2 Cents on 6th Dist., Pt. 1

This is part one of my comments on the spirited discussion between michael in chicago and Rick Klau. (1, 2, 3)

While I'll be pulling comments out of context, I don't intend to deliberately misrepresent anything anyone says and I encourage MiC and Rick -- or anyone else -- to call me on it if I do.

Rick said:

It’s incredibly disappointing to see such pointless, counter-productive commentary being leveled. I even heard from one township chair this weekend that a precinct captain who supports Christine — a precinct captain! — vowed to tell everyone in his precinct to vote Republican if Duckworth wins the primary. Talk about missing the bigger picture!

While I don't doubt for a minute that the precinct captain said that, I also don't believe for a minute that he or she intends to follow up.

That is the sound of someone who feels that he has been stabbed in the back. Democratic grassroots workers in DuPage County have never had the rug pulled out from under them before -- hell, there's never been a Democratic rug in DuPage county before -- so they are reacting with hyperbolic statements of protest.

That threat to vote for Roskam is the sound of a Democratic foot soldier who's busted his hump through thick and thin and now sees his candidate being undermined by the DC party bosses. It is equivalent to saying, "If they let that Walmart move in and destroy our downtown businesses, I'm going to burn it to the ground." Pushing Roskam is an empty threat merely intended to express extreme displeasure.

And grassroots Dems would not have to resort to threats of voting Republican if their warnings that they might just sit on their hands during the general election carried any weight with the party bosses. But it has become increasingly clear that those party bosses -- and many Dems outside the district -- see little or no value in the work and opinions of 6th District's grassroots Democrats.

So, yes -- wildly hyped statements like the one Rick quotes are a sign of the passion and commitment the Democratic ground troops have for the Cegelis team. But using threats made out of frustration and exaspiration to demonstrate that the Cegelis supporters are less committed to a Democratic victory is something less than fair.

In addition, I find it noteworthy that the demand for Democratic party fealty is always so one-sided. I hear many stories of Cegelis zealots who won't pledge to fully support the Democratic candidate if someone else wins -- or is it the same story repeated again and again? -- but I never hear anything about the supporters of the other candidates. Specifically, will the DCCC candidate's deep-pocket financial donors pledge to support Christine if she wins? Shouldn't those supporters commit to backing the winner no matter who it is? Or are they exempt because they don't live in the district?

And what about the DCCC candidate's grassroots supporters? Why don't they tell us they will get behind the Democratic candidate in the general election, even if their candidate doesn't win?

If I ever see one, I'll be sure to ask.