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Author: Gizzi, John jgizzi@eaglepub.com

Chicago, Ill. (April 27-28)--At a dinner at the Park Ridge Country Club in suburban Chicago with a group of prominent area business leaders and a breakfast the next morning with two Republican political consultants in nearby Des Plaines, I found that two questions dominated the talk of state politics: Would Democrat Rod Blagojevich overcome dissension within his own party, including a very public feud with his own father-in-law (a fellow Chicago pol), to become the first Democratic governor of Illinois to be re-elected since 1964? Or would Judy Baar Topinka overcome the great animosity toward her among her fellow Republicans and go on to become the first challenger to oust a sitting governor of the Prairie State since 1972?

In short, the grassroots activists of both major parties in Illinois are not exactly enamored of their nominees for governor this year. The race is further complicated by the renegade candidacy of Democratic State Sen. James Meeks of Chicago. An African-American who opposes abortion and gay marriage and supports a massive, increase in spending for public schools, Meeks insisted last week that he would go ahead with his third-party bid for governor and has been encouraged by recent polls. According to a just-completed Lester and Associates survey, Blagojevich leads State Treasurer Topinka 47% to 40% statewide. When Meeks is tossed into the equation, the same survey showed Blagojevich leading Topinka 41% to 34%, followed by Meeks with 12%.

But the Lester poll also showed that, when Illinois voters learned of Meeks' conservative social-issue stands, Blagojevich dropped to 37%, while Republican Topinka and Independent Meeks were tied with 25%. As pundit Rich Miller concluded in the a recent Daily Southtown column, "[t]his is also pretty much exactly where Meeks said he needed to be to even consider a run."

That Meeks' social-issue stands would enhance his standing at the expense of Topinka is not really a surprise. Moderate GOPer Topinka was long at daggers' ends with pro-life Republicans during her tenure as state party chairman. In the recent primary for governor, Topinka topped the field with 37% of the vote against four opponents, all of whom took conservative stands on abortion and other social issues.

For weeks after the primary, Topinka considered hiring a conservative to quarter-back her fall campaign. One out-of-state prospect, who is a veteran of Jack Kemp's 1988 presidential bid, was thought to be an excellent choice for bridging the chasm between Topinka and her party's dominant conservative base. But she finally opted for state Senate GOP chief of staff Brian Mc-Fadden, a comfortable member of the GOP's moderate establishment.

As veteran Daily Herald columnist Eric Krol put it: "Judy Baar Topinka apparently didn't learn many strategic lessons from the Bush Administration's experience in Iraq. The U.S. invasion was a relatively easy triumph, but Bush was roundly criticized for not having a solid post-victory plan for stability."

After the death of former Rep. G.V. Montgomery (D.-Miss.) on May 12 at age 85, the World War II veteran and former chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee was remembered as his fellow veterans' best friend in Congress. Whatever the issue involving men and women in uniform--eligibility for home loans, expansion of the GI Bill to include education benefits for National Guard and Reserve personnel as well as those on active duty--the Mississippian was inevitably in the lead.

But there was more to the man known universally as "Sonny." He called himself a conservative Democrat and steadfastly remained that way as his party in Congress moved increasingly to the left. Montgomery (lifetime American Conservative Union rating: 89%) was the embodiment of the term "Boll Weevil"--the Southern Democrats who were as conservative as most Republicans on defense, spending, and social issues.

A graduate of Mississippi State College and its ROTC program, Montgomery joined the U.S. Army and saw action in Europe (where he won the Bronze Star) and later in Korea. While launching a successful insurance business at home in Meridian and winning election to the state senate in 1956, he also rose to the rank of major general in the Mississippi National Guard.

When Republican Rep. Prentiss Walker gave up his seat after one term to run unsuccessfully for the Senate in 1966, Democrat Montgomery won it with 65% of the vote. An outspoken supporter of U.S. action in Vietnam and critic of anti-war demonstrators, Montgomery was also one of three House Democrats to stick with Richard Nixon after impeachment articles were voted in 1974. The Mississippian backed Ronald Reagan's tax- and budget-cutting measures in 1981 and was a strong backer of the Republican President's effort to rebuild America's defenses in the 1980s.

But Montgomery also paid a price for being a conservative Democrat. In 1984, he was passed over by House Democrats for the chairmanship of the House Armed Services Committee in favor of the less senior Les Aspin (D.-Wis.) and in 1994, when Democrats lost the House, he came within one vote of losing the ranking position on his beloved Veterans Affairs Committee to liberal Rep. Lane Evans (D.-Ill.).

Lifelong bachelor Montgomery was in demand on the Washington dinner-party circuit and known for escorting beautiful women. In the late 1960s, his frequent companion was a lawyer in the White House Office of Consumer Affairs named Elizabeth Hartford--now Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R.-N.C.).

PHOTO (BLACK & WHITE): Judy Baar Topinka

PHOTO (BLACK & WHITE): G.V. "Sonny" Montgomery

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By John Gizzi

Mr. Gizzi, political editor of HUMAN EVENTS, welcomes political intelligence from subscribers on campaigns and issues at the local and state level. Though he cannot reply to all correspondents, he appreciates your contributions. jgizzi@eaglepub.com