John Laesch
Number of Unique Itemized Contributors: About 75
Itemized Contributions: $74,766
Unitemized Contributions: $54,615
PAC Contributions: $6900
Total Receipts for 4th Quarter: $137,935
Cash on Hand (as of 1/16/2008): $32,098

No matter how you mash it, John Laesch is in deep doo-doo. He has not been able to capitalize on his previous run against Hastert. Part of the failure IMO has to do with the lack of professional staff and too much dependence on the blogosphere (vs. “dialing for dollars”). Read the rest of this entry

The Daily Herald unequivocally endorsed Bill Foster today in the IL-14 primaries:

Of the two primary competitions, this is the easier for us to call. Fermilab physicist and Geneva businessman Bill Foster gets the nod over carpenter John Laesch of Yorkville, who gave Hastert a good run last election.

Foster touts his scientific and business background, which we believe gives him a leg up to deal with the complex problems faced today. He emphasizes border control and employer verification to fight illegal immigration, prefers good science over popular theory on energy issues, believes health care solutions should be driven by data and not ideology, and would push for better trade enforcement. His studied approach is real plus in an age of extremes.

The Herald‘s nod to Jim Oberweis on the GOP side is not nearly as emphatic. Read the rest of this entry

Today:

Despite his willingness to mix it up with the other candidates and his frequent difficulty in responding to their attacks, we endorse Bill Foster. He is a businessman and scientist with an impressive background, having worked at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia. He also was one of the founders of Electronic Theatre Controls. Foster’s scientific background and analytical approach to problem-solving would be very beneficial in Washington.

Foster supports bringing the war in Iraq to an end and responsibly withdrawing the troops. He seems to know the issues and is well-informed on most relevant topics. We believe that Foster would work hard for the residents of the 14th District and would be a credible candidate for the Democrats in the general election.

I haven’t seen all of the debates, so will defer to those who have; maybe I haven’t received all of his mailers, but the ones I have do not mention his opponents at all. From where I’m sitting, Foster should get the vote for least amount of mud on his hands (if any): Stein gets snide with him at appearances and in his mailers, while Laesch (who apparently has no money for mailers) has attack teams roaming the blogosphere.

But even if the Chronicle staff know more about Foster’s fights than I do, I believe they couldn’t be more wrong about Lauzen. Read the rest of this entry

The Chicago Tribune endorsed Bill Foster (as well as Jim Oberweis on the Republican side) this week in the IL-14 Congressional race. It’s no secret that I like Bill, but some don’t understand why, because he hasn’t exactly excelled in the debates. That is why I’m glad to provide this link to the Chicago Tribune editorial board’s interview of IL-14 Democratic congressional candidates Jotham Stein, John Laesch and Foster. The candidates pretty much had to abandon their stump speeches because this was more about measuring the depths of their understanding on the issues facing us.

It’s about an hour long but I hope you will watch as much as you can carve out time for. I’ll save most of my comments except to say that I think the best quote came from Foster when he was explaining his efforts as a member of Responsible Wealth to preserve the Estate Tax:

If you’re going to have taxes at all in society, the best place to start is with dead millionaires.