Recent polls show Republican State Senator Peter Roskam surging ahead of Democratic challenger Tammy Duckworth in the Illinois 6th Congressional District.

     Duckworth reaped much early media goodwill by being a wounded Iraq veteran running on an anti-war platform.  But the lovefest didn't lead to the expected big lead.  Duckworth maintained only a slim lead over Roskam with a significant percentage undecided.

     All anyone seemed to know about Duckworth was that she lost both legs in a non-combat helicopter crash in Iraq.  And that she favored setting a timetable for immediate troop withdrawal.

     Then more voters became aware of Duckworth's views on important issues.  She favors in-state tuition rates for non-citizen children of illegal immigrants.  Duckworth also supports full Social Security and Medicare benefits for illegal immigrants.  She also opposes any type of fence along either border.

     Duckworth said she wanted to "revisit" the Bush tax cuts.  She claims most of the benefits went only to the wealthy.  When asked to explain the nearly 6 million new jobs since the cuts were enacted, Duckworth felt more jobs would have been created without the tax cuts.

    Oh, and Duckworth can't vote for herself on Election Day.  She joins Democratic incumbent Rep. Melissa Bean (IL-8) as a district non-resident.  Duckworth doesn't think thats a big deal.

     Apparently, Duckworth's internal polling showed her's was a soft lead.  Once her numbers started slipping, her television advertising sunk to a level of desperation unexpected from a frontrunner.

     Duckworth's DNC handlers wheeled out a television ad charging Roskam wanted to ban books by Dr. Seuss, Martin Luther King Jr and Louisa May Alcott.  The effect on the voter was fervent head scratching not public outrage.

     The ad offers nothing to link the charge to Roskam.  It merely levels a charge and hopes the voters are too stupid to question it.  Maybe that works with liberal voters.  It isn't working in the Illinois 6th CD.

     Call it the Dean Backward Bounce.  Or the Kerry Effect.

     Its the natural result of voters finding out what liberals really stand for... and then rejecting it.