim Tankersley

A team of Democratic lawmakers led by Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) introduced a bill this afternoon that would quickly force private security contractors out of Iraq and Afghanistan.

The bill, which Schakowsky dubbed the S.O.S. -- "Stop Outsourcing Security" -- Act, would force the State Department to phase out an estimated 800 private diplomatic security guards within six months of enactment. It would ban other private security guards in Iraq, Afghanistan and anywhere else Congress has authorized the use of force by 2009.

Sponsors estimate between 40,000 and 100,000 private security contractors are currently at work in Iraq, though they complain the Bush administration won't share the documents necessary for a more accurate count. The contractors have generated controversy for their tactics, their compensation -- many are retired members of the military who pull down six-figure salaries -- and what critics call a lack of accountability for their actions.

In September, guards employed by the security firm Blackwater USA killed 17 Iraqi civilians and provoked cries of outrage in Iraq and in Washington. Investigating the killings, the State Department apparently promised immunity from prosecution to Blackwater guards it interviewed.

Schakowsky said it appears contractors "can get away with murder" in Iraq. "With this legislation, we're saying enough is enough," she said. "It's time to end the Bush administration's addiction to contractors."

Other lawmakers suggested higher stakes -- such as the future of America's signature form of government.

By Jim Tankersley

Illinois' congressional television wars are set to start early this year -- and with them, the usual questions of truth in advertising.

A Democratic primary election challenger to Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) will hit the airwaves next week with an ad slamming Lipinski over the Iraq war. The challenger, Western Springs attorney Mark Pera, says the ad is the first of its kind in this year's election. (The spot will start airing more than a year before the 2008 general election; Illinois' primary is scheduled for Feb. 5.)

In the ad, which will run on cable stations across the south suburban district, Pera calls for American troops to leave Iraq within a year. The "real people" who precede him on screen link Lipinski with President Bush -- a Pera staple so far this campaign -- and claim Lipinski "opposes any timetable to bring troops home."

Lipinski, it should be noted, voted in favor of a bill earlier this year that Democratic leaders said would have linked war funding to a withdrawal timeline. Bush vetoed it. (Pera's camp says the bill would have left the timeline up to Bush and, therefore, doesn't constitute a real timeline.)

Lipinski has since begun pushing a bipartisan plan, which he calls a first step to changing course in Iraq, that would write the Iraq Study Group's recommendations into law. Those recommendations include a goal of troop redeployment, but no binding timelines for doing it.

Pera, who has made the war a central theme in his primary challenge, ends the ad by saying "Congress should stand up to this President. Dan Lipinski hasn’t done that, but I will."

Read on for the full script of the ad:

By Jim Tankersley

The House is set to restart its fight over children's health care today, after Democrats failed to muster the votes earlier this month to override a presidential veto of their bill expanding a kids' insurance program.

Democratic leaders say they're more optimistic about winning a veto-proof majority this time for the SCHIP program, because, they say, they've tweaked the bill to respond to GOP concerns -- namely, by denying benefits for childless adults, illegal immigrants and higher-income families.

But will it be enough? One bellwether lawmaker could be Rep. Judy Biggert (R-Ill.), who voted against the veto override but who has sent letters to the Speaker of the House and to President Bush outlining what she -- and other Republican House colleagues -- would like to see from an SCHIP bill.

Biggert's office didn't immediately return a phone message this morning -- an admittedly busy one on Capitol Hill -- but Democrats have already ramped up the pressure. "Now, as the House prepares to consider revised SCHIP legislation, the American people will have the opportunity to see if House Republicans’ complaints were serious reasons for voting against the bill or just political excuses," Democratic caucus spokesman Nick Papas wrote in a press release today.

Judge for yourself. Here are Biggert's letters to the president and Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Read on for the Democratic "fact sheet" on the new bill.

By Jim Tankersley

Dan Lipinski and George W. Bush have at least two things in common: They both oppose legalized abortion, and they both hold jobs that used to belong to their fathers.

Lipinski, a Democratic congressman who replaced his long-serving father in 2005, is drawing more comparisons to the Republican president these days. His primary opponent, attorney and former school board president Mark Pera, says every time Bush needs a vote "he turns to Dan Lipinski and gets it." Liberal bloggers call Lipinski a "Bush Dog," over votes on the Iraq war and warrantless wiretapping.

The slams irk Lipinski, a self-styled centrist who spent his summer trying to forge a cross-party compromise that could change course in Iraq even a little bit - and who says his foes are trying to drive bipartisanship off Capitol Hill.

But his opponents are serious - they're prodding Lipinski to stand up for Democratic principles, several say - and they've got money to go with their message. As a result, Lipinski is locked in the first serious primary campaign for a so-called "Bush Dog" under the new Democratic majority in Congress.

Read the full story in today's Tribune.

Workers outside a Topps Meat Co. plant in Elizabeth, N.J., Friday, Oct. 5, 2007, after Topps announced it was going out of business following a recall of frozen hamburger patties. Credit:Mike Derer/ AP Photo.

by Stephen Hedges

Sen. Richard Durbin has asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to explain why a recent large recall of hamburger meat took so long to enact, and whether USDA has adequate controls in place to prevent more food contamination in meat plants.

In a letter sent today to USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, Durbin, a Democrat, states, “It is alarming that, following several years of reductions in the number of cases of E. coli infections, we are now witnessing a sharp rise in both the number of incidents requiring a recall and the number of people infected by this harmful bacteria.”

That rise, Durbin writes, includes 16 recalls this year due to E. coli bacteria in beef, or a total of 28 million pounds of ground beef.

“This spike,” the letter states, “warrants additional attention.”

By Jim Tankersley and Andrew Zajac

Updated 7:00 p.m.

When Rep. Jerry Weller (R-Ill.) announced his retirement last month, a spokesman said he made the decision to step down in “early summer.” But Weller's campaign continued to actively collect donations through July, August and September, new filings show.

Weller's spokesman, Andy Fuller, now says he erred -- and that Weller did not decide until August that he would not seek an eighth term. Fuller said Weller held no fundraising events in August, and that any money the campaign received from that point on were simply trickling in from prior fundraisers.

He also said many of Weller's individual donors have already had their contributions returned, and that "the Congressman is reviewing options for what to do with the remainder" of his campaign fund, which is about $300,000. The latest filing lists $1,000 in returned contributions as of Sept. 30.

Weller's announcement last month came on the heels of a series of Tribune stories that raised questions about his investments in Nicaraguan real estate and the completeness of his mandatory congressional ethics forms. After the announcement, Fuller said the stories had nothing to do with the decision - and that Weller had decided to quit in early summer.

Today, Fuller said Weller really decided to quit at the start of the House August recess.
"I was just wrong," he said of his earlier statement about an early summer Weller decision to quit. "The decision not to run was made at the start of the August recess."

By Jim Tankersley

A Western Springs attorney mounting a primary campaign challenge to Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) accomplished a rare feat over the last three months: He outraised the incumbent.

Mark Pera, an assistant state's attorney with the Cook County state’s attorney’s office and a former school board president, raised $100,000 for the third quarter of this year. Lipinski raised $76,000.

The second-term incumbent still leads in cash on hand, $321,000 to $180,000.

Pera is running an aggressive campaign to Lipinski’s left, criticizing the congressman’s position on legalized abortion (Lipinski opposes it) and his push for compromise with Republicans over changing course in the Iraq war. Pera wants Congress to immediately set a date for withdrawing troops from Iraq.

Lipinski replaced his father Bill, who has since become a lobbyist, in Congress. He is a former college professor, a cycling enthusiast and staunchly pro-union. This term, he has focused much of his efforts on alternative energy, and he sponsored a bipartisan bill - seen as a middle ground in the war debate - to implement the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group.

By Jim Tankersley

Rep. Melissa Bean (D-Ill.) has raised just under $1.5 million for her 2008 re-election bid and ends the third fundraising quarter with $1 million on hand, her campaign will report today.

Bean is the only Democrat in the Illinois delegation who is expected to face a highly competitive general election campaign next year. She raised about $377,000 last quarter. Her prospective Republican challengers will also report their fundraising numbers today, which is the deadline for third-quarter filing.

Bean's pace slowed slightly from the second quarter, when she raised more than $550,000. Congressional candidates generally view the third quarter as the most difficult for fundraising.

The second-term congresswoman will try to start the fourth quarter fast, by bringing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to town later this week for an up-to-$2,300-per-person event. Bean and other area candidates need all the cash they can get: In the Chicago media market, the cost of television airtime can burn up $1 million quickly.

By Jim Tankersley

Rep. Melissa Bean typically doesn’t need much help raising money – she banked $1 million in the first half of this year for her re-election campaign – but next week she’ll bring a big fundraising gun to town anyway: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

The Oct. 19 event at the Westin Hotel downtown features both women and comes with a three-tiered price tag: $500 for an “individual,” $1,000 for a “friend” or $2,300 – the federal maximum for an individual donation to a single candidate for an election cycle – for a “host.”

It’s the third time Pelosi has lent a financial hand to the three-term suburban congresswoman. Pelosi visited Chicago for Bean once before, and her supporters hosted Bean for a San Francisco fundraiser as well.

Bean is a self-styled “pro-business” Democrat who has compiled one of the more centrist voting records of her caucus. Republicans, though, are trying to paint her as too liberal for her district. They recently criticized campaign contributions she accepted from MoveOn.org (which last donated to Bean in 2004) and they leveled similar criticism today over the Pelosi help.

“Nancy Pelosi’s upcoming visit to Chicago is just the latest chapter in what seems to be a long history of questionable fundraising sources for Melissa Bean,” said Ken Spain, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, adding that Bean “is being rewarded with a high dollar fundraiser for towing the liberal line for the San Francisco Speaker.”

A Bean spokesman said the campaign would not comment on internal fundraising.

By Jim Tankersley

Among the cherished sports traditions of Washington, alongside national-champion visits to the White House and aging jocks winning House seats, is the state vs. state wagering on big games.

Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) is keeping that tradition alive as the Cubs prepare to open National League Division Series play tonight against the Arizona Diamondbacks. He's betting on the series with Rep. Ed Pastor (D-Airz.)

On the line: a slice of Home Run Inn pizza against some Arizona red chile tamales.

"Chicago has some great tamales, but I'm looking forward to enjoying a few red chile tamales from Arizona after the Cubs beat the Diamondbacks," Lipinski said in a press release. "Just as the White Sox shook off their championship draught in 2005 in dramatic fashion, I'm confident that this is the year the Cubs finally shake off their curse and win a World Series for the first time since 1908. Today is the first step. Go Cubs Go."

Read on for the full release - and some fairly tame trash talking - from Lipinski's office.

by Jim Tankersley

In an ongoing attempt to bludgeon Democrats with MoveOn.org's controversial "General Betray US" ad in the New York Times, Republicans seized on a Politico.com report today that pegged 44 congressional Democrats -- including Rep. Melissa Bean (D-Ill.) -- as having voted to condemn the MoveOn ad even though they accepted the group's campaign cash.

Bean voted for a House resolution condemning the ad, which accused the American commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, of "cooking the books for the White House" on the war. One of Bean's prospective GOP opponents, businessman Steve Greenberg, called the vote "blatant hypocrisy" in a press release today, because Bean has taken more than $80,000 from MoveOn and its members over her congressional career.

The release says Bean "tried to straddle the issue by voting in favor of the House resolution while continuing to reap the benefits of MoveOn's considerable political donations to her" and includes Greenberg saying "If she takes MoveOn money, she tells the world she is comfortable with its agenda."

Bean declined comment through a spokesman. But it's worth noting that she cashed her last MoveOn check three years ago, in her 2004 upset victory over then-incumbent Rep. Phil Crane. She didn't get any money from the group in the 2006 election cycle or so far this year.

It's also worth noting that shortly after the "Betray Us" controversy broke last month, the National Republican Congressional Committee challenged Bean to repudiate the ad: "Will Melissa Bean ... finally denounce the group’s despicable behavior?" the NRCC asked in a press release. "Don’t count on it."

Read on for the full release from Greenberg's campaign today:

By Jim Tankersley

Congress is poised to require the Bush administration to detail its use of private security contractors in Iraq, in the wake of a controversial shooting of Baghdad civilians this month by a private State Department security detail.

The Senate approved an amendment to a Defense Department funding bill last night that would require the administration to disclose the number of contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, which companies they represent, how much they cost and how the government will track the number of the contractors killed or injured. The House version of the bill includes similar provisions.

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) sponsored the amendment, which mimics a contractor-disclosure bill he introduced in February.

“There are too many unanswered questions about the role of private security contractors in Iraq and it’s time for answers,” Obama said in a press release. “The American people have a right to know how their tax dollars are being spent in Iraq and the role that security contractors are playing.”

Contractors have come under increased scrutiny from lawmakers in Iraq and Washington following the shootings this month by Blackwater USA, which left a reported 11 Iraqis dead and wounded a dozen more. On congressional report Thursday criticized Blackwater for focusing more on cost than safety in a 2004 incident that led to four American deaths.

by Jim Tankersley

A trio of Illinois Republicans are among 28 members of Congress who released a bipartisan plea for cooperation in Washington's continued tussle over the Iraq war.

The so-called "Bipartisan Compact on Iraq Debate," released today, urges Congress to "end the political in-fighting over the conflict in Iraq and commit immediately to a truly bipartisan dialogue on the issues we are facing." It declared that a "safe and responsible redeployment of U.S. Armed Forces from Iraq, based on recommendations from our military and foreign policy leaders, is necessary to transition the combat mission over to the Iraqi forces" - but doesn't mention any timelines or specifics about those redeployments.

Reps. Judy Biggert, Tim Johnson and Mark Kirk of Illinois were among the 14 Republicans to sign it. They were joined by 14 Democrats. Biggert, Johnson and Kirk have so far opposed Democrats' efforts to link war funding to troop withdrawal timelines.

“The future of Iraq is far too important to let the debate be dictated by party politics,” Biggert said in a release touting the compact. “These eight statements are non-partisan principals that everyone can support – principals like fully supporting American troops in harm’s way and holding the Government of Iraq responsible for Iraq's future course.”

Johnson and Biggert's seats are largely considered "safe" in next year's elections. Kirk is bracing for a hot race - and his prospective Democratic opponents are already pounding him on the war.

By Jim Tankersley

Three retiring Republicans and one or two "hot seat" GOP incumbents have Democrats dreaming of big pick-ups in the Illinois congressional delegation in next year's election, when the state is shaping up as a pivotal battleground for House control.

The GOP, meanwhile, is working hard to hold its seats -- and party leaders in Washington are trying to boost their prospects in what figures to be their best chance to steal a House seat from Democrats in Illinois: the suburban district currently held by Rep. Melissa Bean.

Republicans in the Illinois congressional delegation hosted a Washington fundraiser this week for Steve Greenberg, a businessman and former hockey player whom many GOP leaders believe -- thanks in part to his (Rep. Bean, campaign photo)

checkbook -- has the best chance of beating Bean. In addition, Greenberg will be one of the first nine Republican candidates this year to benefit from a special House GOP fundraising program dubbed "CHOMP" -- the Challengers Helping Obtain the Majority Program.

"It seems as though a lot of Republicans feel strongly that this is a race that's winnable," Greenberg said in an interview this week.

By Jim Tankersley

Timelines and troop levels have thus far dominated the Senate's current debate over a bill reauthorizing the Department of Defense. But a group of senators led by Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is quietly trying to push another issue into the bill: the fate of soldiers who are diagnosed with "personality disorders" upon return from combat.

Back in June, Obama and a bipartisan group of his colleagues (well, maybe tripartisan, because the group includes Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman) asked the defense department to review its policies for discharging soldiers diagnosed with personality disorders. They cited reports alleging the discarges were inappropriately handed out.

The department has since responded, telling the senators in an August letter that it is "confident in the effectiveness" of the current discharge process. The senators didn't like that much -- now they're making a renewed effort to attach an Obama amendment to the Defense authorization bill that would temporarily ban those discharges.

Here is the original letter to the Defense Department.

Here is the DOD response

Read on for the full letter from the senators this week.

Photo from the office of Rep. Jerry Weller

by Jim Tankersley

Rep. Jerry Weller (R-Ill.) is set to announce his retirement in the near future, two Republican sources tell the Tribune. One of the sources said the announcement could come as early as tomorrow.

Weller’s spokesman did immediately not return a call seeking comment.

Weller, a seven-term incumbent, has faced questions about his re-election intentions all month, following a Tribune investigation that revealed he failed to disclose several land transactions in Nicaragua on his congressional ethics forms.

The Tribune also reported last week that a charity formed by Weller’s wife, Zury Rios de Weller of Guatemala, raised questions about whether Weller could legally exclude her assets from his congressional filings.

Updated 12:02 p.m.

By Jim Tankersley

Rep. Jerry Weller (R-Ill.) has landed on a Washington watchdog group's list of the "22 most corrupt" members of Congress – and, separately, been subpoenaed in a criminal case linked to disgraced former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham of California.

The "most corrupt" list, an annual compilation of the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, includes several congressmen and senators reportedly under investigation for ethical issues, including Reps. John Doolittle (R-Calif.), Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.) and William Jefferson (D-La.) and Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska).

Weller makes the list, the group said, for a host of ethical questions, including his failure to report some Nicaraguan land deals on his financial disclosure form. The group also alleges Weller appears to have used his position to boost interests in Puerto Rico and Belize in exchange for campaign contributions.

You can see the full CREW dossier on Weller here.

Weller's spokesman declined to comment on the CREW list and referred questions over the subpoena to the House counsel.

by Steve Hedges

Sen. Dick Durbin has asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to explain how thoroughly it tests seafood from Asia, especially in light of the “import alert” the FDA has imposed on some seafood from China.

In a letter to FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach, Durbin, a Democrat, cites a Sept. 16 Tribune story headlined, “As FDA gets tough on China seafood, it fails to hold others to same standard.” The story details how popular seafood from other Asian countries continues to be imported without the safety restrictions placed on China.

Yet many of those Asian countries, the story reports, use the same fish-farming techniques -- and experience the same contamination problems -- as Chinese fisheries.

By Jim Tankersley

Unreported Nicaraguan land deals aren't the only sources of questions about Rep. Jerry Weller's financial disclosure filings. As the Tribune reports today, the Republican congressman from Illinois' Guatemalan wife has formed a nonprofit corporation -- and its board includes Weller's mother and brother and one of his business partners.

That leads disclosure watchdogs to question Weller's decision to exclude his wife's finances from his House disclosure forms.

"The fact that one of his business partners is involved, that only adds to" an already difficult task of proving separate finances, said Bill Allison, a senior fellow at the Sunlight Foundation, a government-transparency watchdog group.

"The fact that his family members are involved would suggest that he has a pretty good idea of what's going on," Allison added. "Does he just discuss the weather with his family?"

Click here for the complete report on the Zury Rios Fund for Guatemala and the questions it poses for Weller.

By Hal Dardick and Jim Tankersley

A potential Democratic challenger is trying to turn Rep. Jerry Weller's silence into a golden opportunity for his not-yet-official campaign.

Weller (R-Ill.) returned to Washington this week - after a week-long absence to care for his one-year-old daughter - but maintained his refusal to comment about questions surrounding his real estate investments in Nicaragua, which the Tribune outlined in a story last week.

Back in Weller's congressional district outside Chicago today, the continued silence drew fire a community college president who plans to run for the Democratic nomination to face the congressman.

“First, why have you or your staff not answered the questions raised in the Tribune article?” asked Jerry Weber, president of Kankakee Community College. “Second, when will you explain to the people of the 11th District what you’ve been doing in Central America?”

by Jim Tankersley

A year ago, Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) sided with President Bush's preferred position in 80 percent of his House votes. But with Bush's approval ratings in the basement and national Democrats pledging to target his seat, Kirk has only voted with the president 39 percent of the time this year, according to rankings by Congressional Quarterly.

If Bush feels slighted, he has plenty of Republican company: CQ also reports that Kirk is only voting with a majority of his GOP colleagues 66 percent of the time this year, down from 79 percent last year. He and Rep. Tim Johnson (R-Ill.) are tied for sixth place on the list of least party-line Republicans.

Kirk is one of several Illinois congressmen whose voting patterns have shifted with the Democratic takeover of the House. The broad trend, for Democrats and Republicans throughout the delegation, whether their seats are considered safe or up for grabs, is against Bush. Every returning House member from Illinois is voting with the president less this year than a year ago.

Democrats Melissa Bean and Dan Lipinski, for example, have dropped from voting the Bush position about half the time last year to less than 20 percent of the time this year. Republican Ray LaHood is down from 93 percent to 53 percent. Democrat Danny Davis is down from 25 percent to zero.

By Jim Tankersley

Updated: 1:15 p.m.

Afghanistan is sometimes dubbed the forgotten front of the War on Terror – a reality driven home today, as the Iraq war dominates the headlines on the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

But Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) is using the anniversary to tell Americans there's still a lot of work left to be done in Afghanistan, which is struggling outside the spotlight against a resurgence of the Taliban and outbursts of insurgent violence, include a suicide bombing that killed nearly 30 people on Monday.

Shimkus made his first trip to Afghanistan last week with a NATO contingent. In a conference call and a subsequent interview with the Tribune this afternoon, the southern Illinois congressman praised the "successes" of some provinces, acknowledged "huge problems" in others and drew parallels in mission and resolve to the decidely unforgotten conflict in Iraq.

"What struck me is, some of the same challenges we're facing in Iraq are the challenges we're facing in Afghanistan," Shimkus said. In both countries, he said large portions of the population are "on the fence" between insurgents and nascent democratic governments: "And if you leave too early, you send the message, don't jump on the side of democracy, because they're not going to be there."

Shimkus commended the international partnership to rebuild Afghanistan and pushed for more NATO -- but not American -- troops in the country. He told a questioner that he agreed with Sen. Barack Obama's statement earlier this summer that the United States should be prepared to go after Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, even without Pakistani approval. And he said he trusted military commanders to determine America's strategy in Iraq.

He also said the soldiers and people in Afghanistan don't feel forgotten by the United States.
"They are in their own world and have their own challenges, and that's what they're focused on," he said. ""No one mentioned Iraq to me at all."

Shimkus details the ups and downs of the region's progress in a column he distributed today, in which he says NATO troops could stay in the country through 2015, according to their American commander.

Read on for the full column:

by Jim Tankersley

The Senate passed a broad higher-education bill today that included a small but important -- for a quarter million African-American students, anyway -- provision pushed by a pair of lawmakers from Illinois.

The College Cost Reduction and Access Act creates a new designation for colleges, "Predominantly Black Institutions," which don't qualify for "Historically Black Colleges and Universities" status but serve large numbers of African American students nevertheless. The estimated 75 colleges in that new group - including eight in Illinois - are now eligible for a $15 million pool of federal grants.

The engines behind the provision are Sen. Barack Obama and Rep. Danny Davis, a pair of Illinois Democrats. Obama's office hailed the Senate passed bill in a release today, which included Obama saying, "For decades, Predominantly Black Institutions have given our students the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in today's economy, and their recognition is long overdue. This funding will invest in a new generation of leaders by strengthening these institutions."

The bill now heads to President Bush, who has indicated he will sign it.

Read on for the full release from Obama's office:

by Mike Dorning

Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin promised today that he would no longer vote to fund the war in Iraq unless the money is tied to a withdrawal strategy.

Durbin, the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate, has been a consistent critic of the war in Iraq but is a pragmatic party leader attuned to political reality. The Illinois senator voted against authorization for the war in 2002 but has since voted for the emergency funding packages that have financed the war.

Durbin’s commitment--and a forceful speech he delivered against new funding for Bush’s war strategy--positions an influential Senate leader in favor of a hard line at a moment when some Democrats are signaling a willingness to compromise on war funding.

Congress is preparing for a struggle over continuation of the troop build-up in Iraq following a report on progress to be delivered next week by Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. military commander in Iraq, and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker. The White House has indicated it will request a supplemental funding package of approximately $40 billion to pay for continuing the Bush Administration’s “surge” strategy.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky in 2006. AP photo by Charles Rex Arbogast.

by Jim Tankersley

President Bush isn't the only one fencing with Congress this week over the pros and cons of the "troop surge" in Iraq -- Democrats in Congress are debating the merits themselves, and on public television no less.

Tune in tonight at 6 p.m. Central on Chicago's WTTW-TV, to the PBS program "News Hour," to watch Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Rep. Brian Baird (D-Wash.) join in a panel debate on Iraq and the surge. Both Schakowsky and Baird voted against the war in 2003, and both recently visited Iraq -- but they came back with very different views of the surge's effects.

Schakowsky ripped the surge and the Bush war stratey in this week's Democratic radio address. Baird came home touting progress on the ground -- read all about it in this excellent report from The Oregonian -- and drew jeers from constituents opposed to the war.

Expect the two to highlight those contrasts on the show tonight.

by Frank James

Does experience trump change in the contest for potential Democratic primary voters?

According to Gallup's pollsters, change is much more important than experience for such voters.

PRINCETON, NJ -- The Democratic presidential nomination could well be decided on the basis of whether Democratic primary and caucus voters prefer an experienced candidate or one who would make changing the way things are done in Washington his or her top priority.

Hillary Clinton -- with a comfortable lead in nomination preference polling at this point -- is making her case for the nomination on the basis of her extensive experience in Washington, including her eight years as first lady and her six-plus years as a U.S. senator. Her closest competitors, Barack Obama and John Edwards, have much less federal government experience -- Edwards served one six-year term in the U.S. Senate, and Obama is in his third year as a U.S. senator. Not surprisingly, Obama and Edwards are attempting to portray themselves as Washington outsiders and are focusing their campaign message on their ability to bring change to the nation's capital.

In spite of Clinton's comfortable lead in nomination preference polls, a recent Gallup Panel survey finds that -- in theory, at least -- Democrats by a large margin attach more importance to a candidate who would bring about change than to one who has experience.

That should be good news for Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois who has framed his presidential candidacy as his being an agent for change, a necessary argument for him since he's so short on Washington experience.

by Jim Tankersley

Recently returned from a firsthand tour of Iraq, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) declared the so-called troop surge "failed" and declared "there is no end in sight for the war" in a national radio speech aired today.

As Washington gears up for another high-stakes showdown over the war when Congress reconvenes next week, Democrats tapped Schakowsky to give their weekly radio address. The suburban Chicago Democrat, a longtime war critic, used the opportunity to criticize Iraq's political progress and the efficacy of the "surge" in halting violence.

Schakowsky drew sharp contrasts between the toil of American troops in the hot Iraqi streets and the opulent reception she and others in her delegation received. "While we were choosing between coffee, tea, or espresso to go with our dessert," she said, "outside in the 120 degree heat on that very day, August 6, four U.S. soldiers were killed by an IED blast in Diyala, one British soldier was shot in Basra, six street cleaners were blown up, 33 Iraqis were killed in a residential neighborhood in Tal Afar, and 17 bodies killed by death squads were discovered. "

Read on for the full text of Schakowsky's speech:

By Jim Tankersley

Illinois' congressional delegation wasted few opportunities this summer to pummel BP for its plans to increase dumping from its Indiana oil refinery into Lake Michigan – and when BP announced today it was reversing those plans, the lawmakers wasted little time celebrating.

In a joint press release this morning, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) hailed the announcement as "the news we have been waiting for – a watershed moment for Lake Michigan."

Rep. Judy Biggert (R-Ill.) called it “good news; BP made the right call” in an afternoon release.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) declared the move "a victory for the residents of all the Great Lake states and for the 30 million Americans who rely on the Great Lakes for their drinking water" but warned "we must also remember that this battle is not over. We still have a process in place that allows a company to easily increase the amount of pollution that it can discharge into the Great Lakes."

Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) echoed her in a release that followed minutes later. "The more than 30 million Americans who rely on the Great Lakes for their drinking water can rest easier today now that BP has stopped its plan to increase pollution in our lake," he said, adding: "we need to work to change our laws to ensure that similar situations do not occur in the future."

Expect Schakowsky, Kirk and other House members from Illinois to persist in their push for bills to make it harder for states – such as Indiana in this case – to permit increased dumping into the lake. As the Tribune noted a few weeks back, Chicago-area lawmakers from both parties see almost no downside to fighting for clean water over the interests of a big oil company.

Read on for today's full releases from the Illinois lawmakers:

Rep. Melissa Bean. Photo for the Chicago Tribune by Stephanie Kuykendal

by Jim Tankersley

Democrats snagged control of the House last year by winning behind enemy lines. The new majority counts more than 60 Democrats from congressional districts that President Bush carried in 2000 and 2004 - compared to less than a dozen Republicans from districts that went Democratic in both those presidential elections.

Democrats' efforts to hold House power next year - and Republicans' hopes to win it back - hinge on those GOP-leaning districts, particularly the ones held by freshmen, the most vulnerable and most highly targeted incumbents.

In hopes of avoiding one-term-wonder status, many of those Democratic newbies have turned to a sophomore colleague from a red-tinged district with experience surviving Republicans' electoral bulls-eye: Rep. Melissa Bean of Illinois.

In today's Tribune I detail Bean's formula for successfully holding her hotly contested district in 2006, how freshman Democrats are looking to copy it and why national Republicans say Bean and her proteges are ripe for defeat next year.

Expect to read a lot more about Bean's race in the year to come: It was a $12 million affair last time around, and all signs suggest it could get pricey again.

by Frank James

As Sen. Barack Obama competes to be commander-in-chief, he might want to get a quick tutorial on military nomenclature.

At the Iowa State Fair last week, he asked two soldiers in battle dress uniforms, or BDUs, who waited to greet him what their "squad" was. "What squad are you guys with?" was his exact question.

The soldiers were respectful and answered the question Obama was trying to ask. You hear one of the soldier's say "We're with the 103rd out of Ft. Des Moines."

What Obama should've asked the soldiers for was their "unit," not squad. A squad is among the smallest groupings in the U.S. Army, usually made up around 10 soldiers. Obama's question was essentially like asking someone for the street number of his house but not the street or city it was in. It's a nonsensical question.

Some might say this is a case of media nitpicking. Perhaps. But it's the kind of detail that matters to a lot of people. Like those Veterans of Foreign Wars he's due to speak to on Tuesday in Kansas City.

If he wants to persuade voters that he's ready to step into the Oval Office and command the U.S. military, especially those in the military or who have an interest in it, Obama would be well advised not to ask about squads when he really asking about the larger unit to which a soldier is assigned.

He might want to take a look at a document like the Army's pamphlet 10-1, Organization of the U.S. Army. Page 53 has a very useful chart.

Another tip gratuitously provided: Never refer to M-16 rifles or M4 carbines as "guns" in the presence of soldiers.

President Bush issued this statement about Hastert today:

"It has been a great pleasure forging a close friendship and working relationship with Denny Hastert. He is a good and decent man, and he was a strong and effective Speaker.

"After teaching government and history at Yorkville High School in Illinois, Denny began making history serving in the Illinois House of Representatives and the United States House of Representatives. During his two decades in Congress, Denny rose through the ranks as a hard-working Member whom colleagues on both sides came to admire, trust, and respect – and became the longest-serving Republican Speaker in history.

"Drawing on lessons he learned as a coach, he successfully guided Members of Congress to work together to enact legislation that has improved the lives of Americans. He led Congress to reduce taxes, improve education, strengthen Medicare, bolster our national defense, and support our troops. Our nation is stronger because of his service.''
.

by Frank James

Mattel Toys's latest recall of Chinese-made toys with small magnets that could be swallowed by children and or paint because of concerns the paint contains toxic lead has prompted Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) to call for something radical—the stopping and inspecting all toys from China with paint.

Durbin is quoted in his press release thusly:

"… We should temporarily detain and inspect all shipments of children’s products from China that contain paint. Doing so is a strong step, but one that will catch tainted and dangerous toys before they hit store shelves. I've asked CPSC to examine this option and I hope that in light of this new recall, they will take a serious look at such action."

Durbin's press release doesn't mention the magnet toys which represented most of today's recall. After the Chicago Tribune reported earlier this year that Chinese-made magnet toys had proven deadly because the magnets were small enough to be swallowed, Durbin made dangerous toys a cause.

Durbin also wants a meeting with toy makers and retailers to discuss what appears to be a fairly significant problem with Chinese manufacturers.

Mattel should have plenty of people on Capitol Hill willing to listen if it chooses to make a case for a less severe approach than what Durbin advocates which could prove very costly to the toy maker.

A quick search of the opensecrets.org website indicates the company has spread a lot of money around, much of it to Democrats with an apparent emphasis on lawmakers from California.

By Jim Tankersley

As Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.) officially announced his plans to retire on a mini-tour of Illinois today, his Washington colleagues -- including several Democrats -- continued to heap praise on his congressional tenure.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) called LaHood "someone who can really work across the aisle" in an interview. Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) called him "an extraordinary person," "very levelheaded" and "a gem" for Illinois.

Other colleagues gushed more prolifically in press releases, including Reps. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) and Phil Hare (D-Ill.) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). Read on for their comments, along with LaHood's press release on retirement today: