Publius' Forum

Lee Newcom has written a public letter asking Ron Gidwitz to withdraw from the race for Governor of Illinois. You can see his letter HERE.

Unfortunately, Mr. Newcom seems to fall far short of understanding much of what he is talking about. Here is my examination of Mr. Newcom's request:

Mr. Newcom,

You have a major problem with your concept of asking conservative candidate Ron Gidwitz to drop out of the race for the GOP nomination for Illinois Governor. I take that back, you have several. I will list them a point at a time.

1- You say Gidwitz should drop out and announce support for either Brady or Oberweis. As to Brady, he has no chance whatsoever. His poll numbers constantly place him in the back of the pack. So Gidwitz dropping to back Brady would be foolish. If anything, Brady should be dropping out to support Gidwitz!

2- Oberweis is probably the worst candidate I have ever seen. He has never been elected to anything and it seems his only qualification, as far as he is concerned, is that he has a lot of money and somehow deserves to be elected to something... ANYTHING! He is a perennial candidate constantly on the look-out for his next "issue".

Furthermore, Oberweis has announced that he went to the other two (Brady and Gidwitz) and asked them to draw straws to see who would stay and who would drop out to face Topikna. This reveals a man who doesn't know the slightest thing about politics. He obviously thinks a silly game of chance would be an acceptable means of determining the future of Illinois politics. If he truly wanted to work something out with his two opponents, a back room deal is how such a thing would be done, NOT a silly public offering of a game to solve the issue. But, in truth, Oberweis has nothing to offer either of his opponents. Oberweis hasn't a clue and would be able to do nothing as Governor as he has no political pull with anyone and no organization past his own campaign committee.

And with that said...

3- If Gidwitz were to endorse Oberweis, it would be expected that any "influence" that you imagine Gidwitz would have with that endorsement would make no impact as a result of Oberweis' probable assumption that he really doesn't owe anyone a thing. Oberweis has an utter lack of understanding the political process.

4- I quote you... "Even though I support one of those two candidates, I see the need for your leadership now because my candidate and the other conservative are going to lose to Topinka"

So, you think that Judy isn't conservative enough. OK. I agree with you. However, she is the obvious front runner regardless. So, you are letting your support of one of those other two candidates get in the way of the sense you feel you are making by asking Gidwitz to bow out. If you were really more interested in Illinois GOP Party politics you would be asking all three candidates to bow out and force Topinka to bow to their influence. Having half a loaf with Topinka would be better than no loaf at all by backing Brady or Oberweis! But sensible Party politics is not your goal. A power play that would support your favorite candidate is your agenda, however.

I do agree that we conservatives are in the worst situation in this state and we do need to get together as a block instead of diffusing our influence so far and wide. But your prescription for a cure just does not fit the illness, unfortunately.

Now, I have to admit I am a Gidwitz supporter, so you might dismiss my critique on that level alone. But the fact remains that we conservatives have looked like squabbling children for so long that I cannot imagine why anyone would listen to us in the first place! What would cure our Conservative blues (Bad blue state pun, sorry) is to create a grassroots conservative organization with the sense to coalesce behind one representative, a man who could parlay that support into action.

Could be Brady. Could be Gidwitz. But whomever it is it won't help to serve us for this gubernatorial cycle.
-Warner Todd Huston