Heart of Moderateness

Biggert-Foster race looks like one of closest races in country.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012 | 1:21 p.m.

The race between Rep. Judy Biggert (R) and ex-Rep. Bill Foster (D) is "sure to be one of the top congressional races in the country" and it "pits two people with experience in Congress who both have claims of already representing the district despite both having a degree of carpetbagger status."

Biggert "does not live in the district, nor is she legally required to even if she wins. Bill Foster only recently moved to Naperville" as Dems "drew district boundaries that appear to be tailor-made for his candidacy."

"Both Aurora and Joliet are typically" Dem "strongholds. Naperville is comparatively more conservative, but Foster deftly moved there in hopes of wooing votes from the many Fermilab employees who live there and mark Foster as their former colleague."

The DCCC selected Foster as one of five IL congressional hopefuls for its "Red-to-Blue" program.

University of Illinois Kent Redfield: "The national Republicans have some hard choices in terms of where they are going to spend their money. But the Dems don’t take control of Congress unless they run the table in Illinois. The 11th District is not a slam dunk for them. It’s a competitive race."

Redfield said Foster "is an attractive candidate for the party because he has a track record of recruiting big dollars in his favor. Indeed, Foster narrowly outraised Biggert in every quarter in 2011 that he was on the ballot."

"Heavy backing from the party sets up a tricky balancing act for Foster as he plans on running on a centrist platform. Yet, in becoming a member of the Red-to-Blue team, Foster echoed comments" frequently made by DCCC Chair Steve Israel "during this campaign season about the GOP "stance on Medicare."

Foster, in a statement: "Instead of strengthening Medicare, the House budget would end Medicare as we know it, turning the guarantee of retirement security seniors have into a low-value voucher that will shift higher and higher costs to seniors over time. That’s Judy Biggert and the Republicans — balancing the budget on the backs of seniors and middle-class families struggling to pay for college.”

Biggert spokesperson Mike Lukach: “We’ve already seen Congressman Foster echo national Democratic talking points when (two weeks ago) he joined two other candidates’ scare tactics on Medicare in an effort to conceal the fact that Congressman Foster himself voted to cut $500 billion from Medicare (by voting for the Affordable Health Care Act). We expect Congressman Foster will dump millions of dollars into the same partisan playbook of negative attacks, which Illinois voters rejected in 2010."

Redfield, on expectations for the race: “You do have new people in this district, so if you don’t define yourself early, your opponent is going to define you. Both the stakes involved and the way the campaign is evolving on the national level with high-profile races and independent expenditures indicates this is going to be a very aggressive and very negative campaign season. You’re going to see just a ton of money.”

Foster's strategy is "instead of being the guy a portion of the new 11th District voted out of office" in '11, Foster came after Biggert on emotional votes that divided the parties and spawned record low approval ratings for Congress — at a time when Foster wasn’t a member of Congress" like the Keystone Pipeline XL.

Foster mgr. Patrick Brown: “Bill has a different profile. Voters are looking for something different. He’s not another lawyer. He’s not another career politician. Bill has this almost independent streak. He really did spend time thinking about everything he did. He’s not your standard, party-line voter.”

Lukach, on Biggert's strategy of citing her work: “Voters in this area know that Judy Biggert’s work has never stopped at the old district line."

"He pointed to Biggert’s work with Hesed House, a homeless shelter in Aurora, and her efforts to bring the Silver Cross VA outpatient clinic to Joliet as proof."

Lukach: “Neither of those initiatives was in the old 13th District, and neither was an exclusively Republican project, but Judy knew they were the right thing to do."

Redfield, on Obama's role in the race: "Assuming the Republican nominee is Mitt Romney, it all depends on what the enthusiasm level is for him versus Obama. If Obama can get the enthusiasm back in terms of the base, and if Romney is trapped in some of the social conservative rhetoric that’s been dominating parts of the Republican presidential campaign so far, that’s going to be helpful to Democrats on the ballot. But if we have $6-per-gallon gas and everyone is talking about the economy going in the wrong direction over the summer, that’s going to generate enthusiasm on the Republican side. If that happens, Obama on the ballot could turn out to be a huge negative for Democrats" (Fuller, Arlington Heights Daily Herald, 4/2).