Cegelis Treading Out Onto Thin Ice Over Disabilities

Although rumors of Army Major Tammy Duckworth's candidacy for the Congressional seat being vacated by Henry Hyde have been circulating for some time, those rumors only recently have become published, giving us our first glimpse of how Christine Cegelis's campaign will deal with this life-threatening insurgency.

Duckworth's life story presents a Herculeanean challenge for Cegelis, who clearly feels she must go on the offensive to discredit Duckworth. But in politics, it's always tough for a female candidate to attack her opponent without casting herself as...."unpleasant." Even trickier when the person you are attacking is a decorated war hero. And when that person was injured in combat and lost limbs as a result? Next to impossible.

Enter this week's stories. First, Sun-Times regular contributor Dick Simpson assaults Duckworth as a candidate who's only qualification for office is her disability. Simpson assumes, I'm guessing incorrectly, that Duckworth has no positions on abortion, the economy, education, or especially foreign policy and Iraq. The problem for the Cegelis campaign is that they are likely to find themselves with more heat they can handle if they try to make this a central issue of the campaign -- defining people with disabilities solely by their disabilities raises the anger of the disability community. They've proved to be well-organized in the past, and the last thing Cegelis needs is an angry protest by wheelchaired folks, peppered with veterans, in front of her office demanding an apology.

Cegelis's attacks also constantly remind voters that Duckworth is a decorated war hero who made great sacrifice for her country, a tribute to her character, even among those who oppose the war.

Then in today's Sun-Times, Lynn Sweet, an early champion of Cegelis, lays out Cegelis' next line of attack: Duckworth doesn't live in the district. Unfortunately, this line only creates more problems for Cegelis and her campaign team. First, as Sweet indicates, in raising the residency issue, Cegelis undermines the candidacy of her neighbor and supposed role model, Cong. Melissa Bean. Bean, like Duckworth, lives just outside her Congressional District, and it creates a major credibility gap for Cegelis to liken herself to Bean in one breath and attack Duckworth's residency in the next.

Secondly, and most importantly, although Duckworth appears willing to relocate to the district, it appears the reason she can't is because of her disability. According to Sweet:

After she was wounded, Duckworth's friends remodeled her home in Hoffman Estates to make it handicapped accessible, and as a practical matter, it would be difficult for her to move at this time. Emanuel's considerable fund-raising ability will be used to market Duckworth and diminish her residency as an issue.

You can bet that part of that fund-raising ability will be used to create "shame on you" ads from veterans' and disability rights' groups shredding Cegelis for attacking an injured hero.

So, the question is: Can Cegelis win, can she do it without attacking Duckworth, and if she is going to attack Duckworth, how should she do it?