Special Elections Today

Two special elections today, one in Northwest Ohio, another in Eastern Virginia, for Congressional seats left open by the deaths of two Republicans.

In Ohio, Democrat Robin Weinrauch has a shot at picking up the seat of the late Republican Paul Gilmor, but she faces Bob Latta, son of the guy who represented the district before Gilmor. Latta's internal poll yesterday showed him trialing Weinrauch in a district Bush won over 60% of the vote in.

In Virginia, Democrat Phil Forgit, an Iraq war vet is running against Republican Bob Whitman for the seat of the late Jo Ann Davis who died in October. Forgit is an underdog. The seat was won by Bush in 2004 and Republican candidates for Governor (Kilgore) in 2005 and Senator (Allen) in 2006.

If you're in one of these two districts, GO OUT AND VOTE TODAY!

IL-14: Hastert Resigning, Really This Time

He will step down at some point this year.
Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert bid his colleagues farewell in a final speech Thursday, expressing worry about the "breakdown of civility" in politics.
Funny, considering it was under his Speakership that the breakdown in civility began.

Hastert's resignation will trigger a Special Election, perhaps the most contentious one so far in the 110th Congress. (MA-05 was pretty contentious, but to me, it was never a question who would win, it was just by how much).

Hastert's seat was considered a potential Demcoratic pickup in 2008. If Hastert is gone by January 1st, Governor Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat, may schedule a special election for the seat on February 5th, the same day as the Democratic primary, which may bring out a slew of Democratic voters who are out for Obama, their native son, increasing the chances of a Democratic pickup.

HOWEVER

February 5th may just be a primary election day, setting up two candidates for a later general election date, that may favor Republicans.

Hastert may also be delaying retirement due to the fact the GOP already has two vacancies and will soon have a third.

Virginia 1 (Jo Ann Davis) and Ohio 5 (Paul Gilmor) are both open until elections on December 11th and Louisiana 1 (Bobby Jindal) will be open soon because Jindal will take the oath of office as Louisiana's new governor.

Jo Ann Davis (R-Virginia) 1950-2007

Congresswoman Jo Ann Davis (R-Virginia) who represents a district that includes Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Fredricksburg succumbed after a two year battle with breast cancer at her home in Virginia. She was 57 years old.

Davis was elected to the House in 2000 and reelected three more times with only minor opposition.

Diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005, she underwent a partial mastectomy tha same year and returned to work cancer-free. The cancer came back this year and, after a brave and rough battle, has taken her life.

Davis is the fifth member of Congress to die in office this year after Charlie Norwood (R-Georgia) Juanita-Millender-McDonald (D-California), Sen. Craig Thomas (R-Wyoming), and Paul Gilmor (R-Ohio).

Norwood, Millender-McDonald, and Thomas also succumbed to cancer.