Nick Vlahos: Nick in the AM: Officially, Bobby Schilling attempts to become a bi-state congressman

Journal Star (Peoria, IL)

Jul. 9--Good morning, troops. It's Tuesday, July 9.

Stop Nick in the Morning if you've heard this before: Bobby Schilling is running for U.S. Congress.

Something you might not have heard before: Schilling is running for U.S. Congress from Iowa.

Schilling, who represented the 17th District of Illinois for two years earlier this decade, announced Monday he intends to run next year as a Republican to represent the 2nd District of Iowa.

The 2nd District incumbent, Democratic Congressman Dave Loebsack, is not running for an eighth two-year term. Schilling's candidacy had been rumored.

The 24-county district spans westward to the outskirts of Des Moines and includes Burlington, Davenport, Fort Madison and Iowa City.

Illinois' 17th District as configured during Schilling's term (2011-13) included most of the counties west of Peoria. Among them were all of Fulton, Hancock, McDonough and Warren counties, as well as parts of Henry and Knox counties.

In a news release, Schilling stated politics have worsened considerably since he unseated U.S. Rep. Phil Hare.

"The voices leading the modern Democratic Party have forced the party dangerously leftward to the point that they are now openly embracing Venezuela-style socialism, higher taxes on working people, banning private health insurance, open borders and free health care for illegal immigrants, late-term abortion up to the moment of birth, ending religious freedom as we know it ..." Schilling stated.

"I think we can do better than that."

Before and during his term, Schilling was a pizza restaurateur who resided in Colona, part of the Illinois side of the Quad Cities area.

A few years ago, he moved to LeClaire, Iowa, just across the Mississippi River from the Illinois community of Port Byron. Schilling said he moved to get away from rising taxes in Illinois.

(If he wanted to get closer to Green Tree Brewery in LeClaire, we wouldn't blame him. Great stouts.)

Back then, it appeared Schilling's political career was over.

After district lines were redrawn following the 2010 U.S. Census, Schilling lost re-election to Cheri Bustos, a Democrat who is the current 17th District incumbent. The margin was 53 percent to 47 percent.

In 2014, Bustos and Schilling rematched. That race went to Bustos, 55-45.

The current 17th district includes most of Peoria south of War Memorial Drive and most of Pekin. Schilling attributed his defeats to partisan gerrymandering.

He had a point.

The two forks of the district that probe into Peoria and Rockford include the most Democratic parts of those cities. Bustos' margins there were significant.

But the district Schilling won in 2010 was much worse a gerrymander. That district snaked like a serpent from Sterling to the Quad Cities, through Democratic sections of Springfield and Decatur to the doorstep of the Metro East area near St. Louis.

In Iowa, gerrymandering isn't a thing. A nonpartisan agency determines congressional districts, which aren't split by county and where residences of incumbents aren't considered.

Loebsack had to move following the most recent post-census redistricting. His home near Cedar Rapids was placed in another district, so he moved to Iowa City.

The home of the University of Iowa is the most Democratic part of the district in which Schilling seeks election. But overall, it appears similar in makeup to Illinois' 17th.

The Cook Partisan Voting index rates the Iowa 2nd as D+1. The Illinois 17th is D+3.

No other Republicans have declared for the Iowa seat. The Democratic favorite appears to be Rita Hart, a former state senator and unsuccessful candidate last year for Iowa lieutenant governor.

(In an ironic twist, Bustos is chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which works to elect more Dems to the House.)

According to this reputable source, there have been only a dozen people who have represented multiple states in the House. The last time it happened was about 50 years ago.

But an Illinoisan has done it.

Robert P. Hill was elected to represent a southern Illinois district, which he did from 1913 to 1915. Then he moved to Oklahoma, where in 1936 he ran for Congress and won.

Alas, he served only about 10 months of his term before he died, in October 1937.

Here's hoping the same fate doesn't befall Schilling, should Iowans see fit to do what Illinoisans twice didn't.

The song heard on the way to work only serves to remind how much a doll Whitney Houston was before her life went too far south. Such a shame.

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