David Ratowitz for U.S. Congress (IL 5th)

[The_Orlonater]

http://ratowitzforcongress.com/

He's a libertarian Republican who is running in Illinois' 5th district to oust Mike Quigley! I met him on Tuesday and the Chicago Audit the Fed Rally.

[tajitj]

I like him.

His foreign policy, he clearly state no empire and nation building.

With this teaparty mania alot of neocons are trying to get our support

[Romantarchist]

Rahm Emanuel's district!

The problem is, according to the Cook Partisan index, Republicans only get about 32% of the vote on average in that district. Maybe it'd be better to run as a Democrat and challenge Quigley to a primary?

[The_Orlonater]

Well, I plan to campaign pretty hard for him, so I can try to get more support for him.

[TCE]

Rahm Emanuel's district!

The problem is, according to the Cook Partisan index, Republicans only get about 32% of the vote on average in that district. Maybe it'd be better to run as a Democrat and challenge Quigley to a primary?

This. If you've been to that district, you'll see why no Republican will ever get elected there.

[The_Orlonater]

This. If you've been to that district, you'll see why no Republican will ever get elected there.

That's true, but I'm keeping my hopes because I have about a year to campaign and I can cover a lot of ground because it isn't that small of a district. I can attract some votes and I have no idea how big his grass roots movement will be, but it I bet it'll be bigger than anything seen in that district. Most people, myself included, aren't really involved in politics even when they plan to vote. That being said, I am hoping that I can influence new minds beyond the the standard thirty two percent.

[Nate]

I've known & worked with David for a while now. He was there at the very beginning of the Ron Paul campaign. He is definitely one of us. Once I finish my latest project at work in a month or 2 I'm going to cut my hours in half so I can go help out in his campaign. Right now I can't do any volunteering in politics, just don't have the time to be active at the moment.

[Nate]

This. If you've been to that district, you'll see why no Republican will ever get elected there.

I live in that district and yes you are right in believing that getting elected as a non-Democrat Party hack is almost impossible. If fact if you are running a campaign that the Democrat Machine establishment thinks is threatening their political monopoly you will be "visited" by their local thugs and "convinced" that you should stop running such an effective campaign.

However I do think that the libertarian anti-war, anti-state message could gather a nice following if it was properly pushed in Chicago. Many, many people are unhappy with the status quo but WILL NOT vote for a warmongering Republican. An truly anti-war Republican candidate could rattle some cages around here. In Chicago just being a pain in the Democratic establishment's ass is progress. Right now they do whatever they want without any challenges or competition.

[randolphfuller]

Quigley might be beaten in a Democratic primary, but not by a Republican.

[Nate]

Quigley might be beaten in a Democratic primary, but not by a Republican.

He will only be beaten by another Dick Daley approved Chicago Machine crony. Votes don't matter in Chicago "elections". The City Hall Mafia will "convince" you to leave the Democratic Party if you are actually honest and wish to serve the people.

Just look at Matt Reichel, who ran in the 5th for the special election after Rahm left for the Chief of Staff position. He is a honest anti-war Kucinich style Democrat that they pushed out of the Democrat Party and primary because he was "non-approved". He was told in no uncertain terms that him & his anti-war positions were no longer welcome in the Democrat Party & that he needed to go to the Green's where he belonged.