Congressman Shimkus claimed not too long ago that we should support Rep. Mark Kirk for Senate because we need to get to "41 seats in the Senate".  I agree with needing to pick up seats, but who fills those seats is more important.  We need conservatives or like minded individuals within those seats because 41 seats means nothing if we can't even get all 40 that the Republicans have now to vote in a block.  In fact, the female version of Arlen Specter - Olympia Snowe - has come out and stated she will vote for the Baucus Bill.  Lot of good it does Republicans if you're slim minority can't even vote together.  Does anybody think Mark Kirk would vote any differently?  You don't just wake up the next morning and decide you're a conservative, but apparently, Kirk hasn't received that memo yet.  Instead, Kirk chooses to vote for Cap and Tax, and even cast his lot in the Democrats by protecting homosexuals in the new "Hate Crimes" bill without the same protection for our own troops. 

Furthermore, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), or as I like to call him - John McCain's Igor ("Yes, Master...") has just finished up getting into it with the real conservatives out there at a town hall meeting.  Compromise in Graham's and McCain's eyes means abandoning any resemblance of conservative principles and trying to get one piece here or there in the legislation changed and call that process.  Note to Lindsey Graham - Cap and Tax is not a conservative idea so why are you supporting it??  And you wonder why you have a hostile crowd at your meeting?  How can South Carolina send Jim DeMint - a good conservative with great ideas and that I hope will take a shot at running for President in 2012 - and then send a yes-man, Igor to McCain's attempt at creating a Frankenstein monster-like GOP in his own image?  Why do conservatives always have to compromise?  You rarely see liberals doing the same thing.

And then there's this - tea party protesters are going after establishment officials in an effort to change the Republican Party from the bottom up!  The national leadership had better wake up because there is a huge grassroots movement of conservative people that want to go back to the days of Reagan, responsible government, responsible spending, strong foreign policy, protecting the unborn, and lowering taxes on business and people to encourage economic growth.  Instead of listening to us, we get Mark Kirk.

Michael Steele should get some spine and ask Olympia Snowe to leave the Republican Party.  We have no need for her if she keeps voting for everything the Democrats propose whether it's health care, bailouts, "porkulus" packages or Cap and Tax.  I'd rather have 39 Senators who realize the value in conservative principles than 40 Senators who are letting the Left Coast Democrats run this country into the ground.  We see how great the Left Coast does at governing within the state of California.  Goodbye Olympia, don't let the door hit you in the butt on the way out!!!

State Rep. David Reis is a great man, good family guy, and a true conservative and Effingham is lucky to have someone like him representing us.  He recognizes the value of the conservative grassroots of the Republican Party.   In fact, Reis said it best this past Sunday.  He said studies show that if there is a moderate or liberal on the ballot, you can expect a 7% drop in Republican voters.  That 7% would have made all the difference in the last Presidential election.  That 7% could be the difference between the Republican's taking back the Governor's mansion or the Illinois Senate seat.  And those in the know don't consider conservatives as viable candidates, but instead continue to support liberal candidates that can "win in Chicago".  After the November deadline for filings, I will be releasing who I am supporting in the upcoming primary.  Unlike others, I choose to wait to see how things are going to pan out and see who decides to actually run, or if there might be another candidate that slips in at the last minute.