WurfWhile

State Senator and former DuPage County Republican Chair Kirk Dillard has just made a TV ad for Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama. For a while I’ve been sitting on a hunch (and only a hunch) that Dillard might be seeking a federal post with President Barack Obama, should Obama win. I based my hunch on Senator Dillard’s close relationship with Obama (and his praise of him early in newspapers), plus Dillard’s divesting himself of GOP partisan roles. He dropped out as long-time DuPage GOP Chair, and Kirk didn’t run again recently for Illinois Republican State Central Committee 13th District. Senator Dillard also rejected a (bad) chance to run against Obama for U.S. Senate after Republican Jack Ryan imploded, and more recently turned down a chance to lead the GOP State Senators as Minority Leader replacing Frank Watson. There aren’t a lot of options for the Kirk Dillard politically right now - Judy Biggert’s 13th Congressional seat being one of the few (should Biggert retire). Combine the general GOP problems in DuPage (such as a Democratic voter upswing and the failure to show fiscal responsibility with the budget) with the redistricting that will happen in a few years under (likely) Democratic control, and things look pretty ugly for state (and county) Republicans. The fact that Obama (as seen by the ad Dillard just cut) will be looking for ways to reinforce his bi-partisan appeal, offers real opportunity for Kirk to move up and on. If the opportunity presents itself, he may just take it - perhaps becoming a judge, which might permit him to stay in or near his current home, or else perhaps some sort of cabinet post.

While it’s certainly possible that Illinois Republicans will try to punish Dillard for perceived transgressions in helping Obama (despite Dillard’s previous choice of John McCain) - its also likely, for now, they’ll just be happy to try to hold on to Dillard’s seat and not devote a lot of resources to keeping it. Things have changed for state and DuPage County Republicans.