Oberweis: Is He Too Tough on Topinka or Are His Charges Having An Effect? A Blog Plebiscite

The question a leading Republican (not a candidate) put to me was this: I’ve heard Jim Oberweis make presentations for several weeks now, including times when Judy Baar Topinka was in the room and scheduled to follow him. Frankly, his presentation is so tough on her, I wince. She doesn’t respond in kind but keeps her focus on Rod Blagojevich. While I agree with you that the battle is between her and Oberweis, I’m worried that if Oberweis wins the nomination he can’t get elected.

He continued: if it goes on, fatso, the electorate may turn to Gidwitz.

I said: what is this fatso? Gidwitz? Com’on, give me a drag on what you’re smoking. He said: No, I really mean it. There’s no doubt that you have to have the base and Oberweis has it—but there’s got to be more than the base. Reagan’s strength was that he was a sunny kind of guy not a grim one.

No sooner did I finish with him than I had a call from one who was turned on by the Oberweis presentation. She said: Your establishment friend is wrong. No, I said, he’s not establishment, actually. She responded: He is, I tell you! That’s the kind of stuff you hear in the country clubs by people who are lackadaisical about their Republicanism. This battle is for the heart and soul of the Illinois Republican party and don’t you forget it. What we want are people who when they get nominated and elected won’t go wobbly on us. Wobbly: does that ring a bell with you, old timer?

I said: You’re guilty of age-ism. Yes, that’s what Maggie Thatcher told George H. W. Bush just before Iraq War I. Yes, she said and he went wobbly all right and pulled out before he got Saddam Hussein. Now listen to me, fatso. The reason I--.

Fatso? What is this? She said: well, reduce, then. The reason I think your friend is goofy is that no one, not even Gidwitz’s own staff, sees him picking up enough votes. Only Gidwitz does. Are you sure this guy isn’t a mole for Gidwitz? I said I’m sure he isn’t.

The significant thing was that both of them agreed that Bill Brady’s campaign is going nowhere. And both agreed as to why. No money because Brady felt that once Jim Edgar bowed out, Edgar would endorse him and so the Brady people wasted an unconscionable amount of time in waiting out the endorsement that never came. The fact that Brady will not get out of the race strikes both—diametrically opposed on other issues—as exceedingly foolhardy. They believe he will take the collar if Topinka wins the nomination. Message to partisans of both camps: don’t come back slugging me because I have faithfully reproduced these views which are not mine. But in the interest of keeping the ball rolling, I’d like to get your views.