Pantagraph: Brady forming gubernatorial committee

[Tweed]

"SPRINGFIELD ­ State Sen. Bill Brady of Bloomington today will take a step toward fulfilling his dream of becoming governor.

The 43-year-old real estate developer plans to announce he's forming an exploratory committee to run for the GOP gubernatorial nomination in 2006. A formal decision could come this summer.

Brady has been making the rounds in recent weeks to county-level GOP functions throughout the state, often sharing the stage with other Central Illinois Republicans with statewide intentions.

Like U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood of Peoria, who earlier announced his potential candidacy, Brady said an exploratory committee will help give him input into what he'll need to beat incumbent Gov. Rod Blagojevich."

What a crowded race this has become.

[digitalhippie]

1. unite

We need to start organizing now to ensure that ILL stays "Blue" if you will. I just moved back to ILL and I am getting involved at the local level. Do the suburbs usually go dem? It seems like we should be able to organize with family farmers and blue collar workers to ensure that a republican does not win the Gov race. I am reading "What's the matter with Kansas" and it is eye opening. I think that as progressives we have to organize at the local level to work on eliminating the misperception that we are liberal elites. Most progressives I know may happen to have a college education, but they are far from the elite tag they are labeled with by repubs.

[Tweed]

2. Welcome to the DU Illinois Forum!

Great to have you. Please sign in on the County by County thread. You are dead on about the family farmers and blue collar workers. The suburbs are trending towards Democrats. The Republicans in the suburbs are moderates though and don't put up with the bullshit of the religious right. Someone could give a better breakdown than I, so I won't expand on that too much.

Welcome again and keep the posts coming!