Politico's political editor via Ben Smith's blog:
While Kirk’s margins were much weaker Downstate—not that surprising since he’s a North Shore congressman—he got pummeled in most of the main coal-producing counties. He lost five of the state’s 11 leading coal counties to Don Lowery, a southern Illinois-based candidate who raised only $20,000 and got almost no traction in the rest of the state. In those 11 counties, Kirk ran an average of 20 points below his statewide performance and he averaged 34 percent to 31 percent for Lowery. Lowery killed him in the top coal county in the state—Saline County—63 percent to 16 percent. Yeah, Lowery once worked in Saline County and announced his candidacy in another nearby coal county where he also trounced Kirk. But the bottom line here is that Kirk’s cap and trade vote mattered. Lowery had a section dedicated to the issue and to Kirk’s position on his website. Not good news for Coal Belt Dems such as Reps. Space, Boucher, Rahall, Mollohan, et al.It's hard to find a sentence in there that makes any sense at all.
Despite what Republicans may be telling themselves concerning cap and trade, and despite whatever it is Rush Limbaugh and Fox News keeps feeding them, Judge Lowery won most of Southern Illinois and "coal country" simply because HE'S A LOCAL CANDIDATE!
It really is that simple. We in Southern Illinois have real problems voting in elections where every candidate is from Chicago. When we finally get a candidate from this region, we vote for them. Party affiliation has almost nothing to do with it and certainly federal legislation has absolutely nothing to do with it.
Judge Lowery is a good guy. He's well respected in this area and there is no doubt Democrats crossed over to vote for him. And all of it has to do with the belief that one of us would be the best choice to represent all of us. Lowery has a southern drawl and that's all that matters.
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