Anne and I were checking into a hotel south of San Francisco a few years ago. When I signed the registration card and put my home address as Chicago, the clerk asked, “what state is that in?”

For some, the Midwest is just a place planes fly over when you go from coast to coast.

But yesterday, in a Congressional district southwest of Chicago, the historically Republican district, formerly represented by Tom Delay’s bagman, Denny Hastert, went Democratic. The Democrat, Bill Foster, linked the Republican right-wing xenophobe Jim (The Milk King) Oberweiss to John McCain’s call for a 100 year war in Iraq. Barack Obama made an ad and appeared with Foster. McCain appeared with and made an ad for Oberweiss.

Foster won by five percentage points. I think the RNC knows where we are now.

Note: I still like Oberweiss non-fat, but I don’t buy it anymore. Sacrifice for the cause.