This just in: A poll taken in the Sixth Congressional District from October 23-24 by Bennett, Petts and Blumenthal found that Tammy Duckworth's campaign to change Congress has withstood millions of dollars in negative ads.

The poll of 400 voters shows Duckworth holding a 44-43 percent lead over her opponent, Peter Roskam.

Woohoo! Back in front!

After the jump you'll find more details about the poll from the press release and info about ongoing canvassing, phonebanking and the incredibly important GOTV training Tammy's campaign is having this weekend plus a few other observations from the past week. As an added bonus another endorsement. 

http://www.duckworthforcongress.com/

The National Republican Congressional Committee has spent $2.2 million in negative ads and mail against Duckworth. In addition, Roskam's own campaign has been running more that a million dollars in negative ads against her on Chicago broadcast TV. The Illinois Republican Party has also spent several hundred thousand dollars in negative mail.

Duckworth has gained significant momentum in the race, having been endorsed by all the major newspapers serving the 6th District, including the Chicago Sun-Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Daily Herald, and the Pioneer Press.

Bower's Googlebomb is a washout for Tammy. He linked to a Financial Times article that MSBNC carried for a day or two. It's a dead link now and 6th District voters wouldn't be likely to pay any attention to a British magazine anyway. The idiot Republicans have retaliated with a link to a YouTube Roskam commercial that people around here have seen hundreds of times already so no harm done.

Richard Viguerie is the Republican mail order guru and the man behind the Repub astroturf Social Security phaseout outfit 60 Plus Association. That group endorsed Roskam but now says:

"The big-spending, high-deficit, morally-deficient Republican Party hasn't anything to offer conservatives except Halloween scare tactics about the Democrats. But since the GOP majority in Congress has engaged in an unprecedented spending spree, conservatives know that Democrats cannot be any worse and that divided government may lead to less spending," Viguerie said.

"And conservatives have learned that, while Republicans sometimes provide significant symbolism on social issues, in truth, many of them have a disdain for values voters," he added.

"Trying to frighten conservatives by yelling `Nancy Pelosi' and `Harry Reid' won't work this time.

Halloween scare tactics and is about all Petey's run on. I may call him and ask him to retract his Roskam endorsement.

The race from where I sit is looking up. Petey's gone back to desperately trying to rally the base, making a hairbrianed appearance with David Beamer, Todd (Let's roll) Beamer's dad who spouts Dick Cheney islamofascist mumbo jumbo that's been discredited for years. That's a double flip flop from the beginning of the month. Steady there boy.
Pick a side, any side, and stick with it for a change.

Anwyay I have to run. Please contribute to Tammy if you can. She's still behind him in funds and we need to keep running commericals and pay for the GOTV which has to be huge in this district. If you can make it for any of the campaign events below please do. We need all the help we can get. 

Weather report this weekend is good. Warmer in the 50s and sunny.

Get-Out-The-Vote Volunteer Training, Saturday the 28th and Sunday the 29th

One week before the election, come to a volunteer training session to learn everything you'll need to know to be part of our Election Day GOTV Volunteer team. This election will be won or lost depending on how many doors we knock on during the final four days. Come find out what it takes to win.

We meet at 10 am Saturday and 12 pm Sunday, at our Main Field office in Lombard, at the corner of North Avenue and Rohlwing Road in the North Avenue Shopping Mall. Please RSVP to Alex at 630-629-0480.

Election Day Lawyers Training

We meet on Sunday, October 29th, at 3:30 PM in our South Office, at 416 W 22nd Street, Lombard. Please RSVP to Alex at 630-629-0480.

Poll Watcher Training

We meet on Sunday, October 29th, at 5:00 PM in our South Office, at 416 W 22nd Street, Lombard. Please RSVP to Alex at 630-629-0480

Phone Banking:

We have regular phone banks around the district throughout the week. In our main office in Lombard, we call voters all day every day and every night of the week but Friday.
Lombard: 1000 Rohlwing Road, at the corner of North Ave and Rohlwing, in the North Avenue Shopping Mall. Feel free to call us at 630-629-0480, or just to stop by with whatever time you can spare.

Hoffman Estates: Every Tuesday and Wednesday from 5 to 9 pm, in our office at 2500 W Higgins, Office # 1035. Please RSVP at 630-629-0480.

Des Plaines: Every Saturday from 10 to 3 pm, and every Sunday from 1 to 9 pm, at the Machinists Union Hall, at 50 W Oakton Street. Please RSVP at 630-629-0480.

Evanston: We also have a phone bank every Thursday in Evanston, starting at 5:30 pm, at 826 Custer, Evanston, IL 60202. Please RSVP to Nick at 630-629-0480.

And, just in case we run out of phone-lines, please bring your cell-phone!

http://www.duckworthforcongress.com/

Tammy Duckworth has made it a clean sweep of the 3 major papers in the district getting the Sun Times endorsement this morning. Read on for that and a desperate flub on the part of the once and future nuisance lawsuit filer Peter Roskam.

First off we have the Sun Times endorsement:

In the 6th District, the seat Henry Hyde has held for 32 years, we choose Tammy Duckworth. She may have drawn attention initially because she is a disabled Iraq war veteran who has spoken out against the war -- and who, though lacking political experience, was promoted by powerful Democrats over her seasoned primary opponent, Christine Cegelis. But Duckworth has grown as a candidate, demonstrating an increasingly impressive grasp of a wide range of issues.

Transcending the "cut-and-run" rhetoric of her Republican opponent, state Sen. Peter Roskam, she has called for quarterly status reports on the training and combat-readiness of Iraqi forces. The daughter of a Thai mother, she approaches the immigration crisis with a blend of tough practicality and empathy, backing Republican Sen. John McCain's proposal to secure the border while providing a path to citizenship for the deserving among the 12 million illegal immigrants. She also has thoughtful views on health care and education.

Roskam is a smart, energetic legislator who argues persuasively for making tax cuts permanent and, though he supports earmarks, wants to reform them and reduce spending in Washington. But with even the president retiring his "stay the course" language on Iraq, it's hard to believe Roskam's "finish the job" stance is backed by the voters. He opposes immigration reforms beyond border enforcement and, regrettably, the assault weapons ban while supporting destruction of background records on gun buyers within 90 days of purchase.

They also back Melissa Bean and have other recommendations so I suggest reading it all.

Next up we have Michael J. Fox's appearance with Duckworth at a rally yesterday. Some quotes:

"We're dealing with a positive here. This is the greatest positive there could be," said Fox, who battles tremors and slurred speech as a result of his decade long fight with Parkinson's disease. "We'll put into motion a chain of events that will have an amazing impact.''

"This is an issue that does -- and should -- transcend party lines," Duckworth said, naming prominent Republicans who have supported embryonic stem cell research, including Rep. Mark Kirk and Rep. Judy Biggert, both of whom represent nearby suburban districts in Congress.

Earlier this year, Congress passed a bill providing federal funding for such research but President Bush vetoed it.

We finally get a reporter to let Tammy put the lie to Roskam's claims that adult stem cells hold the most promise. Thank you Dan Rozek:

Duckworth and her supporters noted that embryonic stem cells have been known to medical science only since 1998 and that research has been stalled by a lack of federal funding.

Here's another doctor who thinks Limbaugh's criticisms (and Roskam's) are ridiculous.

Others defend Fox's aggressive campaigning for a Parkinson's cure. Dr. John Boockvar, a neurosurgeon and assistant professor at Weill Cornell Medical Center at New York's Presbyterian Hospital, called Limbaugh's claim that Fox was acting ''ludicrous.''

Boockvar said those with Parkinson's have ''on'' and ''off'' spells.

''If there is one single disease that has the highest potential for benefit from stem cell research,'' Boockvar said Tuesday, ''it's Parkinson's.''

Isn't it about time this district had a rep that actually represents ALL the people of the district instead of just the far right Christian fundamentalist wing of the Republican party?

And speaking of far right Christian fundamentalists Roskam, not being one to allow himself to be upstaged brought David Beamer to town Monday. Todd Beamer of Flight 93 "Let's Roll" fame was David's son. Sadly David is using his dead son's image and heroism in efforts to bolster the whole Republican agenda apparently in campaign stops all over the country. I don't see his advocacy as any worse than Cindy Sheehan's frankly, but let's not kid ourselves. This man called Tammy Duckworth "dangerous" yesterday for her views on Iraq. He's recorded commercials for the Repub astroturf outfit Progress for America, Inc. equating the war in Iraq with 9/11.

Take a look for yourself. This is what Petey's reduced to. Roskam, has been trying to change his tune on Iraq the last few weeks, echoing Tammy so much so that in the last debate she said it was nice to see him coming around to her point of view. Now he stands next to a man who blows his own new carefully weaseled position out of the water and all the way back to 2003. Christ he's got to hope no newscast actually runs the audio of Beamer instead of just putting a snippet of him up and saying Todd Beamer's dad endorses Pete Roskam.