Progress Illinois

The SouthtownStar is reporting that both Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and Congresswoman-elect Debbie Halvorson have come out in opposition to the idea of granting clemency to imprisoned former Gov. George Ryan:

"I sympathize with Mrs. Ryan and regret the hardship this has caused the Ryan family," Jackson said in a statement. "However, I also recognize and respect the jury's verdict and the tragic loss it has caused the Willis family." [...]

"I have the utmost respect for Senator Durbin, and he is certainly free to express his opinion on this matter," Halvorson said in a statement. "However, I believe that just as George Ryan was treated as anyone else would be during sentencing, his situation should be addressed no differently than anyone else regarding early release, and I do not believe he should have his sentence commuted."

WBEZ has a round-up of statements from other public figures around Illinois.  And you can check out our readers' thoughts on the subject here.

Across the country, heavy turnout has forced many voters to endure seemingly interminable lines. Democratic congressional candidate Debbie Halvorson, on the other hand, breezed right through her polling place in far-south suburban Crete. And frankly, that was just fine with her. "My precinct is technically more Republican," she told me from her campaign headquarters in Joliet.  "So there was no line at all! I got right in."

That's not to say turnout was depressed everywhere in the sprawling 11th Congressional District. Only 30,000 people took advantage of early voting there, in part because of the location of various county clerk's offices.  But Halvorson campaign manager Brian Doory said polling places were jammed this morning in Kankakee (a Democratic stronghold), Bourbonnais, and Frankfort.

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Roll Call has conducted the latest poll in the 11th Congressional District, and like the internal survey released on Friday and our own poll published on Monday, this one shows Democrat Debbie Halvorson with support in the 50 percent range and a double-digit lead over her Republican opponent:

Survey USA for Roll Call. 10/20-21. Likely voters. MoE 4%

Debbie Halvorson (D): 50%
Marty Ozinga (R): 37%
Jason Wallace (G): 9%

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Here's the latest ad from 11th District Democratic candidate Debbie Halvorson, which hits Republican Marty Ozinga on his concrete company's history of late taxes, which we wrote about back in July.  Watch it:

Bennett, Petts, & Normington for Progress Illinois. 10/15-16.  Likely voters. MoE 4.9%:

Debbie Halvorson (D): 50%
Martin Ozinga (R): 29%
Undecided: 22%

The 11th Congressional District poll conducted for Progress Illinois by the Washington D.C.-based polling firm Bennett, Petts & Normington found a 21-point lead for Democrat Debbie Halvorson, similar to the 19-point gap in the internal poll she released on Friday (which included Green Party candidate Jason Wallace).  

Republican Marty Ozinga's unfavorables (30%) continue to outweigh his favorables (20%), which certainly spells trouble. Independents made up 42 percent of the polling universe in our poll and they also appear extremely wary of Ozinga, with only 14 percent saying they support him and 41 percent still on the fence. 

While Barack Obama posted an 11-point lead in the district, an identical number of independents remain undecided on the presidential race.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich's numbers mirror those in our 10th District poll, with only 10 percent holding a favorable view of him.  Meanwhile, 38 percent of respondents were unaware of the constitutional convention question on the Illinois ballot this year.  Of those aware, 29 percent supported the idea of holding a Con-Con and 44 percent opposed it.

More detail below.

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This afternoon, 11th District Democratic congressional candidate Debbie Halvorson released a new poll showing her beating Republican Marty Ozinga by a hefty margin.  From a campaign statement:

State Senator and Congressional candidate Debbie Halvorson is in a strong position to win the open-seat race to replace retiring Congressman Jerry Weller (R) in Illinois’ 11th Congressional District. Halvorson currently leads her Republican opponent Martin Ozinga by 19 points, 48% to 29%. 

The poll was conducted by the Democratic firm Anzalone-Liszt between October 10 and 13.  The sample size was 400 with a 4.9 percent margin of error. According the memo circulated by the campaign, Barack Obama led John McCain by two points among respondents.

Democrat Debbie Halvorson appeared on Fox Chicago Sunday yesterday to discuss the 11th Congressional District race.  Not surprisingly, the discussion quickly turned to the two bailout bills considered by the House of Representatives last week and how she would have voted if a member of Congress.  Co-host Jack Conaty seemed to expect her to say she would have voted against the first bill and in favor of the second.  But in line with her comments at last week's debate, Halvorson instead responded that she would have opposed both bills, saying that neither version assisted "the average person who needs help renegotiating their mortgage." Halvorson went on to describe as "shameful" the fact that incumbent Rep. Jerry Weller was the only member of the House to miss last Monday's vote. Watch it:

Ninety minutes before the start of the vice presidential debate last night, a different political face-off took place at Illinois State University -- this one between the 11th District congressional candidates.  The event wasn't nearly as dramatic as what took place later in St. Louis, but it did have some interesting moments.  We've pulled together some brief highlights in audio format.

Here's Republican Marty Ozinga's opening statement, in which he leveled a preemptive strike at Democrat Debbie Halvorson, attempting to tie her to Gov. Blagojevich:

Internal mp3

Here are the first remarks from Halvorson, in which she emphasizes health care and veterans issues as her top priorities:

Internal mp3

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Democratic congressional candidate Debbie Halvorson went on air with a new TV ad in the 11th District this week, which highlights Republican Marty Ozinga's comments about health care on a public access program in July.  As Progress Illinois first noted, Ozinga said: "There are very few people nowadays that have no health service at all. Almost anybody -- I don't care who you are -- you go to the hospital and you get taken care of."  In the ad, Halvorson responds, "There are 47 million people without insurance.  I mean, how out of touch can you be?" Watch it:

Meanwhile, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has highlighted these comments in their own TV advertising.

Ozinga's controversial health care remarks are also at the heart of the dispute over the 11th District debate scheduled for today. 

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If Republican congressional candidate Marty Ozinga hoped to stay off the political hot seat by backing out of tomorrow's 11th District debate ... well, he didn't do a very good job of it.

Among those quick to take shots at Ozinga this morning is his Democratic rival Debbie Halvorson. Her campaign manager, Brian Doory, released this statement today:

"This disappointing action speaks volumes about Marty Ozinga and his campaign. If he cannot even stand up and address business issues among his fellow chamber members, how can he expect to communicate with regular voters on the issues important to them?” [...]

"Even though Martin Ozinga is on the wrong side of the tracks on the EJ&E Acquisition, and so many other issues important to local voters, it's deeply troubling that Martin Ozinga lacks the courage to look people in the eye and tell them he's not on their side.”

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