Illinois Primary Election Thread (polls close at 7:00 p.m. CST)

Vanity | 2-2-10 | TitansAFC

[stars & stripes forever]

Brady , Bill GOP
154,646 20%
Dillard , Kirk GOP
154,143 20%

Cook County - Board President

4414 of 4510 Precincts Reporting - 98%

[stars & stripes forever]

New twist to the race: Mckenna has gained 4000 votes in the last hour It is all Chicago votes. If McKenna takes those Heavy Repub Pcts it could be a 3 Way recount

[caww]

I,m still here Stars..should go back to bed though...now @ 3:45am here! But I see it’s still vvery tight...will he pull this thru the finish line?

[caww]

11118 of 11215 Precincts Reporting - 99%
Name Party
Votes %
Giannoulias , Alexi Dem
345,265 39%
Hoffman , David Dem
298,845 34%
Jackson , Cheryle Dem
174,433 20%
Marshall , Robert Dem
50,725 6%
Meister , Jacob Dem
16,000 2%

U.S. Senate

11118 of 11215 Precincts Reporting - 99%
Name Party
Votes %
Kirk , Mark GOP
416,853 57%
Hughes , Patrick GOP
141,751 19%
Lowery , Don GOP
65,771 9%
Thomas , Kathleen GOP
53,673 7%
Martin , Andy GOP
37,201 5%
Arrington , John GOP
20,888 3%

Governor

11118 of 11215 Precincts Reporting - 99%
Name Party
Votes %
Quinn , Pat (i) Dem
451,702 50%
Hynes , Daniel Dem
444,500 50%

Governor

11118 of 11215 Precincts Reporting - 99%
Name Party
Votes %
Brady , Bill GOP
154,646 20%
Dillard , Kirk GOP
154,143 20%
McKenna , Andy GOP
146,614 19%
Ryan , Jim GOP
129,686 17%
Andrzejewski , Adam GOP
109,954 14%
Proft , Dan GOP
58,861 8%
Schillerstrom , Bob GOP
7,343 1%

Cook County - Board President

4414 of 4510 Precincts Reporting - 98%
Name Party
Votes %
Preckwinkle , Toni Dem
273,776 49%
O’Brien , Terrence Dem
127,784 23%
Brown , Dorothy Dem
79,797 14%
Stroger , Todd (i) Dem
75,626 14%

Cook County - Board President

4414 of 4510 Precincts Reporting - 98%
Name Party
Votes %
Keats , Roger GOP
92,320 69%
Garrido , John GOP
42,055 31%

[mlizzy]

I actually feel sorrow for you!!! You just don’t get it.

After 37 years of political this and that, mothers and fathers still very much have the right to kill their children through abortion, and finding an answer to this dilemma via pro-legal-abortion type politicians is not the way to bring "life" back to this country. I don't mind that Scott Brown won the election over Coakley (however the continual promotion of him by pro-lifers is disturbing!), but he is no savior from the likes of Obama; in fact, in some ways they are similar.

Haven't you already seen enough Scott Brown (quite literally) to tell he's not a pro-family man? When we haven't family in the United States, we have nothing. Surely, Obama is putting us on a (very) fast track to dictatorship, you are correct, but I see a different answer to that dilemma (and all evil directives in this nation today):

"We are reminded that even supposed political victories are temporary, and that the solution to these problems is not political, even if we have to keep up the political fight and our activist efforts," said Father Euteneuer (one of 12 official Church exorcists in the United States; he *knows* evil firsthand). "We are called to prayer, fasting and conversion... only God can put a stop to the horror of abortion now."

[MacombBob]

I'm from Michigan and don't follow Illinois state politics. The election results show "Brady , Bill" ahead; and freepers seem glad. I thought freepers and other 2d amendment types were opposed to the Brady Bill on principal. What gives?

[TheRightGuy]

The election results show "Brady , Bill" ahead; and freepers seem glad. I thought freepers and other 2d amendment types were opposed to the Brady Bill on principal. What gives?

a long time ago, in a land far away, brady voted to grant in-state college tuitions to certain illegal aliens ... some still hold the grudge

and some other longtime oberweis supporters (guv06 campaign) believe brady deliberately split conservative vote enabling topinka to win ... some still hold the grudge

[Marmolade]

I don’t understand why all the precincts haven’t reported in by now. (well, it’s not showing up at the Sun Times)

[hoosiermama]

Don’t remember seeingthe Preckwinkle name on the CHI Crime thread....What do we know about him?

4414 of 4510 Precincts Reporting - 98%
Name Party
Votes %
Preckwinkle , Toni Dem
273,776 49%
O’Brien , Terrence Dem
127,784 23%
Brown , Dorothy Dem
79,797 14%
Stroger , Todd (i) Dem
75,626 14%

[hoosiermama]

ANti Daley/Olympic candidate...SO who is supporting her? the people?

FROM WIKI...reelected alderman four times.

Preckwinkle has been a critic of current Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. She has a reputation for being a progressive leader. In her first four terms in office she emerged as the council’s prominent defender of affordable housing. Among other issues, she is known for her sponsorship of living wage ordinances, her expressed concerns regarding the costs and benefits of the city’s Olympic bid, and her strong stance against police brutality and excessive force.

[maggief]

wiki:

Preckwinkle was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, moving to Chicago to study at the University of Chicago in the Hyde Park community area, where she earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees.[1] She is married to Zeus Preckwinkle, a teacher at Ancona School. They have two children. Her husband is Caucasian, which at times has been a campaign issue.[2]

(snip)

Relationship with Barack Obama

Preckwinkle’s views on Obama were prominently featured in a July 2008 New Yorker cover story on Barack Obama’s political origins.[64][65][66] The article begins by recounting a 1995 meeting between Preckwinkle and Obama in which he discussed a possible run for the Illinois Senate seat then held by Alice Palmer[66] According to the New Yorker’s account, Preckwinkle “soon became an Obama loyalist, and she stuck with him in a State Senate campaign that strained or ruptured many friendships but was ultimately successful.” [65][66] In 1995, she successfully challenged the signatures of Obama’s opponents in the Democratic Primary for the Illinois Senate, allowing Obama to run unopposed.[67]

(snip)

//

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/10/12/early_defeat_launched_a_rapid_political_climb/

Obama ran for the seat of Alice Palmer, a respected activist who had decided to run for Congress and anoint Obama as her successor. But when Palmer’s congressional bid fell short, she decided she wanted to keep her seat and tried to get Obama to step aside.

Not only did Obama refuse, his political associates - led by Chicago Alderwoman Toni Preckwinkle and her staff - challenged the validity of Palmer’s signatures and the signatures of his other prospective opponents. Many were ruled fake, and in one fell swoop Obama knocked every rival out of the race.

“That’s what happens in Chicago,” Preckwinkle recalled.

//

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/rezko/353782,CST-NWS-rezpols23.stng

Top recipients of campaign cash
Chicago Sun-Times (IL) - Monday, April 23, 2007
Author: The Chicago Sun-Times

Antoin “Tony’’ Rezko , his family, his businesses and business associates have donated thousands of dollars to politicians since 1989, when he began getting tax dollars to build housing for the poor in Chicago. Rezko has also been a prolific campaign fund-raiser for politicians. These are some of the politicians who’ve benefitted most from Rezko ‘s political fund-raising (more at www.suntimes.com):

1. John Stroger, ex-Cook County

Board president — $148,300

A Rezko company had a contract to maintain pay telephones at the Cook County Jail under Stroger. Also, Rezko has had business ties with Stroger family members and friends.

2. Gov. Blagojevich — $117,652

Rezko has been a longtime supporter and top fund-raiser for Blagojevich, having raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for his campaigns. As governor, Blagojevich gave jobs and state appointments to Rezko friends. Rezko has been indicted on federal charges that accuse him of demanding kickbacks from companies seeking state business under Blagojevich.

3. Mayor Daley — $55,950

Soon after Daley became mayor 18 years ago, Rezko ‘s company, Rezmar Corp., got into the low-income housing business with the city. Rezmar ended up getting more than $25 million from the Daley administration to rehab buildings for affordable housing.

4. Sen. Barack Obama — $54,416

Rezko has been friends with Obama for 17 years. As a lawyer at a small Chicago law firm, Obama worked on low-income housing deals involving Rezko ‘s company. Rezko has been Obama’s political patron since he ran for the Illinois Senate a dozen years ago. Obama has apologized for buying a piece of property from Rezko ‘s wife last year to expand his yard.

5. Illinois Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan — $43,000

6. Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan — $35,500 Madigan got those donations between 1998 and 2000 — “ancient history,’’ according to a Madigan spokesman.

7. Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn — $32,000

As state treasurer, Quinn appointed Rezko to serve on a state housing task force.

8. Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th) — $31,375

Rezko was the longtime head of Preckwinkle ‘s campaign-finance committee. Six of Rezko ‘s troubled housing projects were in Preckwinkle ‘s ward.

(snip)

//

(no link)

Preckwinkle induction tainted by tactics that got her elected
Chicago Sun-Times - Sunday, May 5, 1991
Author: Vernon Jarrett
Although Toni Preckwinkle will be sworn in Monday as alderman of the 4th Ward along with the 49 other members of the City Council, her victory reeks with a stench that cannot be fanned away by phony rhetoric.

An examination of the data from that election shows clearly that had her campaigners not distributed anti-white and anti-Semitic slander and falsely attributed it to Ald. Timothy C. Evans, Preckwinkle would not be taking the oath of office tomorrow. However, I have other concerns that impact far beyond a single election.

The 4th Ward election is a special cause for concern because racist political propaganda finally succeeded in a racially mixed community where it had failed over the last 30 years. The interracial Hyde Park-Kenwood neighborhood, which includes parts of the majority-black 5th and 4th wards on the south lakefront, has been a sort of showcase for racial harmony superior to any other Chicago community.

My recall of the area’s resistance to racial appeals dates back to 1963 when the Democratic Machine attempted to oust liberal 5th Ward Ald. Leon Despres, who is white, by endorsing his opponent, Chauncey Eskridge, a black lawyer for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. But this majority-black ward rejected such a tactic and helped re-elect Despres by a 5-to-1 ratio. Despres lost only one black precinct.

I supported Despres in that election and I, like other black voters, rejected the racial tactics of two of the three black candidates who opposed Ald. Lawrence Bloom in February, 1991. Bloom won by garnering 77 percent of the vote in a ward that is today at least 75 percent black.

Also, in the 26th Legislative District, which is 80 percent black and embraces a part of that community, the voters recently re-elected state Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie, who is white.

But in the recent 4th Ward runoff, Alan Dobry, 5th Ward Democratic committeeman who had been re-elected many times in this overwhelmingly black ward, was caught posting anti-Semitic and anti-white leaflets in heavily Jewish precincts in the neighboring 4th Ward. Dobry, who blamed Ald. Evans, a black lawyer, was a part of Preckwinkle ‘s campaign assault squad.

Somebody even tacked an anti-Semitic poster on a synagogue door. Preckwinkle campaigners blamed Evans.

This time racial scare tactics worked. Preckwinkle , who is black but never had the support of a majority of the 4th Ward’s black voters, won in April by a contested margin of 109 votes.

But the “secret” of her success can be found in the tallies of just five of the 20 majority-white precincts that she carried. In precincts 29, 30, 32, 38, and 45 alone, she gained 404 votes, a 63 percent jump over the votes she won there in the February election.

This pattern was consistent throughout the remaining 15 predominantly white precincts that are her base. There are 58 precincts here, of which only 20 are white, but a big white voter turnout and a low black tally told the story of the triumph of an ugly scenario.

How could anybody accept the argument that Evans or his campaigners would distribute anti-Semitic and anti-white leaflets only in white-community precincts with the expectation of gaining votes for Evans?

The purpose of this racist tactic is clear: Frighten whites, particularly Jews, into knocking off Evans.

Another question: Why haven’t we heard public words of protest from Ald. Bloom and state Rep. Currie?

Vernon Jarrett is a member of the Chicago Sun-Times editorial board.

[campaignPete R-CT]

political victories are temporary ...

Yes, political victories are temporary, as most things are. But the fortitude, faith, hope, and charity of the people working on the campaign are eternal.

the solution to these problems is not political ...

And the solution is not political boycotting.

We are called to prayer, fasting and conversion.

I pray that the pro-life voters I meet who are boycotting the political process repent, as they are complicit in much that happens in our politics.

I thank the few hundred dedicated people in Illinois who campaigned for Walsh & Hultgren the past few months. They helped save the nation. And those were 2 huge pro-life victories.

[maggief]

HUFFPO:

The endorsements keep rolling in for Toni Preckwinkle.

After the Tribune released a poll Friday morning giving her a commanding lead in the Democratic race for Cook County Board President, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Illinois State Council endorsed Preckwinkle in the race.

The endorsement follows a number of other high-profile nods to the Alderman, including those from the Sun-Times, the Tribune, and the Daily Herald just this Thursday. Representatives Jesse Jackson, Jr. joined fellow U.S. Representatives Jan Schakowsky and Luis Gutierrez in endorsing Preckwinkle on Tuesday. And the Chicago Reader’s Ben Joravsky also added his voice to the chorus, endorsing her in a lengthy and somewhat ambivalent column.

//

http://www.chicagoreader.com/TheBlog/archives/2010/01/26/the-preckwinkle-bandwagon-is-rolling

But the Preckwinkle bandwagon is on the road and the well-connected are jumping aboard. The alderman slightly trailed O’Brien by collecting $241,306 over the last week. And she had her own sugar daddy: $150,000 was donated by SEIU. It’s not terribly surprising that they’d step in to help her out—for a couple years she’s worked closely with the union to organize a progressive caucus in the City Council.

[stars & stripes forever]

Sen. Bill Brady stands for the 2nd Amendment, including concealed carry. He also has a 100? Pro-life record and is Pro-family. What more can I say?

[hoosiermama]

One column I read said she had become disenfranchised with Obama. But she IS connected with the "Progressives".

Rezko was the longtime head of Preckwinkle ‘s campaign-finance committee. Six of Rezko ‘s troubled housing projects were in Preckwinkle ‘s ward.

[TheRightGuy]

I don’t understand why all the precincts haven’t reported in by now. (well, it’s not showing up at the Sun Times)

somewhere, someone, is waiting to see EXACTLY how many votes are needs to decide the Hynes/Quinn race to their masters desire ... this in turn holds up the Republican results as well

[hoosiermama]

What’s the going rate/vote these days? Who has the most money?

[maggief]

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/07/21/080721fa_fact_lizza

“Barack came to me and said, ‘If Alice decides she wants to run, I want to run for her State Senate seat,’ ” Preckwinkle told me. We were in her district office, above a bank on a street of check-cashing shops and vacant lots north of Hyde Park. Preckwinkle soon became an Obama loyalist, and she stuck with him in a State Senate campaign that strained or ruptured many friendships but was ultimately successful. Four years later, in 2000, she backed Obama in a doomed congressional campaign against a local icon, the former Black Panther Bobby Rush. And in 2004 Preckwinkle supported Obama during his improbable, successful run for the United States Senate. So it was startling to learn that Toni Preckwinkle had become disenchanted with Barack Obama.

Preckwinkle is a tall, commanding woman with a clipped gray Afro. She has represented her slice of the South Side for seventeen years and expresses no interest in higher office. On Chicago’s City Council, she is often a dissenter against the wishes of Mayor Richard M. Daley. For anyone trying to understand Obama’s breathtakingly rapid political ascent, Preckwinkle is an indispensable witness—a close observer, friend, and confidante during a period of Obama’s life to which he rarely calls attention.

Although many of Obama’s recent supporters have been surprised by signs of political opportunism, Preckwinkle wasn’t. “I think he was very strategic in his choice of friends and mentors,” she told me. “I spent ten years of my adult life working to be alderman. I finally got elected. This is a job I love. And I’m perfectly happy with it. I’m not sure that’s the way that he approached his public life—that he was going to try for a job and stay there for one period of time. In retrospect, I think he saw the positions he held as stepping stones to other things and therefore approached his public life differently than other people might have.”

On issue after issue, Preckwinkle presented Obama as someone who thrived in the world of Chicago politics. She suggested that Obama joined Jeremiah Wright’s Trinity United Church of Christ for political reasons. “It’s a church that would provide you with lots of social connections and prominent parishioners,” she said. “It’s a good place for a politician to be a member.” Preckwinkle was unsparing on the subject of the Chicago real-estate developer Antoin (Tony) Rezko, a friend of Obama’s and one of his top fund-raisers, who was recently convicted of fraud, bribery, and money laundering: “Who you take money from is a reflection of your knowledge at the time and your principles.” As we talked, it became increasingly clear that loyalty was the issue that drove Preckwinkle’s current view of her onetime protégé. “I don’t think you should forget who your friends are,” she said.

Others told me that Preckwinkle’s grievances against Obama included specific complaints, such as his refusal to endorse a former aide and longtime friend, Will Burns, in a State Senate primary—a contest that Burns won anyway. There was also a more general belief that, after Obama won the 2004 United States Senate primary, he ignored his South Side base.

[Galactic Overlord-In-Chief]

Looks like more results just came in:

Brady , Bill GOP 155,091 20%
Dillard , Kirk GOP 154,340 20%

Brady is now up 751 votes. He’s gained some.

[Marmolade]

“somewhere, someone, is waiting to see EXACTLY how many votes are needs to decide the Hynes/Quinn race to their masters desire ... this in turn holds up the Republican results as well”

I figured as much, but wonder what “excuse” they use to say why it is taking so long. I cannot understand why no one questions stuff like this. (actually I do know, but just saying)