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DATE:
July 20, 2003
CONTACT:
Carolyn Kay
773-472-6375, email address Caro@MakeThemAccountable.com
CHICAGO
TALK SHOW HOST Nancy
Skinner TO ENTER SENATE RACE
IN
ILLINOIS
Prominent
radio talk show personality Nancy Skinner declared her candidacy for the
U.S. Senate seat from
Illinois
that will be vacated by Peter Fitzgerald
(R) at the end of 2004. Skinner
made the announcement today on her Sunday radio program, “Ski and
Skinner,” on WLS in
Chicago
.
Skinner
has been on the air in
Chicago
since 1997, has been nationally syndicated
for 2˝ years, and is a
frequent contributor to political debates on CNN, Fox News and MSNBC.
Skinner is a strong progressive voice on talk radio, a medium
dominated by conservative hosts.
After
a previous caller to the WLS program suggested that Skinner run for the
seat, she received an overwhelming response from listeners encouraging her
to do so. She recalled the
message of the late Senator Paul Wellstone to stop looking for the perfect
candidate, but to run yourself if you have conviction.
Conviction
Skinner has.
Her
many years as a political talk show host allowed Skinner the privilege of
talking six days a week to people of all political persuasions about the
issues that most concern them, making Skinner eminently qualified to be a
voice of the people from
Illinois
. Skinner
also believes that effective communicators are what the Democratic party
sorely needs. “We Democrats
keep sending the same bunch of well-meaning and honorable people up to
bat, only to get our heads handed to us because we can’t get our message
out. You live and die in
national politics by 30-second sound bites and slogans, like it or not”.
With
a weekly listenership at WLS of more than 70,000 in
Illinois
, and a national radio audience of five
million, Skinner has heard the discontent of progressives who feel that
the Democratic Party has been too timid in the face of constant right-wing
assaults and an increasingly conservative mass media. “They want someone
who will stand up to an administration that is dragging this country down
economically, has actually made us less secure, and has flushed our prized
international credibility right down the toilet. We can’t afford the
Republicans anymore. They’re
so fiscally reckless, I wouldn’t issue them a credit card, let alone
give them control of the U.S. Treasury”, Skinner says.
Nancy
Skinner has tapped a deep vein of discontent in much the same way that
presidential candidate Howard Dean, former governor of
Vermont,
has. The
“Skinner Is the Winner” campaign held a celebration for supporters and
volunteers following the announcement, at Cullen’s Bar & Grill in
Lakeview.
Skinner
has a vast Internet following and plans to develop it as a fundraising
tool. “I’m an
unconventional candidate, but we live in unconventional times”, Skinner
said.
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