Incumbent Protection Act of 2007 Passes

The Illinois primary election will be held on February 5, 2008.

On February 7, 2007, I outlined some of the obvious results.

The most obvious is that it increases the chances of incumbents to win re-election in their own primary elections.

Senate Republicans Dale Righter (R-Charleston) and Matt Murphy (R-Palatine) made the same point in debate, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Except for liberal Republicans.

As in 1992 with Carol Mosley Braun, Republican women will gravitate to the Democratic Party primary.

That will make it easier for conservative Republicans to win primary elections.

Next most obvious is that it decreases the chances that incumbents will get credible general election challengers.

If the Chicago Bears are in the Super Bowl, there will be another great sucking sound as this sport draws a disproportionate amount of television airtime.

Challengers will have hard time getting on TV.

Will this embolden incumbent legislators to vote for tax increases?

And, if you are interested in First Amendment issues, there's an article about what the McHenry County Board did about banning flash photography on McHenry County Blog.