Mike Ditka for Senate (or not)

because this late in the game they need name recognition, esp. when you consider Obama's giving the DNC keynote.

Because he has a good chance of winning?

A poll that came out yesterday showed Obama beating Ditka 51-44.

Ditka was a win-win for them. If he ran and lost, he still would solidify the image of Republicans as the party of the Red-Blooded All-American Joe Sixpack. If he ran and won (by some miracle), they at least would deny the Dems a Senate seat at a time when every seat is ultra-critical.

Even though Ditka didn't run, the Republicans got a bit of image-enhancing mileage from the flirtation. So much more profitable for them than running some fringe fruitcake that no one knows about or cares about except the religious right.

guess it helps to explain why george w. bush is president, though.

Are you saying Obama has better name recognition than Ditka?!

Also, a 7 point difference with a 3.6% MoE is pretty impressive considering that Ditka is a gigantic moron.

So wouldn't increased attention to him just widen the gap?

Remember, Arnold is an international figure, actor and businessman with a history of hugely successful self-promotion. Ditka is a local football coach.

Homophobia, Schlomophobia. Pull the kaleidoscope out of your ass.

:-)

No, what I said was "Yeah, I saw that too but I don't think it means much as this story hasn't received nearly as much attention as it would were Ditka to accept the offer." Maybe I should've made myself more clear by saying that the fact that anyone is going to vote for Ditka is surprising but it definitely illustrates how easily votes are swayed and I am confident that had Ditka decided to run, the media attention would be much more intense and likely to have resulted in a lot of borderline votes going his way, ala Arnold.

So wouldn't increased attention to him just widen the gap?

Is there any proof for this? Is there any proof that this poll is as unbiased as it is being assumed to be?

Remember, Arnold is an international figure, actor and businessman with a history of hugely successful self-promotion. Ditka is a local football coach.

You make it sound like he's a high school football coach. I wouldn't underestimate his draw. The fact that he was even considered despite his lack of political skills shows how popular he is.

When Ditka thought about running, I said, "Jeez, at least Schwarzenegger was politically active."

um, Ditka's not a coach, but he is a highly successful pitchman for an erectile dysfunction drug, and owns a very popular (if not very good) restaurant in Chicago. Additionally, when he was a coach, one of his better stints was, y'know, winning the Super Bowl as head coach of the Chicago Bears. Which gave him enough name recognition to have a long-running series of skits on "Saturday Night Live" mention his name.

(it's good to be back in overspin mode)

FYI - he was also a quite successful football player, and not just in Chicago:

PLAYER STATS - MIKE DITKA Career Statistics
Receiving
Year TM G Rec Yards Y/R TD
1961 chi 14 56 1076 19.2 12
1962 chi 14 58 904 15.6 5
1963 chi 14 59 794 13.5 8
1964 chi 14 75 897 12.0 5
1965 chi 14 36 454 12.6 2
1966 chi 14 32 378 11.8 2
1967 phi 9 26 274 10.5 2
1968 phi 11 13 111 8.5 2
1969 dal 12 17 268 15.8 3
1970 dal 14 8 98 12.2 0
1971 dal 14 30 360 12.0 1
1972 dal 14 17 198 11.6 1
TOTAL 158 427 5812 13.6 43
5-time Pro Bowler: 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965

Consensus All-America, 1960 ... First tight end elected to Pro Football Hall of Fame ... Fast, rugged, outstanding blocker, great competitor ... Big-play star of Bears' 1963 title team ... Scored final touchdown in Cowboys' Super Bowl VI win ... Rookie of the Year, 1961 ... All-NFL four years, in five straight Pro Bowls ... Career record: 427 receptions, 5,812 yards, 43 TDs.

I would imagine that the football coach most non-football-interested Americans (is gabbneb part of this mysterious demographic?) are familiar with is Ditka, with Bill Parcells, Bear Bryant or Tom Landry following.

1 as coach, 1 as player.

Yes, Schwarzenegger has more name recognition than Ditka, nobody's arguing against that. What we're saying is that you're completely underestimating his name recognition in general, not compared with Arnold. Why else would the makers of Levitra (or whatever it is he endorses) hire him for a NATIONAL ad campaign? And wouldn't it make sense that they'd try to pick someone with name recognition greater or equal to, say, Bob Dole or Rafael Palmeiro (sure he's got the latter beat, not sure about the former).

(And ok, Arnold wasn't a 'pitchman' per se, but he was a representative of sorts, and claimed to have invented the Hummer. Why oh why did we never connect this to inventing the internet? Because Gore might still have run, I guess.)

most non-football-interested Americans

I have belonged to said demographic since the demise of Krieg-Largent-Bosworth.

According to that poll, it gave him 44 percent of the vote.

why was this brought into the thread in the first place? Kinda like comparing apples and oranges, or Hummers and Escalades, or something.

well, it's not that relevant given that Ahnold wasn't running for the Senate, which I conveniently ignored in comparing them as candidates alone. though it has some relevance in that California has an economy larger than many countries.

According to that poll, it gave him 44 percent of the vote.

Which is just slightly more than the Republican base in Illinois. In 2000, Bush and Buchanan got 43%.

(what point this proves, I have no idea)

third from the left

(Also see Tom Osbourne, Jim Bunning, et. al.)

Republican sources tell WMAQ that the Republican Party will now focus on two potential candidates: Jim Oberwies, who finished second in the primary for this nomination, and John Cox, who ran a couple of years ago. Both have the distinction of being multimillionaires.

But another name surfacing is that of rocker, outspoken conservative and gun-rights activist Ted Nugent.

"He grew up in Arlington Heights. He went to St. Viator High School," Cook County Republican Chair Gary Skoien told WMAQ. "He has more connection to Illinois than Hillary Clinton had to New York, and he's been a very articulate spokesperson on constitutional issues. He would be a very interesting candidate."

Is he as world famous as Arnold? No.
Is Ditka quite famous in Illinois? Oh yeah.

Ditka isn't going to run because like many pro sports guys in the US, he probably has way too many bartenders and strippers that have embarrassing stories to tell.

Oklahoma for a time had two ex-football players in the US House with JC Watts and Steve Largent. Watts didn't run last election, but I think Largent is considering running for Governor.

um, Ditka's not a coach, but he is a highly successful pitchman for an erectile dysfunction drug, and owns a very popular (if not very good) restaurant in Chicago. Additionally, when he was a coach, one of his better stints was, y'know, winning the Super Bowl as head coach of the Chicago Bears. Which gave him enough name recognition to have a long-running series of skits on "Saturday Night Live" mention his name.

fuck this guy