IL-05 Election Date Set; Tom Geoghegan enters race

Written by: Sandra Verthein on Jan 7, 2009 5:30 AM EST

Linked to groups: Democracy for Illinois, Northside DFA, Chicago-Goose Island, Democracy for Chicago

1. If you live in the Chicago area, come to this Thursday's Northside DFA meeting and invite anyone you know, particularily if they live in the 5th Congressional District.  Whoever is elected could be in this seat for decades, so this is our chance to get it right. At this meeting political consultant Mike Fourcher will give a presentation on the electoral history and strategy in the 5th Congressional District -- everything you wanted to know and more!

Northside DFA January Meeting w/ Mike Fourcher
- Thursday, January 8
- 6:00 (optional) buffet dinner $15 and socializing, 7:00 meeting
- Calo Pizzeria and Restaurant, 5343 N Clark Street, Chiccago
- RSVP at: http://democracyforamerica.com/events/30498-northside-dfa-january-meeting

2. Start getting to know the candidates. Check out their websites (links are below), sign up for their email lists, show up for their next event -- this is your time to shop around for who you like. 

3. Plan to attend our 5th CD candidates forum at the end of January. Details are still being worked out but this will be your chance to see all the candidates head to head.  Also, please note that we will NOT be inviting candidates to speak at our monthly NDFA meetings.  The time is too short and there are too many candidates, so we really need Northside DFA members to go to this forum so they can be well-informed before our endorsement vote which will happen at our February meeting.  Remember, to be a Northside DFA voting member you must have attended three meetings and done three volunteer activities for our candidates in the 12 months prior to the vote. For more details contact membership chair Jim Schmidt at sqrrljim@ameritech.net.

4. Make arrangements NOW to be available to volunteer on election weekend and election day, March 3.  In a special election the ability to GOTV (Get Out The Vote) is critical to a candidate's success.

5. Donate. In a short race money is a huge factor -- and small donations can add up to big cash!  And, of course, it is something you can do no matter where you live.

And we have a new entry -- civil rights lawyer, labor lawyer and long-time progressive activist and author Tom Geoghegan has jumped in. Check out his website at the link below.

5th CD Democratic Candidate Websites:

Cary Capparelli
http://www.carycapparelliforcongress.com/index.html

Jan H. Donatelli
http://www.donatelliforcongress.com/home/

Sara Feigenholtz
http://www.saraforcongress.com/

Alexander Victor Forys
http://victorforus.com/

Tom Geoghegan
http://www.geogheganforcongress.com/

Justin Oberman
http://www.obermanforcongress.com/about.html

Mike Quigley
http://www.quigleyforcongress.com/

Matthew Reichel
http://www.mattreichel.us/

Joey Vartanian
http://www.vartanianforcongress.com/index.php

Israel Vasquez
(no website I know of)

Charles J. Wheelan
http://wheelanforcongress.com/index.php

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Location: Chicago, IL 60640