Bill Foster

Chicago humorist Finley Peter Dunne coined the phrase “Politics ain’t beanbag” long ago. But, sometimes in politics no matter what you throw, beanbags in the dirt are all you get.

We don’t know what type of nasty Karl Rove/Newt Gingrich campaign to expect from our local GOP candidates this year. It’s possible they’ll change course. It’s possible they’ll grow up. It’s possible a wacky out-of-state third party will choose not to spend $500,000 or more in October. It’s possible they won’t have the money to do what they want.

But if it’s true that past performance is the best predictor of future behavior, we can expect the worst.

Through his personal campaign committee and his leadership fund, AmeriPAC, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer gave out $169,000 to fellow members’ committees in the first quarter of this year alone.

This past weekend, Bill Foster (D-IL) defeated fellow businessman Jim Oberweis (R-IL) in a special congressional election to fill the seat vacated by former U.S. Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, a Republican.

Maryland Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Kensington), who happens to be the Chairman of the 2008 Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), told the Associated Press that Foster’s victory would send out “a political shockwave.”

“The message to Republican candidates is that John McCain's not going to be able to save you in this election,” Van Hollen said.