by Eric Dondero

Today is Republican Primary Day in the State of Illinois. All the attention is focused on the big Governor's race, and the even bigger Senatorial contest for Barack Obama's old seat. Tea Party Patriots and libertarians are pulling for Adam Andrzejewski for Governor. On the Senate side Congressman Mark Kirk has it in the bag, leading his nearest opponent by some 30 points in the latest polls.

But who will take the Kirk seat?

Some reports suggest Dr. Arie Friedman has had a late surge in a field of 6 in this Republican-leaning district. Friedman is a bit of a reluctant candidate having had qualms of leaving his medical practice. Like Kirk he's a Military combat Vet, having served in Desert Storm. He's also a staunch supporter of both the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Like Andrzejewski, he's become the leading favorite of Tea Partiers.

No doubt the support was gained for his outspoken fiscal conservatism. Friedman told the Chicago Tribune:

We need to immediately freeze federal spending. We should use tax cuts to increase revenue (remember the Laffer Curve?). My cuts would include a one year payroll tax holiday, decreased corporate tax rates, elimination of the death tax, stopping “tax and trade,” and stopping “healthcare reform” with its plethora of new taxes. Spending cuts should include the elimination of Medicaid and its replacement with a sliding-scale catastrophic care safety net. We need a line-by-line examination of the budget – nothing stays if it cannot be shown to serve the purpose of improving the lives of the American people. NO MORE EARMARKS!

More specifically on Medicare:

For Medicare, everyone within 20 years of receiving Medicare should get what they are expecting – the rest of us should be moved to a Medicare Advantage-like system and receive vouchers for competitive insurance plans.

We'll see later tonight, if Northshore Illinois Republicans are willing to move from a moderate-to-conservative Republican as their representative, to a libertarian-conservative budget slasher?