Schakowsky Challenger Lands Another Major Endorsement

Joel Pollack, the 31-year-old Republican Congressional nominee in Illinois' 9th district, exploded onto the national scene last year when he sharply challenged Rep. Barney Frank during a Q&A session at Harvard--where Pollack attended law school. He faces an uphill battle this fall against an entrenched, well-funded incumbent: Rep. Jan Schakowsky. Readers may know Schakowsky as one of the most grating left-wing voices in Congress who unapologetically advocates a government run, single-payer health care system. (If you dispute my use of 'grating,' just watch this).

Undaunted by the odds, Pollack has run a spirited campaign and has scored several blue chip endorsements. Earlier this summer, life-long liberal Democrat and pro-Israel champion Alan Dershowitz offered Pollack his first ever endorsement of a Republican. The Harvard Law professor said he was extraordinarily impressed by his former student and said he'd "never seen a more promising political leader" in his classroom than Pollack--high praise for a center-right Republican, considering the liberal source.

Today, a fellow young conservative rock star, Rep. Paul Ryan, will travel to Chicago for a luncheon to offer his endorsement and help close the money gap between Pollack and Schakowsky. I'll have more on the Ryan/Pollack event later today.

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)

As exciting and helpful as the Ryan endorsement may be for Pollack, my guess is that undecided male voters in the district may be more interested in the campaign's next big event: Hosting actress Vivica A. Fox at Evanston Township High School to discuss the importance of education.

Vivica A. Fox

Not a bad one-two punch of early September events, is it?

UPDATE: Joel's campaign manager passes along a *priceless* video clip of Pollack and Fox appearing together in the 2004 film, Blast! (The candidate is the slightly nerdy looking character talking about the power outage. Fox needs no further explanation).