Dennis Hastert News

Fundraising for Democratic campaign committees is surging, helping the party to extend a winning streak in competitive special elections and giving House Democrats a more than 3-to-1 advantage over Republicans in cash stockpiled for the battles ahead, campaign-finance reports show.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, says fundraising is up because Democratic activists "were shaken out of their complacency." FUNDRAISING AT A GLANCE Committee October receipts Year-to-date receipts Cash available Debts Democratic National Committee $11.6 million $73.4 million $12.9 million $4.4 ...

GENEVA – Former House Speaker and leader of the 1994 Republican Revolution Newt Gingrich will headline a fundraiser for 14th Congressional District hopeful Ethan Hastert.

The release of Sarah Palin's book "Going Rogue" has brought out not only the Palin bashers, but also, of course,has increased chatter about whether she will be the Republican presidential nominee in 2012.

We were shocked -- shocked -- to find that Nobel prize winning economist Paul Krugman had positively endorsed a portion of our work last week on his New York Times' blog.

Marcelle Bright – for The Chronicle Ethan Hastert , republican candidate for the 14th congressional district, answers a question during a candidates' forum Sunday at Eaglebrook Country Club in Geneva as candidates Jeff Danklefsen, Mark Vargas and Randall Hultgren look on.

Four of the five Republicans hoping to unseat U.S. Rep. Bill Foster made their pitch Sunday afternoon at the Eagle Brook Country Club in Geneva.

The raging debate over health care reform efforts in Congress has hit suburban TV screens in a very local way.

We've come to expect intellectual dishonesty from the media elite, and Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman, a columnist for the New York Times, never disappoints .

Three Republican challengers to U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, D-Batavia, blasted his vote in support of a sweeping health care bill and one said Foster would not be re-elected because of it.

The Kane County Board will have a new face even before the 2010 elections as the need to fill a vacancy may elevate a candidate to a seat on the board.

DIXON – A Friday night fundraiser for state Sen. Tim Bivins, R-Dixon, was supposed to be a local show, but health care fever in Washington turned that plan on its head.

The result of the NY-23 special election shouldn't have come as a surprise, since Republicans have lost 20 of the past 29 House special elections, dating back to January 2003.

This is a rush transcript from "Your World With Neil Cavuto," November 3, 2009. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

Monday was the last day for candidates from established parties to get their names on the ballot for next year's congressional, state and county elections, and as expected, the field included a couple of local former legislators vying to win back their seats.

The deadline has come and gone, and after a flurry of last-minute filings, the ballot for next year's elections has taken shape.

Newt Gingrich and Dick Armey, pictured in friendlier days in 1995, are rivals on upstate NY race.

The next time Roy Blunt and his Republican colleagues complain that are a lot of pages in the House Democrats' health care bill, he should be asked to explain what's changed since November 2003, and explain why he's not an enormous, gargantuan hypocrite.

BATAVIA – A local businessman has officially filed to run for Congress. Thursday, Jim Purcell, of Batavia, announced that he has become the latest candidate to officially seek to place his name on the ballot in the race for the Republican nomination in Illinois' 14th Congressional District.

An essay just posted in Time magazine takes Minnesota's own Michele Bachmann, mixes the recently prominent liberal flamethrower from Florida, Rep.