Stratton v. Tracy: Side by Side, Finally

I almost missed this. Saw it on Capitol Fax this evening. The main thing is that the candidates for Dick Durbin’s open U.S. Senate seat are set to debate on Tuesday.

Tonight, October 20, 2026, at 8 p.m. on WTTW, Chicago Tonight anchor Brandis Friedman moderates the only joint appearance of the general election between Democrat Juliana Stratton and Republican Don Tracy. It runs one hour from the WTTW studios on the North Side, with a studio audience. The forum airs live on WTTW and streams on the PBS app, wttw.com, Facebook, and YouTube. Rebroadcasts follow later in the week.

Credit: WTTW

Early voting in Illinois started September 24. This is the last scheduled chance for voters to see the two major-party nominees for Dick Durbin’s open seat answer the same questions in the same room. Tracy accepted invitations from multiple outlets and groups earlier in the cycle. Stratton’s campaign accepted this one.

I wrote about the race in September. Cook looks settled. The collars are the question. The post is here: Illinois Looks Settled.

American Center Party candidate Whitfield Harrington is on the ballot but was not invited. WTTW’s published standards require a candidate to show at least 15 percent in a post-primary public poll (plus other criteria) to appear.

The race is the first open Illinois Senate seat in decades. Stratton is the lieutenant governor and the Democratic nominee after a competitive primary. Tracy is a Springfield attorney and the former state party chair. Polling has shown a double-digit lead for the Democrat. The last Republican to win a U.S. Senate race in Illinois was Mark Kirk in 2010. The forum is the public record of what they chose to say when the clock ran out.

Watch on WTTW at 8 p.m. or stream it from their site. When it’s uploaded to YouTube it will be shared here, and like I did with the governor’s forum, offer my own take once I watch it.

Blue States Need the Dream

You may have seen my two recent posts on the Illinois gubernatorial race. One asked whether the only televised forum between Governor Pritzker and Darren Bailey would move anyone who hasn’t already voted. The other was about what a solid opposition actually looks like in a state that has grown used to one-party rule. My point in covering it is simple: Illinois needs an opposition party that can win. As PBD has said about candidates running for president, the opposition still has to sell the dream.

California is another state in the same position. Steve Hilton finished second in the top-two primary and is the Republican nominee against Xavier Becerra. He has spent months making the case that the state can be more affordable and better governed. Polls still show him trailing by a wide margin. The election is unlikely to go his way.

Now we arrive at New York. Democrat Governor Kathy Hochul is running for another term against Republican Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman. If I am reading people like Bill O’Reilly correctly, Blakeman has a realistic shot at knocking off the incumbent.

Here are some highlights via NY Post: [VIDEO]

The exchanges are mostly about utility bills, sanctuary policies, spending on migrants, and Hochul’s attempts to tie Blakeman to President Trump. Blakeman’s side of the argument is that she has been governor for five years and the results are hers. Hochul’s side is that the alternative is Trump-style leadership.

Bailey Interrupted. Pritzker Stayed Cool

I had the chance to watch Tuesday’s WTTW-TV Illinois gubernatorial forum in its entirety. The original post with the full video is here: Will the Forum Move the Needle. At this time it has not caused me to move the needle on whether I am enthusiastic about a third term for Governor Pritzker or whether Darren Bailey should have his turn. I am guessing it has not moved the needle for anyone else either.

Credit: Chicago Sun-Times

Jubilee: Can 1 Cop Defend Himself Against 20 Criminals?

 

[VIDEO] How many of you saw a similar most recent video featuring Ben Shapiro facing off against a variety of liberals in a debate.

To see a cop defend his profession to those who have ran afoul of the law at some point in their lives is something I like to see more of. It's definitely a good thing to see two side of the law & order coin engage in a discussion with regards to policing.

Classic Stossel: How debates are won

 

[VIDEO] Actually we just got out of "debates season". No more Presidential debates and in going on two weeks we will start counting the votes. We're living in different times with this pandemic people have already cast their ballots for their choice for POTUS, will it be President Trump for another term or will it be former Vice President Biden for the next four years?

In 2008 I think it was we see John Stossel, possibly for his new FOX Business program at the time, talk about winning debates. The history of debate preparation and certainly what happened during many of the debates.

President Nixon knows that your look is important as on TV he lost his debate with John F. Kennedy because he didn't wear makeup. President Ronald Reagan made a hell of a wisecrack on former Vice President Walter Mondale's age and even his staff knew the election was over. President Bush during one debate kept looking at his watch. Another President Bush - well actually at the time he was Governor of Texas - had then Vice President Algore walk up to him and George W. Bush nodded and kept it moving. Better still in that case Bush was prepared for that moment.

Even Stossel got some coaching by consultants on how to answer questions and even had a negative ad produced about the answers to some of his questions. Folks if you ever run for a prominent office in the future don't ever get caught saying college is stupid. Imagine the campaign ads about this.

Last night's debate: Debate of the Century!

 

[VIDEO] I only caught the last half-hour or so of this debate. Trump is a fighter and defies convention in his debates, he speaks his mind. Unlike last year when he was the insurgent or disruptor and it likely resonated with the American people whenever he went after "Crooked Hillary" declaring she'd be in jail, he's the President now. Perhaps what he did as a candidate in 2016 probably doesn't come off well as President in 2020.

Here's Mark Dice analyzing last nite's debate looking at what was said on the "Fake News Media" and of course analyzing some of what happened during the debate. If I believe Dice, he might say Biden didn't do that great last nite. And it seems among many on the right most believe the President had to debate two people last nite, Biden and moderator Chris Wallace.

Tucker Carlson: Big Tech censors dissent over coronavirus lockdowns

[VIDEO] I'm sorry to say I rarely watch Tucker Carlson on FOX News these days.

The last few days I've been sharing a variety of information regarding this pandemic. Many of the information presented mainly in videos have been critical of the measures taken to combat this virus.

The realest video has been from the two doctors from California - mentioned in the above video - who openly wondered if the usage of the word safe was more about control. They looked at the data and they concluded why are there lockdowns? Why are businesses shut down? Why are we choosing to quarantine the healthy as opposed to quarantining the ill?

So in this segment that aired last nite on Tucker Carlson Tonight we see another issue. Are the tech companies mainly YouTube and Facebook censoring any information regarding this pandemic that are contrary to the agenda?

We see there are protests to these lockdowns in a number of states around the nation. In Illinois two state representatives from downstate have launched lawsuits against Gov. J.B. Pritzker's extended stay-at-home order. Incidentally the first lawsuit resulted in an injunction that affected only the state representative that filed the suit.

Understandably people are starting to get restless after over a month of lockdowns designed to stem the spread of this highly infectious disease. The crisis were facing is unprecedented and we're in uncertain times. We're also worried about multiple waves of this virus over time and if we're able to handle it ultimately it's also being said that it won't just go away.

Meanwhile why not discuss whether or not the data may not justify continuing these many lockdowns around the nation? Why not discuss the many policy ramifications of what we're doing with this pandemic? And especially important right now is discussing the economic effects of shutting down the economy?

Also as an aside since in some of this information it's being discussed that many coronavirus deaths really had little to do with the virus. It's said certain racial groups are affected by this and yet to discuss those underlying conditions are problematic for some. Why is that problematic to talk about these often preventable underlying conditions?

Debates...

This month's Presidential debates are over and next week is election time. We saw three debates between President Obama and Mitt Romney and one debate between Vice President Biden and Congressman Paul Ryan. We saw the President off his game the first debate, a near fight in the second, and we saw how bad both men wanted it in the third and final debate. What we saw with VP Biden & Ryan was Biden laughing a lot.

What can we take from those debates? Well whatever you're able to. Besides we get to hear a bit more about what each man hoped to accomplish in the next administration. The thing about these debates is that they may play only to those who have already decided who's ticket they want to punch.

If it was me, I still evaluate each candidate and will only decide on Election Day. Also if you followed who said what about the debates on twitter or facebook you will see where the sentiment lies in either direction. Most of the people on my timeline on either site were for Obama and maybe a few were very much in Romney's camp.

In spite of their attempts to differentiate each other by telling us their specific domestic and foreign policies - in addition to the usage of numbers in discussion of jobs, taxations, etc. - sometimes I wonder if the American people can catch up. When they talk numbers I recognize that neither man really has a great concept of what they're talking about and were coached to be very convincing.

Another question to be asked if the American voter was convinced of who should be President in November? Are they going with either of the major party candidates? Or are they going to choose independent or third party challengers?

Well, it's safe to say the ones who made up their minds haven't changed their minds. Perhaps a precious few are no longer undecided as a result of the debates. With that result in mind the next question is, how useful are these presidential debates?

The FINAL Presidential debate!

[VIDEO] This is the last debate of this Presidential election between Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama. This debate was on foreign policy although at some points there were discussion over some domestic policy. Especially in talking about education and jobs although I'm sure that occurred over any talk of foreign trade and how our nation could benefit from it.

Hopefully this debate was much less testy that last week's town hall debate! Let me know what you think as always.

The FULL town hall debate Obama vs. Romney

[VIDEO] If the last debate between these two gents showed who really wanted to be President and who doesn't this debate showed that both of them wanted to be President. The President gave it back more in this debate and at times we see both men almost over talk each other. I likened that to bickering.

All the same it seemed the President was taking this one seriously. I'll let the talking heads decide who really won this debate, but at times it looked like there was about to be a fight. What do you think?

Thursday's VP Debate

[VIDEO] I may need to really pay attention to this debate the 2nd time around. Didn't really follow the reaction of the talking heads on this one. The consensus of the Obama-Romney debate was that Romney wiped the floor with the president.

At first glance in last night's debate it seems about even with a slight edge to Vice President Biden. Biden handled himself very well in this debate. So did Ryan, but I shall seek out more reacts at my first opportunity during the day tomorrow!

Wednesday's Presidential debate

[VIDEO] I had only watched half of the debate because it was already underway by the time I tuned in. It seemed by many that Romney had one this debate and Obama essentially checked out of this one. And the President's body language wasn't very good in this debate as for one he barely looked his Republican opponent in the eye.

Does a debate determine an election?

Watched the FOX News/Google GOP debate...

[VIDEO] Very informative. Santorum went after Perry on immigration. And it seems the two front runners - Perry & Romney - went after each other hard. So here is Gov. Perry and Romney going after each other in the vid above.

Althouse: "Perry shows no remorse, not even a tiny smidgen of reflection, especially when we know for certain that he signed the death warrant for an innocent man."

Althouse who is a law professor in addition to a blogger talks about last night's Republican Presidential debate at the Reagan Library. Another blogger Andrew Sullivan wants to stick it to TX Gov. Rick Perry on the death penalty. This was her concluding paragraph:

That's the answer, plainly and appropriately stated. Sullivan's straining to use this to portray Perry as evil is — to my mind — and I oppose the death penalty — demagoguery.

You can check out Gov. Perry's response [VIDEO] to the question on the death penalty especially his application of it as Governor of Texas.

2010 Gubernatorial debates

I was under the impression that there won't be any. Looks like there will be. Who knows Quinn could benefit since FiveThirtyEight projects that Gov. Quinn has a 10.3% chance of winning this election. While I may like Bill Brady, I would actually watch this debate to see who wants IL's governorship more!