The original hope of Dan Hynes' Democratic gubernatorial campaign was that it could outspend and beat up Pat Quinn on TV by Thanksgiving to the point where the governor was vulnerable in the February 2 primary.

Early benchmark polling for Quinn had him leading Hynes 54-26, with other polls showing similar results. Hynes' name ID was a relatively low 67 percent, compared to Quinn's 88 percent.

Since then, Hynes has spent close to $2 million on TV ads, but Quinn has matched him pretty much dollar for dollar. And while Hynes stopped running network TV ads on November 11 and went dark on cable last week, Quinn was up with a positive bio ad last week on both network and cable.

On October 19, I was able to speak to Senator Charles Grassley about a specific issue I have with the stimulus payments for the first-time-homebuyer credit. It only took four days from the time I sent the e-mail requesting to be placed in the telephone queue before I was able to speak to him directly. After our conversation, I sent e-mails to both Representative Boswell and Senator Harkin.

I began this drive to speak to my elected officials when e-mails went unanswered and snail mail was responded to with form letters that failed to address the point I was making.

Eleven days later I am optimistic that I will be able to speak with Representative Boswell in the next week.

But today, I was told by a staffer (Michelle) in a phone call that "Senator Harkin is just 'too busy' to talk with all of his constituents that want to talk to him. It is not feasible." Frequently during the phone call I was interrupted and was not able to voice a complete thought. I responded that I just might be too busy to vote for him the next time he was running for re-election.

I was raised in a staunchly Democratic household. I believe in most of the Democratic platform. Yet what message is sent to me when I am able to easily access a member of the Republican Party and not of the party that is currently in power? It tells me that my voice is unheard and that is how it will remain.

They may be disappointed by the possibility of losing my vote, but they are not nearly as disappointed in me as I am in them.

Laura Hale
Pella, Iowa

"Tea party fever" is to the Republican Party what the H1N1 flu is to the general populace. It's spreading fast and it's potentially dangerous.

Establishment Republican politicians all over the country are becoming more freaked out by the angry, anti-tax tea-party protestors and are mimicking their rhetoric. Even in Illinois, where top GOP politicians mostly took a pass on the harsher aspects of the "Reagan revolution" rhetoric of the past 30 years - not wanting to alienate the general electorate - the trend is becoming obvious.

"I want you to get up right now, sit up, go to your windows, open them and stick your head out and yell, 'I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore.' Things have got to change. But first, you've gotta get mad! ... You've got to say, 'I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!' Then we'll figure out what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis. But first get up out of your chairs, open the window, stick your head out, and yell, and say it." -- Howard Beale, Network (1976)

Imagine a world exempt from parking tickets, where gym membership is free and health care is second-to-none. To receive these benefits, you also only have to work two, maybe three days a week -- a time period during which you will be shuttled around in a nice car. The other days of the week you can spend at home with your family. Luckily, every weekend is a long weekend, and you won't have to be back at work until Tuesday evening.

This job description might seem too good to be true, but for our so-called "representatives" in Congress who enjoy incredible job perks ranging from free meals to membership in swanky health clubs, all at taxpayer expense, it seems that there is such a thing as a free lunch -- literally and figuratively!