Bush Plays Peoria
It's the ultimate political cliche: "How's it playing in Peoria?" President Bush will find out today.
Though it's reliably conservative territory -- Republican Rep. Ray LaHood dipped below the 60% mark just once in his seven terms in office, winning his first re-election with 59% in 1996 -- the President is probably about as popular there as he is in the rest of the country, which is to say, not very.
Still, Air Force One will touch down this afternoon for a luncheon fundraiser to benefit Illinois State Rep. Aaron Schock, a Republican running to succeed the retiring LaHood. The lunch at Weaver Angus Farms will run guests $500 a plate, and there's still space available, according to a report from WMBD/WYZZ TV.
Though he's unpopular -- just 28.3% approve of his job performance, according to the latest RCP Average, while 66% disapprove -- Bush has stumped for several Congressional candidates across the country lately, and not always in districts that lean as Republican as LaHood's. In the past week, Bush has raised money for Arizona State Senator Tim Bee, running against Rep. Gabrielle Giffords; retired Air Force Major General Rick Goddard, running against Rep. Jim Marshall in Georgia; and former Congressional aide Pete Olson, who is challenging Rep. Nick Lampson in Texas.
Schock's Democratic opponent, Colleen Callahan, will hold a rival fish fry tonight at the Kickapoo Sportsman's Club, featuring Attorney General Lisa Madigan and the state's senior, but lately overlooked, senator, Dick Durbin.
Schock is the heavy favorite to keep LaHood's seat in Republican hands, and if he does so, he will strip away the title of youngest member of Congress from North Carolina Rep. Patrick McHenry. Elected to the Peoria School Board at 19, and to the state Assembly at 23, Schock would be just 27 years old when sworn into office with the 111th Congress in January, making him the first person born in the 1980s to win a seat in the House.