After calling Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Patrick Hughes "the real deal" in a prior piece published here on Champion News, my conviction was only strengthened after hearing Hughes as the featured guest on Champion News Talk Radio, AM 560 WIND, this past Sunday morning.

Patrick Hughes exhibited a good grip on the issues of the day and was able to articulate them well. As one involved in real estate and home building, Hughes has experienced personally the effects of excessive taxes and regulations in his business ventures. With unemployment the highest since 1983 at 10.2%, Hughes views the announcement by President Obama of a job summit to get people back to work as unproductive. Instead, the right approach is to make the Bush tax cuts permanent with tax breaks for businesses at both the state and national level. Summits don't create jobs, nor does government.

Regarding statements made about his main challenger Mark Kirk, Hughes was careful to voice his respect for Kirk's military service. However, Hughes said Kirk is first and foremost a politician. Kirk has lost touch with the people here in Illinois and as such is beholden more to special interest groups and Washington, D.C. insiders. As far as being a fiscal conservative, Hughes suggested that Mark Kirk's "yes" vote on Cap & Trade negates any such claim. 

It is interesting to note that at a recent event featuring all seven Republican candidates running for Mark Kirk's 10th Congressional District seat, there was unanimous agreement on the subject of Cap & Trade. All said they would have voted "no." Might these seven be better attuned to the sentiments of the 10th District's constituents? Kirk's support of Cap & Trade still has Republicans upset, even in his own more liberal district.

On national security, Patrick Hughes also passes the test with flying colors. He questions the closing of Guantanamo and he opposes transferring the facility's enemy combatants to an Illinois prison. Hughes also opposes Attorney General Eric Holder's plan to bring terrorist Khalid Sheikh Mohammed into a Manhattan Federal Court for trial.

Hughes also expressed concern about President Obama's indecisiveness over troop levels in Afghanistan, and believes the military's request for 40,000 additional troops should be granted. 

While Mark Kirk is generally viewed as being firmly committed on issues of national security, Patrick Hughes expressed some doubt, noting that leadership and military experience are not the same. Hughes based this remark on an often forgotten fact. Kirk voted against the troop surge in Iraq. Kirk's vote may have seemed like the politically safe thing to do at the time. But the mission required those additional troops and the surge's success is testament to Kirk's decision to come down on the wrong side of history.

Hughes also questioned where Mark Kirk has been on the health care issue during his decade in Congress. Kirk has in fact led on very few issues. Kirk now pushes health care reform, but it often comes across as a ploy to draw attention away from his unpopular Cap & Trade vote and other liberal positions.

Mark Kirk is the polar opposite of Patrick Hughes on social issue and is out-of-step with mainstream Republicans. For example, Patrick Hughes believes in the traditional definition of marriage as existing only between one man and one woman. Hughes also supports a constitutional amendment to so limit the definition of marriage. Kirk has voted against such an amendment.

And while Hughes believes that gun bans are unconstitutional, Kirk received the lowest grade possible from the NRA, an F. Another respected national gun organization gives Kirk a grade of F MINUS.

And on the all important issue of abortion, Hughes is proudly pro-life. Meanwhile, Kirk is not only pro-abortion-on-demand - he has even supported the hideous procedure known as partial birth abortion. Kirk's position on partial birth is so radical - he's even to the left of most Democrats.

Hughes mentioned that he was getting ready to travel to Washington, D.C. to speak with the RNC and groups like the Club for Growth. He hopes to enlist more financial support and endorsements. A challenger like Hughes definitely needs more support.

Mark Kirk is awash in special interest money. He has a big war chest and is receiving additional financial support from those who believe that ANY Republican is better than a Democrat. It would seem that a tsunami of money is attempting to buy a U.S. Senate seat for Mark Kirk. Kirk's campaign strategy so far has been to bury his radical and left-of-center positions on social and other core value issues.

Patrick Hughes has a big job ahead of him to educate voters across the state. But he is beginning to make inroads with a large donor base, having only announced his candidacy in August. Hughes expresses confidence that he will be able to peal voters away from Kirk once they learn where the two candidates stand.

I had a chance to hear Patrick Hughes speak later on Sunday after his appearance on Champion News Talk Radio. It was in front of 40 disaffected Kirk constituents at a private, invitation only venue in Lake Forest. Hughes received a phenomenal reception with overwhelming support. There is now an active grassroots campaign to get the Hughes message out to Lake Foresters and others in nearby communities. I will be taking an active part in this grassroots effort.

Patrick Hughes believes that as a Reagan conservative, he can stimulate the 21st Century version of the Reagan Revolution here in Illinois. Like Reagan, Hughes is a common sense candidate who can inspire, lead and be counted upon to do the right thing. And what did Ronald Reagan tell us?

"A political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs, which must not be compromised to political expediency, or simply to swell numbers. . . and if there are those that cannot subscribe to these principles, then let them go their way."

There is a clear choice in this campaign between the Republican Party of Ronald Reagan and that of Olympia Snowe and Arlen Specter. Vote for Kirk if you favor the latter.

Nancy J. Thorner is an elected Republican Precinct Committeeman in Shield Township in Lake County. She is also a proud member of the Republican Assembly of Lake County.