Forget About The Romney-Newt-Santorum Clown Show; Tuesday Is Primary Day For Illinois Democrats

The House Democrats' chief corporate whore, Steny Hoyer, seems to think Ilya Sheyman (D-IL) is too progressive or grassroots or independent-minded or incorruptible or young or something Insiders hate. So he's funneling cash into the campaign of the conservative shill, Brad Schneider. Yesterday some delusional crank who writes nasty notes to Digby was whining about Ilya and sent us a critique from Corrente about him being an Obama supporter (sin of sins) and how he's to hijacking the Occupy brand. The combination of these two mentalities sure is what makes the Democrats the Democrats!

Earlier today we referred to the article in Mother Jones extolling the 99% Movement. Ilya Sheyman was one of the candidates they picked, a theme the author, Josh Harkinson, had developed earlier when writing about Ilya. "A victory for Sheyman would send a clear, early message to all Democrats running for office," he quote PCCC's Neil Sroka saying. "If you stand up and fight for the progressive values that matter to voters, you'll win your primary and build the enthusiastic grassroots base of donors and volunteers that all Democrats will need to win in November."

Yesterday the gigantic grassroots enthusiasm for Sheyman continued to build-- thwarting the plans the slimy DC Insiders had for the 10th district. The National Organization for Women, Democratic National Committee Hispanic Caucus Chair State Sen. Iris Martinez and National Nurses United all endorsed Ilya's surging campaign, adding themselves to an impressive list of progressive leaders and non-Beltway organizations, from Howard Dean, Russ Feingold, Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL), Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD), Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL), Peter Welch (D-VT), Keith Ellison (D-MN), to DFA, PCCC, AFSCME, MoveOn, the Sierra Club, the Illinois Federation of Teachers, the United Steelworkers and another dozen unions and, of course, Blue America.

Friday I participated in a meeting with a self-proclaimed "progressive" bunch of organizations. Perhaps some of them hadn't read Katrina vanden Heuvel's piece in The Nation about the need to elect not garden variety Democrats, but progressives.

Former Senator Russ Feingold recognizes that need and was moved to make his first endorsement in a Democratic primary since leaving the Senate. On Tuesday, Feingold pledged his support and that of Progressives United-- his recently formed group focused on opposing corporate power-- to Ilya Sheyman, a 25-year-old community organizer running in Illinois 10th District for a shot at the incumbent, Republican Representative Robert Dold.

While some Democratic candidates might look to co-opt the spirit and convictions of the Occupy movement, Sheyman is authentically of, by and for the 99 percent, ready to go to Washington and work with a strong grassroots to rebuild economic opportunity and fairness.

One of the groups, a gigantic national organization with hundreds of thousands of members announced they planned to support the Republican incumbent against Ilya in the general election. And no one asked them to leave the room. Washington is such a weird place. I avoid it at all costs.

Schneider, a wealthy businessman who has given thousands of dollars to extreme right wing Republicans running on platforms to end Medicare and Social Security, can read polls. He sees himself being crushed Tuesday and groused to The Hill that he knew “it would get ugly when I entered this race. But I expected it from the Tea Party, not our own party,” blaming his troubles on MoveOn and other progressive groups. While Schneider was whining about his moribund campaign, Sheyman told The Hill that "This campaign has really come down to economic issues, people who will get up and fight for middle-class families. There is the sense that economic mobility is slipping away, the American Dream is slipping away… This is one of the few districts in this country where we can not only turn a red seat blue but actually send a true progressive to Congress.”

But there is another one. South and east of IL-10 we find IL-13, a district that was always deeply red and is now purple-- and winnable by a Democrat. The primary has the same dynamic as the 10th-- a dynamic working family-oriented progressive (Dr. David Gill) being challenged by a Democrat who sounds suspiciously like a Republican (Matt Goetten). Last night, after Goetten had studiously avoided all debate challenges from Dr. Gill, the two finally met face to face-- and it became clear why he had avoided debates. This guy can't possibly go up against a Republican incumbent and hope to win. A vote for Goetten is a vote for another 2 years of Republican representation! After the debate Dr. Gill sent an e-mail to his supporters:

The debate tonight was refreshing for me because it allowed both candidates to speak unfiltered to the Democratic voters of this district.

It was interesting tonight to stand across from Matt Goetten. I had a strange sense of deja vu. It reminded me of standing across from Republican Tim Johnson.

The same parsing. The same hollow rhetoric. The same Washington buzz words. The same double-talk.

My primary opponent is just a younger, newer version of Tim Johnson's brand of insider deal-cutting and corporate politics. The Democrats of Illinois' 13th District deserve better than that. The people of the United States deserve better than that.

I called my opponent out for his complete and utter lack of leadership on protecting women's health and the right to choose. Matt had nothing to say. He stood there silently.

But that's nothing new for Matt Goetten. He's tried to duck questions and avoid the hard issues ever since he entered the race.

The key question now is can Democrats really trust Matt Goetten to fight for women on this issue and to fight for our progressive values on so many other issues.

Let me be as clear as I was in tonight's debate about where I stand: 

• I am 100% pro-choice, without restrictions. 

• I am 100% for access to birth control for all American women under every health care plan without restrictions. 

• I fully support Planned Parenthood and its work in clinics around this nation and government partnerships with that outstanding organization to make women healthier. 

• I support access to emergency contraception in every health care facility in our country without exception.

My opponent Matt Goetten is conflicted and confused on this issue. America's women cannot afford to be.

We have only 5 days left. The politicians backing Goetten have started a "Rapid Response" fund to come after me for telling the truth.

I won't be intimidated. I won't back down.

This is what I'll be watching Tuesday, not which GOP clown beats up the other. And if you'd like to donate directly to Dr. Gill's get-out-the-vote effort, you can do it here.