“NRA ally” leads Dem primary battle for Jesse Jr seat
Dem heavies weigh in against her
The primary election to replace ex-Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., is approaching on February 26, and Democrat heavies are attacking their own frontrunner, Debbie Halvorson.
The the top three contenders in the Democratic primary, according to an internal poll, are Debbie Halvorson, Toi Hutchinson, and Robin Kelly.
Halvorson is the former congresswoman who lost her seat in the primary to Jesse Jackson, Jr. as part of the Democrats’ 2011 redistricting. State Senator Toi Hutchinson is an Illinois State Senator who was recently endorsed by anti-Second Amendment maven Toni Preckwinkle, and Robin Kelly, endorsed by Daily Kos, worked for former Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias.
Mayor Bloomberg’s PAC “Independence USA” is running ads against Democratic candidate Debbie Halvorson for being more pro-gun than her Democrat running-mates.
Then, David Axelrod responding to Politico’s pronouncement that she may win with “Ironic, given carnage in 2d CD.”
Yesterday, BuzzFeed published a piece indicating that only three of the 22 candidates had filed financial disclosures with the House Ethics Committee, singling out Toi Hutchinson and one other for their failure to do so (most likely, the reason many of the others did not file is they did not reach the require minimum threshold of $5,000).
So both Halvorson and Hutchinson have been attacked in the past week by Dems, in fact the Tribune published a piece today questioning Hutchinson’s prior pro-gun stances, leaving just Robin Kelly untouched (and endorsed by Daily Kos). With 17 Democrats having filed (some have since dropped out), you have to wonder if Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his Machine may not have the grip they’d like on the Machine–and just who it is they’d like to position for a win.
In the meantime, the five Republican candidates are holding another debate tonight, although only one Republican candidate, Paul McKinley, showed up to the bipartisan debate I covered at Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s church last weekend. McKinley’s message against the Machine continue to resonate across the political spectrum, as it did that night, and he may be the only one whose message can span both the rural and urban parts of the 2nd district. (See McKinley’s website and “like” him on Facebook).
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Comments
What an imbecile Axelrod is. Its “ironic” that an NRA ‘ally’ would be doing well given the carnage?
Seriously?
Even the Brady Campaign, which has been a leader in the assault on our 2nd Amendment Rights, has published data showing that the murder rate among blacks in states with an “A” rating from Brady (toughest gun laws, including total bans like Chicago’s) is over 18 per 100k. That’s DOUBLE the figure for “F” rated states (those with minimal/no gun laws), at about 9 per 100k.
So, clearly, if you are for gun control you are a Racist! (Sorry, couldn’t resist).
Seriously, though, how stupid can you be to think that gun control = less gun violence when 100% of the available evidence proves otherwise?
The Washington Post recently ran an article talking about the massive increase in gun sales in my state of VA. Headline was something like, ‘Despite surge in gun ownership, crime drops dramatically in VA’. That’s a very loose paraphrase from memory, but the point is the same. They start with the bogus premise that any increase in gun ownership would result in higher crimes. That’s simply ignorant. EVERY increase in lawful gun ownership in the US has resulted in lower crime.
When I was a kid, there were only 8 or 9 states with concealed carry laws. Now, there are 48 (excepting only IL and WI). Violent crimes (not just murder, but robberies, rape, home invasions, muggings, etc) ALL decreased by at least 20% in every state over the decade after that state passed its concealed carry law.
So, clearly, if you are FOR gun control then you are also FOR rape, mugging, home invasion, murder, robberies, etc, etc.
The opposite is true in cases where gun restrictions have been put in place (meaningful ones anyway, not like the ‘assault rifle’ ban under Clinton which had no noticeable effect either when it was passed or when it expired). In the UK, after they passed a total ban on guns, murders double and robberies became more than 100 times more common.
I just can’t believe that the Black community would be any more friendly to “gun control” than the Cracker community.
To be fair, it’s more complex than that. The proportion of young men (who commit most crimes) in the population has decreased modestly and incarceration rates have increased slightly the last two decades. Both would impact crime rates.
The relationship between gun ownership and crime is an association; there’s no evidence of causality. That’s not an argument against gun ownership: I don’t need an argument to own a firearm, I have a 2nd amendment right to own one.
The problems here in Chicago have nothing to do with the NRA, guns, CCW, etc… heyjackass.com illustrates the problem pretty clearly. Poor, black neighborhoods have the highest crime rate in the nation. These neighborhoods have high unemployment, broken family units, little opportunity and no respect for others life or property. It’s a microcosm of societal decay, yet are solid D voters every single election.
Halverson is a bit of a kook, but she does have the most name recognition in that district. She may be pro-gun/NRA but she’s also pretty far left on everything else.
Illustrating Chicagoland Idiocy, Mayhem and Stupidity at heyjackass.com
Aurora, IL, 20 miles west of Chicago, had ZERO murders in all of 2012. Second largest city in IL, population about 200k.
Just a few days ago, the WH was blaming the murders in Chicago on guns being in from outside the city.
I guess that means that guns that were itching to kill someone got up and walked the 20 miles from Aurora to Chicago to kill someone. Why they didn’t kill anyone in Aurora is anyone’s guess. Maybe Aurora doesn’t have White Castles and all those guns were Jonesing for a steamed burger?
Oh yeah, Aurora lies outside of Chicago’s gun ban zone. You’re allowed to legally own one and, if necessary, defend yourself with it.
But, that can’t possibly have anything to do with it. By Democrat/Media logic, Aurora should have a higher crime rate than Chicago BECAUSE of the fact that people are allowed to own guns there.
I’m really coming to believe that the 20% of most societies that consistently self identify as ‘liberal’ are the same 20% of humanity that is incapable of rational thought.
But, see, this just follows the time-worn Collectivist meme.
“It didn’t work because we didn’t do it hard enough.”
It is universally applied, regardless of how awful the failure, or how clear the mechanism for failure.
“Stimulus” failed…??? We didn’t spend enough!
Gun control an obvious failure in Chicago, DC, Lost Angeles…? There are guns OUTSIDE those places!
Never mind the examples of Jamaica, Ireland, or Great Britain (which are…you know…ISLANDS).
Its also a side effect of the huge media bias.
If we had any journalists left in the legacy media, people like Axelrod wouldn’t be spouting such pathetically weak propaganda. Like R’s, they’d know that if they did the media would call them out on it. Their statements would have to be closer to reality, or at least be lies that are harder to refute.
Instead, Axelrod knows that not a single reporter outside the right-wing blogosphere will debunk his idiocy. Won’t even question it. So, he feels free to be lazy and spout idiotic crap that anyone with common sense, any knowledge of the issue, or anyone capable of doing a google search could easily refute.
Good point on England. If a gun ban can result in a huge increase in violent crime on an island police state, why would anyone think it could work anywhere at all?
Aurora has much less of a gang problem, and their policing efforts have really gone after the gangs this past decade.
Saw an article about that latter point — apparently Aurora was having a crime problem, and so the mayor and police chief said “oh my goodness” and decided to do something about it. They got very aggressive with community policing, and Aurora has benefitted.
It’s not just gun ownership that influences crime. Gangs and the response to gangs is very important, and I’ll bet that had as much to do, or more, on the crime rate in Aurora.
Chicago’s biggest two problems right now with regard to crime are 1) a mayor who is too busy making deals to worry about running things and 2) a police chief who doesn’t agree with and doesn’t endorse a community policing model.
So, does that make “NRA ally” a raaaaacist dog-whistle?
Halvorson was my Congress-critter for a couple years until she was defeated by Kinzinger in 2008.
She is a loathsome political creature. That she is leading in IL-02 is a damning indictment of the political class of that district.
She has to be for gun rights — at the very least, she can’t be against them until she’s elected and safely sworn in (she’s a Democrat, remember). Her ONLY chance to win this election is to get a big vote from the Will County part of the district, and if there’s a whiff of anti-gun about her the Will County folks will sit on their hands.
Anyone that thinks that Halvorson will be anything but a shill for left wing causes and will stay true to the NRA is highly naive. She is an Illinois democrat, keep that in mind. As for Axelrod and the media, remember he got his start as a reporter for The Tribune and has plenty of ties to the Sun Times and all other media outlets here. The Trib was the outlet that broke the Jack Ryan divorce story (gee wonder who they go t that info from?) He knows damn well that the vast majority of reporters are on his side and will never challenge the legitimacy of Obama or any of his policies which reflects the media as a whole.