Mining for red in the blue desert

A lot can happen in a year, but if history is a guide, the Republicans are poised to make gains in Congress in the 2010 midterm elections.

The Daily Herald is reporting that one place this GOP is looking to make gains is in Illinois. I met Rep. Kevin McCarthy at the Republican National Convention last year, and we talked about Illinois' 8th, and we were optimistic that the GOP could take the seat back.

In fact, hopes are now so high at the national level, Republicans are even looking to find a serious contender against U.S. Rep. Melissa Bean, a Barrington Democrat who appeared to solidify her standing in the Northwest suburban 8th District years ago.

"It would be a major upset for us to miss this opportunity," says U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, recruitment chair for the National Republican Congressional Committee.

McCarthy and other top Republicans are set to visit the Chicago suburbs this week to drum up and vet potential congressional candidates.

One seat is open, in the North suburban 10th District, with U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk making a bid for Senate. While the Democratic field in the primary is already packed, the Republican field has yet to form with state Rep. Beth Coulson of Glenview mentioned as a potential contender.

McCarthy of course hosts the bi-weekly GOP Minority Whip Bloggers' Call.

But McCarthy's California could be a spot for growth for the Republicans. This time the San Francisco Chronicle weighs in.

National conservative columnist George Will penned a gushing piece to that effect after he got a rare, close-up look at billionaire former eBay CEO Meg Whitman and her well-funded campaign to become the next Republican governor. "Although California is a blue state, it has had Republican governors for 30 of the last 43 years," he wrote. "The Republican revival nationally might begin here next year."

Fox News pundit Fred Barnes, the executive editor of the Weekly Standard, has also gone gaga over Whitman, turning California into a potential stepping stone for the GOP's comeback.

"Everything is going to change after the 2010 election, when all these new faces will come into the Republican Party," he recently predicted.

And Whitman, he wrote, could be the key as "governor of the biggest state, a brainy, conservative, accomplished woman at the top of the Republican ladder. When Reagan was elected governor in 1966, the speculation about national office - president, vice president - erupted instantly."

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