Why I Oughta...

15 years ago, I took a shot. And it *was* this/close to Valentine's Day.  Ballsy move - as they say. We were just puppies then.  It worked out beyond my wildest dreams.  To mark the time that has gone by, here's a flashback to a less partisan time when (then) Republicans and Democrats could get along. That Maisy was soommmme dog.  She endorsed us in the mailer above - which was kind of her.  Everybody liked her.  Not like Lizzie .

Early this morning, the folks at ProPublica Illinois released a widget that documents the fundraising and spending of the gubernatorial candidates in Illinois .  Well...it shows most of the candidates - the ones who are *in* the race with a shot at winning their respective primary.  I'm embedding their widget below.  ( Also...one cute thing to mention here:  the url of the story is at: their domain/nerds/story.  Nice touch, right?? ) Loading... There's obviously some interesting things going on here in the race ( like JB Pritzker's burn rate ?!?) that smarter and more tuned in political people can provide context on, but the reason I'm posting this is that it reminds me of the old days. The old days?  Yeah...like back in the mid-aughts when there were plenty of local bloggers - and specifically local political bloggers - that had their own little homesteads on the Web .  That's when I fell in love with the Web and met so many people ...

A good friend of ours is running for re-election as the West District Councilman in Wheaton, Illinois.  His name is Todd Scalzo and you can find out more about him and his campaign here on his site . Todd was first elected back in 2009 and has served the West District in Wheaton well over the past 8 years.  He's been endorsed by a strong and diverse set of stakeholders in Wheaton including the Wheaton Mayor Mike Gresk, many of his fellow Councilman and even members of the local school board.   You can review the full list of endorsements for Todd Scalzo here . I first met Todd Scalzo back in the Spring of 1997 and have gotten to know him well over the past 20 years.  (Yikes!  I just realized that I have known Todd for more than half of my life!)  Some of you know that I too, spent time serving my local government as both a Village of Frankfort Trustee and as a Commissioner on the Frankfort Park District Board of Commissioners.  I know what it t...

Seriously ?

Thanks to our good friend Dannee down the block, we were not only alerted to this awesome White House cookie kit - she also gifted one to us after one of her trips to Trader Joe's!  And guess what?  The girls loved putting them together.  Of course they did, right? What's more fun than a gingerbread house?  Nothing, I tell you.  Nothing. This is a pretty fun, seasonal item, that is a great way to do something fun with our kids, but also, kinda, sorta talk to them about the White House and the president and the upcoming election.  Did they listen to any of it?  Probably not.  But, still...frosting!  cookies!  Candy! And, from a business stand point, the person at the gingerbread factory who came up with this idea is pretty clever.  I can hear it now.... "Hey, Bob!  Fire up the ovens!  I have an idea." "But...it isn't Christmastime yet.  We have months to go until the public wants our stuff." "You're right....

As they were moving out, I came across this poster from one of my 2006 fundraisers when I was a Village Trustee in Frankfort.  Hard to believe that we're coming up on the 10 year mark of this time in my life.

( If you're reading this in your email, the election is actually *today*! )  I was walking by City Hall over the weekend and was surprised by the volume of campaign signs that were posted in the parkway.  There has been early voting at City Hall and my assumption is that these campaigns wanted to make sure they had a presence in front of those early voters. But, it makes me wonder:  do these signs actually work?  Is there a voter out there who is engaged enough in the electoral process that wants to actually early vote who doesn't know who they're going to vote for?  And glancing at one of these yard signs is going to sway them? I suppose, there is some notion of 'confirmation' that can be achieved with these signs.  And...it really doesn't cost anything to put one up.  That minimal cost/effort is likely the reason why these things are even here.  When you're running a local campaign, the margins are often so small that you want to make sur...

I was walking through City Hall this morning and came across this Mayor Jane Byrne memorial set-up.  On each of the end tables there was a book and nice pen where people can leave greetings for the Byrne family. In the minute or so I stood there, a handful of people walked up and checked out the book, but none of them signed it.

Nat and I are proud to be a part of the Host Committee for a Tom Cross for Illinois Treasurer fundraiser that is taking place on Wednesday June 11th in Frankfort. For those of you who don't know Tom Cross, he's running for Illinois State Treasurer.   I've worked for Tom earlier in my career and know him to be a honorable, trustworthy man.  He's exactly the type of elected official we need to clean up Springfield and Illinois. You can find out more about Tom Cross here on his Treasurer site . We'd love for you to join us for this event.  If you're interested in attended, drop me a line!  Alternatively, if you want to donate to the event, click here to visit this link which will track your donation coming in from me .

photo from the Elmhurst Patch Catching up with the local news after our vacation, I see that Mark Mulliner has announced that he's running for Mayor of Elmhurst in the Spring 2013 election.  What's Mayor Pete going to do if he loses his county board seat this fall?  I presume he'll run for re-election. Not sure what to make of the VERY early announcement from Mulliner.  He's now raised his profile, so he's going to be a target and every move/vote he makes will be scrutinized.  On the other hand, maybe he's trying to clear some folks out of the field. Anyone know others who are going to run?

We hosted more than 800 businesses who walked away with a free website over the past 48 hours.   Mayor Rahm Emanuel even stopped by for a quick visit.

Look who came by the Google Chicago office on Illinois Primary Day?!?  He hosted a Google+ Hangout from the office then took a short tour of the 8th floor (along with his press pool!).

Yesterday, Politico ran a sharp piece on how the Santorum presidential campaign is running ads with Google that feature a endorsement from Rush Limbaugh and lead to a custom landing page that plays a Limbaugh clip that promotes Santorum.  Politico pointed out the importance/relevance  of the Limbaugh connection: It's a smart ad regardless of what state it's in, since Limbaugh tends to be popular with the types of GOP primary voters Santorum is hoping to pick up. But a Google  search analysis   shows that on average, Michigan residents search for Limbaugh in much higher numbers than internet users of the overall United States, meaning the ad is even more effective in that state than it may be elsewhere. Here's a screenshot of the ad.  It was running for users up in Michigan against a series (as far as I can tell) of generic GOP-related queries like [Michigan GOP Primary].   Campaigns have been using search for years, but the possibilities of targ...

Love data?  Love politics?  Then we have a fun contest for you.  Help us spot trends in our tools around the 2012 race(s) and we'll highlight them.  You could even win something from the Google Politics and Elections team. You can read more here on the new Google Politics & Elections blog . Or....drop in a trend in this form below: <p><p>Loading...</p></p>

My team announced some big news this week:  we're partnering with Fox News for a GOP Presidential debate on September 22nd. 

My co-contributor Lance Stevens pointed out some stuff to me yesterday. He was all a twitter with excitement over the DNC and the online resources at his fingertips. He pointed out Chris Matthews Hardblogger and some of his contributors. One of those contributors is none other than Mr. Joe Trippi. I've recently gotten to page 139 and 149 and someone's name twice! (more on this later) Anyway, Joe had some things to say about 'Market Demos' and trying to attract some youth's to the movement : It’s all wrong. The key to this election will be young people, disaffected young people, young people who have never voted before- and I’ll be damned if I am going to come up with some cutesy name for them "like Sons and Daughters of Nascar Dad and Soccer Moms." Just shoot me! What is remarkable about this election cycle is how for the first time in decades the younger generation of Americans is the most active and energized. How they communicate with each oth...