Illinois Green Party gubernatorial candidate Rich Whitney is asking supporters to take action to get him into two debates that debate sponsors are threatening to exclude him from. Whitney received over 10% of the vote for governor in 2006, establishing the Green Party as a major party in Illinois. He is an excellent, well-spoken candidate with a comprehensive platform to fix the Illinois budget and ensure that everyone in Illinois has access to quality jobs, education, and healthcare.

Jeremy Karpen is running for Illinois Assembly against a corporate lobbyist-funded Chicago machine insider. His election would be a huge victory for Illinois progressives – and a sign of good things to come for progressives across the country.

Tonight I’ll be interviewing Phil Huckelberry, co-chair of the national and Illinois Green Parties. Listen here:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/ind-pol-report/2010/09/28/phil-huckelberry-illinois-and-national-green-party-co-chair

We’re here, we’re organizing, and we’re fighting.

Three actions you can take to boost the profile and push toward victory three incredible Green Party candidates.

Lealan Jones just needs 30% overall to win.

This is the first part of a series of posts analyzing competitive Senate elections in blue states. The second part can be found here.

Illinois

In November 2010, Democratic State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias will face off against Republican Congressman Mark Kirk, in what looks to be a competitive Senate race. A heavily blue state, Democrats have been hurt by a bad national environment coupled with continuing fall-out from the Rod Blagojevich scandals.

Out of the three states being analyzed (the other two being California and New York), Illinois is the state in which Republicans are strongest. Out of the three, it is also the state with the most competitive forthcoming election. This post will analyze the political contours of the state, and the long and difficult path Mr. Kirk must tread for victory.

Today’s developments reported about the Blagojevich jury do not support jumping to the conclusion that there has been some epic fail on the part of the prosecution. They don’t support the opposite conclusion either. Take a deep breath people, breathe!

The “DREAM Now Series: Letters to Barack Obama” is a social media campaign that launched Monday, July 19, to underscore the urgent need to pass the DREAM Act. The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, S. 729, would help tens of thousands of young people, American in all but paperwork, to earn legal status, provided they graduate from U.S. high schools, have good moral character, and complete either two years of college or military service.  With broader comprehensive immigration reform stuck in partisan gridlock, the time is now for the White House and Congress to step up and pass the DREAM Act!

President Barack H. Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest
Washington, DC  20500

Dear Mr. President,

My name is Tania Unzueta and I’m undocumented.

I have lived in Chicago since I was 10 years old. I came with my mother to join my father, who had found a stable job and a promise to legalize his status. Eventually our tourist visas ran out, and my family became undocumented.

In Illinois, Amy S. tells the story of how a wanted pregnancy turned into a parent’s nightmare, and the many obstacles to compassionate care she and her family faced.

Written by Khadine Bennett for RHRealityCheck.org – News, commentary and community for reproductive health and justice.