Dennis Hastert announced this morning on a local radio show that he will not seek re-election:
The Beacon News says:
Ending months of speculation, former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert announced Friday that he will not run for a 12th term. He made the announcement on the Don Wade & Roma show on WLS 890 AM hours before an expected speech in his district.
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The formal announcement is still expected to occur on the steps of the Kendall County Courthouse this morning and we will have staff and volunteers there in case there are any other developments.
There is still speculation out there that "more news" could include an endorsement by Hastert of one of the field of Repubs interested in this seat.
I know this is brief, but I will update it as more info becomes available.
UPDATE Report just in from Jen, our campaign manager. Hastert has yet to speak, but Jen says there are as many members of the press there as there are Hastert supporters. Geneva Mayor Kevin Burns, a Repub nomination contender is there. Hastert staffers Brad Hahn and David From Richmond (who is running for office now) are there. Interns or somebody are passing out Hastert stickers, which seems odd, since he's not running.
Jen says also there are protesters, including one holding up a big sign that says: Impeach Bush, Rove, Rice, Cheney and Hastert. On the back it says Support the Troops, End the War, End the War, Hastert to Gitmo
Another sign is neon ORANGE (wonder if they are a Kossak!) and says: Big Republican Foley Cover-Up. Incompetence, gross negligence. Hastert supporters are trying to block it out with Hastert signs.
More as we hear it.
UPDATE II Jen has me on speaker phone. Hastert is speaking. Said he would not be seeking a 12th term. Thanking the wife, family, noting volunteers, etc. Began his political journey there, going into his political career, talking about his, ahem, accomplishments (long list of pork follows), now talking about his wider record, biz development - good lord, I caught a reference to a "revolution in health care" although the rest of the sentence was kind of indistinct, so maybe he was talking about stopping one. Am baffled otherwise.
Oh, here we go, the good stuff for his supporters: economy, economy, tax cuts, tax cuts, defense, defense (not surprisingly there are some hecklers here interfering with my ability to hear the next part!)
"We have made a difference."
Applause (and more heckling!) at that. He's done, nothing about retiring early and no endorsement of a candidate on his side.
Lisa Bennett
aka Downtowner
blogging for Laesch for Congress
cross-posted at Fireside 14, MyDD, Open Left, Diatribune