Tom Kacich: Democratic voters can send an urgent message in primary

Jan. 22—Democratic voters in Illinois dissatisfied with their choice for president this year — only President Joe Biden has delegate candidates on the March 19 ballot — can still make their displeasure known.

There's not much else on the Democratic primary ballot locally, but voters can choose from four candidates in what once was known as the presidential beauty contest: a simple preference vote among the 81-year-old Biden; 71-year-old Marianne Williamson; a 54-year-old millionaire congressman from Minnesota, Dean Phillips; and 34-year-old (35 by next January) Frankie Lozada of Valley Stream, N.Y.

It's not a pleasing choice. But by voting for one of the three longshots, or by taking a ballot but not voting in the presidential contest (what is known as an undervote), Illinois Democrats can send a message to Biden and party leaders that a change is urgent and they must do better.

A recent ABC News/Ipsos Poll found that only 57 percent of Democrats nationally were satisfied with Biden as the party's nominee.

He's leaking strength among all the groups that propelled him to the presidency four years ago: 31 percent support among women (he got 57 percent in 2020), 28 percent among independents, 41 percent among college graduates and just 32 percent among Black voters under 50.

His overall polling average as of last Thursday was a dismal 55.7 percent disapproval and only 38.8 percent approval. That's worse than Donald Trump's average 52 percent disapproval rating.

There was no Democratic caucus in Iowa last week, and Biden's name isn't on the ballot in New Hampshire this Tuesday, so it won't be until Feb. 3 in South Carolina — considered a Biden stronghold — that the president's popularity will be tested at the ballot box. After that, the biggest appraisal will come March 5, Super Tuesday, with primaries in California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina and Virginia. The Illinois primary is two weeks later, by which time Biden's fate as a presidential candidate in 2024 could be sealed.

About two weeks after that is the 56th anniversary of the date that President Lyndon Johnson, also a Democrat, shocked the nation by announcing he no longer intended to run for a second term. Johnson supposedly had intended to make his announcement in December 1967 (when his approval rating was 46 percent) but kept putting it off.

By March 1968, LBJ's approval rating had dropped to 36 percent, still 3 points greater than Biden's in the recent ABC/Ipsos poll. He barely won the March 12 New Hampshire primary (with 50 percent to anti-Vietnam War candidate Eugene McCarthy's 42 percent). Four days later, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy joined the race. By March 31, Johnson was out of the race. It happened that quickly, and it could happen again.

107th House District race

In one of the few area legislative races on the primary ballot, state Rep. Brad Halbrook, R-Shelbyville, holds a comfortable fundraising lead over challenger Marsha Webb of Macon. The two are running in the 107th Illinois House District that includes all or parts of Christian, Cumberland, Effingham, Macon, Montgomery, Moultrie and Shelby counties.

Halbrook reported nearly $43,000 on hand on Dec. 31, including $16,410 raised in the last quarter of 2023. Of that $16,410, though, $11,000 came from other legislators (or their spouses) in the right-wing Illinois Freedom Caucus.

Webb, who is running against Halbrook over his decision to break his pledge to retire after five terms, reported having $7,676 on hand on Dec. 31, including $8,200 raised in the fourth quarter. Nearly all of her money came from four supporters in Stewardson and Shelbyville.

LaHood stays with Trump

Former Illinois Congressman Adam Kinzinger, in his recently published book, "Renegade," had little good to say about the man who took over part of his central Illinois district after the 2022 election: Darin LaHood of Peoria.

"He had grown up the son of GOP giant Ray LaHood, a figure of great decency who was so respected that Barack Obama ignored party ties and named him to be secretary of transportation in his administration," Kinzinger wrote. "The elder LaHood's autobiography was titled 'Seeking Bipartisanship: My Life in Politics.' In 2016, he said he could not vote for Donald Trump because of the terrible slurs he has uttered about women, Muslims and prisoners of war."

Darin LaHood, Kinzinger noted, became a member of the moderate Main Street Caucus when he came to Congress. That didn't last long.

"The blowback Darin felt from the more reactionary corner of the local party was so intense that he abandoned his moderate positions, quit the Main Streeters and raced to the unreasonable Right," Kinzinger wrote. "In 2022, LaHood assessed the state of the party and accepted the campaign aid of the man his father couldn't bring himself to support. A member of Congress who bragged continually about his commitment to open, honest government had tied himself to the most unethical and least transparent president in history."

Earlier this month, the younger LaHood — a former federal prosecutor — endorsed Trump for president.

"Throughout the Republican primary, I have kept an open mind and listened to the other candidates. While I have a great deal of respect for those who have put their names forward in the Republican Primary, President Trump is the clear front-runner, and I believe he can beat Joe Biden in 2024," LaHood said in a prepared statement.

LaHood's conversion to Trump is similar to that of former U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, who once represented Champaign-Urbana in Congress.

In 2016, shortly before Election Day, Davis withdrew his endorsement of Trump, saying he would not vote for him because of his comments about women. Davis also joined the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, but then left. And in 2020, he endorsed Trump for re-election.

But in 2022, Davis was defeated for re-election by an even greater Trump apologist, U.S. Rep. Mary Miller, R-Hindsboro.