Opinion: The Republican in the Democratic ad

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

As Republican state Sen. Kirk Dillard stepped out his car on Wednesday and made his way to a GOP caucus meeting inside the Illinois statehouse in Springfield, he admitted he was a bit apprehensive.

Dillard created a kerfuffle this week by appearing as a talking head in a new ad, airing in Iowa, that lauds his old pal, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. At the caucus confab, he told The Times’ Dan Morain, he expected his party colleagues to ‘chew’ on his posterior.

Come Thursday, however, Dillard was able to sit without pain. Chatting with Morain again, he said that with the legislature trying to resolve a state budget stand-off, other Republicans didn’t so much as mention the ad. And for his part, he remained pleased that he was in the spot, even as he reiterated that his favored choice for the White House remains Republican John McCain.

Dillard said he and Obama bonded when they served together in the state Senate (Obama’s post before he won election to the U.S. Senate in 2004). They joined forces to work on several measures, including ethics legislation.

E-mails and other reaction to his star turn in the Obama ad ran 10-1 in favor, he said.

Interestingly, there was some debate in Democratic circles on whether Dillard’s kind words for Obama were the right message for the candidate to send. In Iowa, many Democrats are fiercely partisan and, especially in the waning days of the Bush administration, a focus on bipartisanship is not high on their list. The Obama camp, however, countered that it was part and parcel of communicating that he is the man who best can fix a dysfunctional political system.

The McCain camp took his appearance in stride, Dillard said. He explained that he supports McCain for the same reasons he likes Obama --- they’re both honest and hard-working, but McCain has the added advantage of extensive foreign policy experience.

-- Don Frederick