John Borling Running Write-In Campaign for Congress in 16th

Boy, go on a 3-day Christian retreat and one does miss some news.

Actually, I could have found this if I had read the Rockford Register-Star’s political column by Chuck Sweeney last Thursday before I left for the Walk to Emmaus at Woodstock’s Resurrection Center.

The headline pretty much tells it all:

Borling marshals forces for write-in run for Congress

John Borling is the retired Air Force major general who ran quite unsuccessfully (2% of the vote) for the U.S. Senate when, how many, 8 people were seeking the GOP nomination that Jack Ryan won.

Sweeney reports that his slogan/platform is

“Jobs, Energy, Taxes and Spending,” or JETS.

Why is he running? The column quotes him thusly:

Both parties have let us down; they’ve been taken over, one by the hard right, the other by the hard left.

Here is the message on his campaign phone number of 815-229-4400:

Hi, this is John Borling at Borling for Congress. Thanks for calling.

As you know, we’re running an independent write-in campaign for the congressional seat up here in Northwest Illinois currently held by Don Manzullo.

We think both the Democrats and the Republicans have let us down and that’s what prompts this effort. We’re grateful for any support you can give us.

All of us are out on the road currently. We will respond to your call if you’d leave a message at the prompt. But, if you would like to volunteer particularly, please be sure we have all of your contact information, including your name and phone number, email, etc.

If you would like to contribute, you can do so by send a check to Borling for Congress (B O R L I N G for Congress), Box 4703, Rockford, Illinois 61110-4703.

Thanks very much calling. We’ll come back to you as quickly as we can and, again, please write in John Borling, an independent on November 7th.

The odds for hitting a number on roulette are better than those for winning a write-in, but Borling could be setting himself up for a 16th district third-party challenge in 2008 similar to Bill Scheurer’s this year in the 8th congressional district.

Borling supports abortion. (He was the only U.S. Senate candidate two years ago to do so.) Incumbent Republican Congressman Don Manzullo does not.

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Church is Resurrection Center in early morning.

Borling logo is from his 2004 U.S. Senatorial campaign. It says, "Duty Calls Again."