Don't confuse him with the former Senate Majority Leader from Kansas: Bob Dold is an Illinois businessman and lawyer who is waging a 2010 bid for the highly competitive 10th District north of Chicago.
Dold, a Republican whose family owns a pest control business, is the fourth Republican who has filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to prepare a campaign in the 10th, which Republican Rep. Mark Steven Kirk is leaving open to run for the Senate.
Dold told CQ Politics that he's running for Congress in part because "we're seeing a tremendous amount of spending that I believe is going in the wrong direction. I think that the government is kind of overreaching at this stage of the game."
"Unless we make some changes in Washington very quickly, we are going to bankrupt future generations," Dold said.
Dold said that Congress should be run more like small businesses, which he said are the nation's "economic backbone" and create two-thirds of all jobs. He supports a "moratorium or cutting back on the payroll tax" as the "quickest way to infuse dollars into the system."
He described himself as fiscally conservative but more moderate on social issues.
Dold is a first-time candidate for office but no stranger to the ways of Washington. He worked in the White House during the presidency of George Bush. After getting his law degree in Indiana, Dold returned to Washington in the mid-to-late 1990s to work for the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee when it was chaired by Indiana Republican Dan Burton.
The other Republicans who have filed FEC papers are state Rep. Elizabeth Coulson; Dick Green, who runs the stock market analysis firm briefing.com; and Bill Cadigan, a lawyer and former House aide.
Three Democrats are running: Dan Seals, a business consultant who ran competitive but losing races against Kirk in 2006 and 2008; state Rep. Julie Hamos; and Elliot Richardson, a lawyer.
Primary elections will be held on Feb. 2, the earliest in the nation.
CQ Politics currently rates the Illinois 10 race as Leans Democratic, which means that the Democrats have a slight generic edge in a contest that appears highly competitive.
Illinois' 10th has trended Democratic in its presidential balloting even as it voted for Kirk five times.
To follow the 2010 House races, check out the CQ Politics election map
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Comments
Dold is very sharp and extremely well liked by many in the local area. The word on the street is that most perceive the race on the Republican side to be between Dold and Coulson at this early stage of the game. He hired a former Kirk staffer to manage his race and seems to be working the ground hard. Coulson's Springfield baggage is her biggest problem. She has endorsements from pro-choice, pro-gay, pro-labor and pro-environment groups from past elections that are coming back to haunt her. Also heard there is a mail piece she designed and mailed in 2006 with her endorsing Rod Blagojevich that will be surfacing again. The question will be whether or not Dold can raise his name ID fast enough in this shortened primary season.
Posted by: kentallard
| September 6, 2009 11:19 AM
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