You all know of Josh's contest on the frontpage to get Republican candidates to go on record with their positions on Social Security phase-out. One of the targets is Peter Roskam running against Tammy Duckworth in the IL-06 House race to replace old youthful indiscretion himself, Henry Hyde. The contest is an excellent method for flushing out Republicans on issues they'd rather not talk about before the election.

Read on after the flip to see how we can take this to the next level. If you're interested in taking the fight to them and doing it on our terms instead of theirs then here's my solution.

I've picked Roskam because he's a perfect test case. He's a weasel's weasel. He's also in a dead heat with Major Tammy Duckworth.

He claims just because he started his political career working for Tom Delay doesn't mean anything, he hardly knows the man, worked for him for all of 7 months over 20 years ago. Never mind that on September 22 last year DeLay hosted a $500 per plate -- $1,000 for PAC donors -- fundraising lunch in Washington D.C. for Roskam. Other heavy hitters who have helped him raise money are Grover Norquist and Dick Cheney. That ought to tell you all you need to know about this guy.

So let's move on to the experiment. First a little background. Yesterday Bush finally used his veto pen to kill embryonic stem cell funding. Cynical Repub House leaders quickly held another vote last night before advocacy groups and the public could pressure fencesitters and the bill passed 235 to 193 but without the veto proof majority it needed. That gives Repubs the ability to claim they passed this popular bill and stood up to their unpopular president when in fact they accomplished exactly nothing. They can have their cake and eat it too while sick people with all kinds of diseases and injuries are another year away from a cure.

Unfortunately the story isn't going to change if candidates like Roskam get into Congress. Democrats are going to have to take back the House if stem cell legislation and a whole host of other changes are going to get a legitimate shot.

Lil' Petey is steadfastly against allowing embryonic stem cells to be used for research. He'd rather see them thrown in a dumpster than be used to help save lives.

Here are just a couple of quotes from him on the issue:

“It is my intention to focus on this type of research in Congress which is producing results for Americans who are afflicted with these diseases. We cannot leave our moral obligations at the laboratory door and take one human life and cast it aside for the benefit of another.” (Chicago Daily Herald, 6/14/2006)

“I support adult and umbilical cord stem cell reseach that has yielded 65 known cures of successful human therapies for such diseases as multiple sclerocic, leukemia, rheumatoid arthritis and even Parkinson’s disease.” (Chicago Daily Herald, 6/14/2006)

As Josh and readers RC and TCB pointed out in this post he's also weaseled out on Social Security. On May 20, 2005 he skipped a vote in the Illinois Senate on a bill to protect SS. He managed to be there to vote on other bills that day but was mysteriously absent when this one came up. This was only 4 days after he declared his candidacy for the US congress and he's not stupid. He obviously thought a long lunch was the better part of valor.

What I propose is this. Call or email Peter Roskam's campaign and ask him to make public statements, press releases, put something up on his website with his positions on stem cell research and Social Security reform for all the world to see. Be polite but insist. Don't let his aides try to deflect your questions because you don't live in the district. These are issues voters and supporters all across the country, not just in his district, have a right to know about before we decide who to contribute to and vote for. And we want to see it in print or online so everybody can see it. If they get the mistaken impression you're a well heeled Republican, well that probably wouldn't hurt either.

Roskam probably won't mind the stem cell part. He can't do anything about it anyway, his record on that is already out there. But Social Security scares him to death. Just hit the link to his webpage and give him a call or drop him a line.

And when you're done drop by Tammy Duckworth's site and let 'em know how you did. Tell them I sent you. Give her a little love by dropping a few dollars on her campaign or if you're in the area sign up to volunteer. Or just check out the site and say hi. She's a great candidate and the race in this once heavily Repub district is now a toss up according to the Cook Report. Getting Roskam to come clean on stem cells and especially Social Security will go a long way toward keeping him in Wheaton as a personal injury lawyer and sending Duckworth to the House of Representatives.

It doesn't matter where you're from (as long as it's the states) because this is legislation that affects all of us. Tell your friends and relatives. To me this is what people power is all about and it takes 5 minutes. If we get enough people to call or email him he's gonna have to publicly state his position and he's on the wrong side on both of these issues. If it works like I think it will we can put pressure on all of them and make this election about our issues instead of theirs. Let's take the fight to the Repubs instead of letting them set the debate. Let's make Peter Roskam the first test case. He's a Delay clone and we don't want him anywhere near Washington DC.