.Iraq amputee vivid champion of Dems' hopes
(10-17) 04:00 PDT Lombard, Ill. -- Tammy Duckworth makes the most dramatic entrance in American politics. She can't help it.
Duckworth, the Democratic nominee in a tightly fought, expensive race for a traditionally Republican House seat in Chicago's seemingly endless western suburbs, lost both legs when the Army combat helicopter she was piloting north of Baghdad in 2004 was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.
Now she teeter-totters along unsteadily on high-tech artificial legs and a cane or gets around in a wheelchair. Her injuries, which also included a shattered right arm, sparked the political career of the first-time candidate, who was recruited by national Democratic leaders.
The 38-year-old still attends occasional weekend sessions as an Illinois National Guard major. She said that if not for her wounds, she would like to return to duty in the Iraq war she believes has been botched by President Bush and the Republican Congress.
"But I don't think the Army wants pilots with no legs,'' she said outside a diner where she had chatted with the lunchtime crowd.
Her opponent is Republican state Sen. Peter Roskam, who in any other year and against another opponent might coast to victory in the race for the seat being vacated after 32 years by GOP Rep. Henry Hyde, who is probably best known as the chief House prosecutor in the impeachment case of former President Bill Clinton.
But Duckworth, who attracts a steady stream of reporters and camera crews from around the world, is no ordinary candidate. And with Republicans under fire for the very war in Iraq that left Duckworth so badly injured, and for tales of congressional corruption that have prompted some to criticize the leadership of Republican Speaker Dennis Hastert, who represents a neighboring House district, 2006 is hardly an ordinary year.
"When she gets up and tries to walk to the microphone, you see why it's an even race,'' said Paul Green of the Institute for Politics at Roosevelt University in Chicago.
"It makes no difference what she says. Her presence is greater than her message,'' he added.
It's that presence coupled with a sunny disposition and a disciplined middle-of-the-road message that Democrats hope will provide them with one of the 15 seats they need to gain control of the House for the first time since 1994.
Roskam, the Republican minority whip in the state senate, is a formidable candidate and a well-known figure in DuPage County, which accounts for about 80 percent of the district. The rest is in Cook County around O'Hare airport.
Long a Republican bastion that served as an often-victorious counterweight to the legendary Chicago Democratic machine, DuPage is changing demographically and politically. Bush's father carried the county by 124,000 votes in 1988, when the state went Republican. But Bush the son carried the House district by only 18,000 votes as Sen. John Kerry romped to victory in Illinois by 11 percentage points and lost all of DuPage by fewer than 10 points. And Democratic Sen. Barack Obama easily carried DuPage two years ago.
Still, all 18 DuPage County board members are Republican, as are all countywide officeholders. And Republicans have poured millions of dollars into Roskam's campaign to help the party keep the congressional seat.
But the county's Hispanic, Asian American and Muslim populations are increasing, giving Democrats hope that they can win, just as Democratic Rep. Melissa Bean did two years ago in the district to the north when she unseated longtime Republican Rep. Philip Crane. Bean is locked in an expensive re-election effort against Republican David McSweeney.
Bush came to Chicago on Thursday to show support for Hastert and raise about $1 million for Roskam and McSweeney.
"Because of the changing demographics, there are more voters who will give Duckworth a look,'' said David Goldberg, assistant political science professor at the College of DuPage. "It's a barnburner of a race.''
Duckworth, born in Thailand to a Thai mother and an American father, hopes to take advantage of the district's growing diversity. Roskam, born and raised in DuPage, is running as a promoter of what he calls traditional DuPage values.
In this campaign, that means Roskam has attacked Democrats as weak on national security, backs the tough House-passed immigration bill, accuses Duckworth of backing amnesty for illegal immigrants, wants to make the Bush tax cuts permanent and vows to rein in federal spending even as he promises to support money for local projects.
"I am not a recruited candidate for a national agenda,'' Roskam said at a debate last Thursday at the College of DuPage that drew an overflow crowd of about 1,000.
Because of who Duckworth is, he is careful discussing the war in Iraq, but that hasn't stopped him from trying to tie her to Democrats who want to withdraw the troops. "The Sixth Congressional District is not a 'cut-and-run' district ... It's not a Nancy Pelosi district,'' Roskam said in a previous debate, invoking the name of the San Francisco Democrat and House leader whom Republicans portray as a dangerous liberal who would become speaker if Democrats take the House.
Duckworth assails Roskam for supporting Bush's Iraq policy and for talking of the need for America to "finish well'' in Iraq.
"I know something about what's going on in Iraq,'' she said. "Our only obligation is to make sure the Iraqis have the tools to provide for their own security.''
She won't call for a withdrawal timetable, saying instead that for every Iraqi trained, an American should come home. She also attacks the GOP Congress for flunking its oversight role on Iraq policy and for allowing billions of dollars to be wasted there.
While in Iraq, "I had steak and lobster every Sunday night, but I didn't have enough fuel for my unit's trucks,'' she said.
Duckworth said she backs the Senate-passed immigration bill that provides a path to legalization for undocumented workers and differs from Roskam in supporting embryonic stem cell research and abortion rights. She has also made a major issue out of congressional "earmarks,'' which are special projects inserted without any review by lawmakers into spending bills.
The campaign has stirred emotions in supporters of both candidates. "I know how it is to serve in a war,'' said Tom Taluzek, an aerospace union member who supports Duckworth. "But I didn't lose anything. I give her a lot of credit. She's tough.''
But to Mike and Gabrielle Kidney, Roskam backers who came out for the college debate, Duckworth doesn't ring true.
"She's a carpetbagger,'' Mike Kidney said.
Duckworth lives just outside the district in a suburban home with her husband. After she was wounded, neighbors banded together to make the home wheelchair-accessible. The law doesn't require House members to live in the district they represent, only the state.
Another voter, self-described conservative William Camp, said he's still undecided, mainly because of what he considers the Republican Congress' spendthrift ways. But he doesn't like what he calls Duckworth's class-warfare rhetoric. "I'll just have to see how conservative Peter Roskam is before I decide,'' Camp said.
The Rep. Mark Foley House page scandal hasn't stood out as an issue, even though Hastert is one district over. Instead, it seems to reinforce opinions.
Duckworth's support comes from "a combination of things,'' said Alycia Fitz, a local Democratic committeewoman. "She's a quality candidate, and more Republicans are saying to me they're going to vote Democratic.''
Roskam has become increasingly testy about the media frenzy surrounding Duckworth. Asked whether the candidate was available for an interview with the out-of-town press, Roskam spokesman Ryan McLaughlin said not anymore. "It always ends up being the Tammy Duckworth story. ... It usually doesn't go in our favor,'' he said.
Get over it, advised Charles Wheeler, a longtime journalist who covered decades of Illinois elections and is director of the public affairs reporting program at the University of Illinois at Springfield.
"I'm sure Peter Roskam would prefer to run against a paunchy 40-year-old accountant. But he's running against a war hero. I don't feel sorry for Roskam. That's the way the game is played,'' Wheeler said.
SFGate
Duckworth, the Democratic nominee in a tightly fought, expensive race for a traditionally Republican House seat in Chicago's seemingly endless western suburbs, lost both legs when the Army combat helicopter she was piloting north of Baghdad in 2004 was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.
Now she teeter-totters along unsteadily on high-tech artificial legs and a cane or gets around in a wheelchair. Her injuries, which also included a shattered right arm, sparked the political career of the first-time candidate, who was recruited by national Democratic leaders.
The 38-year-old still attends occasional weekend sessions as an Illinois National Guard major. She said that if not for her wounds, she would like to return to duty in the Iraq war she believes has been botched by President Bush and the Republican Congress.
"But I don't think the Army wants pilots with no legs,'' she said outside a diner where she had chatted with the lunchtime crowd.
Her opponent is Republican state Sen. Peter Roskam, who in any other year and against another opponent might coast to victory in the race for the seat being vacated after 32 years by GOP Rep. Henry Hyde, who is probably best known as the chief House prosecutor in the impeachment case of former President Bill Clinton.
But Duckworth, who attracts a steady stream of reporters and camera crews from around the world, is no ordinary candidate. And with Republicans under fire for the very war in Iraq that left Duckworth so badly injured, and for tales of congressional corruption that have prompted some to criticize the leadership of Republican Speaker Dennis Hastert, who represents a neighboring House district, 2006 is hardly an ordinary year.
"When she gets up and tries to walk to the microphone, you see why it's an even race,'' said Paul Green of the Institute for Politics at Roosevelt University in Chicago.
"It makes no difference what she says. Her presence is greater than her message,'' he added.
It's that presence coupled with a sunny disposition and a disciplined middle-of-the-road message that Democrats hope will provide them with one of the 15 seats they need to gain control of the House for the first time since 1994.
Roskam, the Republican minority whip in the state senate, is a formidable candidate and a well-known figure in DuPage County, which accounts for about 80 percent of the district. The rest is in Cook County around O'Hare airport.
Long a Republican bastion that served as an often-victorious counterweight to the legendary Chicago Democratic machine, DuPage is changing demographically and politically. Bush's father carried the county by 124,000 votes in 1988, when the state went Republican. But Bush the son carried the House district by only 18,000 votes as Sen. John Kerry romped to victory in Illinois by 11 percentage points and lost all of DuPage by fewer than 10 points. And Democratic Sen. Barack Obama easily carried DuPage two years ago.
Still, all 18 DuPage County board members are Republican, as are all countywide officeholders. And Republicans have poured millions of dollars into Roskam's campaign to help the party keep the congressional seat.
But the county's Hispanic, Asian American and Muslim populations are increasing, giving Democrats hope that they can win, just as Democratic Rep. Melissa Bean did two years ago in the district to the north when she unseated longtime Republican Rep. Philip Crane. Bean is locked in an expensive re-election effort against Republican David McSweeney.
Bush came to Chicago on Thursday to show support for Hastert and raise about $1 million for Roskam and McSweeney.
"Because of the changing demographics, there are more voters who will give Duckworth a look,'' said David Goldberg, assistant political science professor at the College of DuPage. "It's a barnburner of a race.''
Duckworth, born in Thailand to a Thai mother and an American father, hopes to take advantage of the district's growing diversity. Roskam, born and raised in DuPage, is running as a promoter of what he calls traditional DuPage values.
In this campaign, that means Roskam has attacked Democrats as weak on national security, backs the tough House-passed immigration bill, accuses Duckworth of backing amnesty for illegal immigrants, wants to make the Bush tax cuts permanent and vows to rein in federal spending even as he promises to support money for local projects.
"I am not a recruited candidate for a national agenda,'' Roskam said at a debate last Thursday at the College of DuPage that drew an overflow crowd of about 1,000.
Because of who Duckworth is, he is careful discussing the war in Iraq, but that hasn't stopped him from trying to tie her to Democrats who want to withdraw the troops. "The Sixth Congressional District is not a 'cut-and-run' district ... It's not a Nancy Pelosi district,'' Roskam said in a previous debate, invoking the name of the San Francisco Democrat and House leader whom Republicans portray as a dangerous liberal who would become speaker if Democrats take the House.
Duckworth assails Roskam for supporting Bush's Iraq policy and for talking of the need for America to "finish well'' in Iraq.
"I know something about what's going on in Iraq,'' she said. "Our only obligation is to make sure the Iraqis have the tools to provide for their own security.''
She won't call for a withdrawal timetable, saying instead that for every Iraqi trained, an American should come home. She also attacks the GOP Congress for flunking its oversight role on Iraq policy and for allowing billions of dollars to be wasted there.
While in Iraq, "I had steak and lobster every Sunday night, but I didn't have enough fuel for my unit's trucks,'' she said.
Duckworth said she backs the Senate-passed immigration bill that provides a path to legalization for undocumented workers and differs from Roskam in supporting embryonic stem cell research and abortion rights. She has also made a major issue out of congressional "earmarks,'' which are special projects inserted without any review by lawmakers into spending bills.
The campaign has stirred emotions in supporters of both candidates. "I know how it is to serve in a war,'' said Tom Taluzek, an aerospace union member who supports Duckworth. "But I didn't lose anything. I give her a lot of credit. She's tough.''
But to Mike and Gabrielle Kidney, Roskam backers who came out for the college debate, Duckworth doesn't ring true.
"She's a carpetbagger,'' Mike Kidney said.
Duckworth lives just outside the district in a suburban home with her husband. After she was wounded, neighbors banded together to make the home wheelchair-accessible. The law doesn't require House members to live in the district they represent, only the state.
Another voter, self-described conservative William Camp, said he's still undecided, mainly because of what he considers the Republican Congress' spendthrift ways. But he doesn't like what he calls Duckworth's class-warfare rhetoric. "I'll just have to see how conservative Peter Roskam is before I decide,'' Camp said.
The Rep. Mark Foley House page scandal hasn't stood out as an issue, even though Hastert is one district over. Instead, it seems to reinforce opinions.
Duckworth's support comes from "a combination of things,'' said Alycia Fitz, a local Democratic committeewoman. "She's a quality candidate, and more Republicans are saying to me they're going to vote Democratic.''
Roskam has become increasingly testy about the media frenzy surrounding Duckworth. Asked whether the candidate was available for an interview with the out-of-town press, Roskam spokesman Ryan McLaughlin said not anymore. "It always ends up being the Tammy Duckworth story. ... It usually doesn't go in our favor,'' he said.
Get over it, advised Charles Wheeler, a longtime journalist who covered decades of Illinois elections and is director of the public affairs reporting program at the University of Illinois at Springfield.
"I'm sure Peter Roskam would prefer to run against a paunchy 40-year-old accountant. But he's running against a war hero. I don't feel sorry for Roskam. That's the way the game is played,'' Wheeler said.
SFGate
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