Final Round In Illinois

Roll Call ^ | 3/18/02 | Rachel Van Dongen

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

Candidates up and down the ballot continued to trade attacks in Illinois' hotly contested Tuesday primaries, for which voters will select a nominee to challenge Sen. Dick Durbin (D) and the likely successor to gubernatorial candidate and outgoing Rep. Rod Blagojevich (D).

In the race to replace Blagojevich in his heavily Democratic, Chicago-based 5th district, former White House aide Rahm Emanuel and ex-state Rep. Nancy Kaszak were duking it out in the all-important Democratic primary, with Emanuel running a spot challenging Kaszak's record on crime, and Kaszak launching a harsh ad reinforcing her campaign theme that Emanuel has stronger ties to Washington than to the district.

But Emanuel received a major boost last week when he went on the air with a spot touting an endorsement from popular Chicago Mayor Richard Daley (D), who according to his campaign rarely issues endorsements in Democratic primaries.

"When you go to a public official they tell you, 'Well, in 20 years I'll be able to do that,'" Daley says in the spot, which is airing on network television through Tuesday's primary. "Not Rahm. Rahm wants to do it yesterday. That's what I like about him."

Addressing the charge that Emanuel has shallow roots in the 5th, Daley answers in the spot, "Too many people go to Washington and all of a sudden they forget from whence they came from, and Rahm will never do that. He'll really speak for the people of the 5th Congressional district."

Emanuel is facing off with Kaszak and Pete Dagher, also a former aide in the Clinton administration, in what has become a bitter fight for Blagojevich's Chicago-based seat. The Congressman himself is locked in a tight battle to win tomorrow's Democratic gubernatorial primary, and he spent last week countering a late-breaking controversy over whether he hired non-union workers to renovate his home.

Illinois voters will also pick the Republican nominee to face Durbin tomorrow. In something of a surprise, the latest Mason-Dixon Political/Media Research Inc. poll showed dairy owner Jim Oberweis (R), who has invested $1 million of his own fortune in the race, surging past state Rep. Jim Durkin and conservative attorney John Cox, who has also dipped into his personal bank account to fund his campaign. Oberweis took 28 percent in the poll, followed by Durkin with 19 percent and Cox with 9 percent. But 44 percent of voters were still undecided.

A spokesman for Durkin, who had been leading in most previous surveys, pointed to that poll's small sample size (303 Republican primary voters) and said that an ABC-7 News poll, broadcast by the local affiliate Wednesday night, found Durkin with a 28 percent to 21 percent lead over Oberweis. Furthermore, Durkin received some help from Arizona Sen. John McCain (R), who came to Chicago to host a rally and campaign for him Friday. Durkin headed McCain's presidential effort in the state.

"I don't think Illinois [is] a state where you can buy an election, especially a Republican nomination. Our opponents have no political experience whatsoever, no record to run on," said Durkin spokesman Brock Willeford, who predicted that Durkin would win "comfortably."

Oberweis spokesman Jim Walter said his candidate is in a "very good" position to win and noted he had three positive spots on the air as of Friday.

Meanwhile, Cox went up with a last-minute ad that attacked both Oberweis on his abortion position and Durkin for his stance on guns, Walter said.

The latest public poll in the 5th district House race to replace Blagojevich was also tight, with Emanuel leading Kaszak by a mere 2 points, 35 percent to 33 percent, in a Chicago Tribune survey conducted two weeks ago.

But Kaszak is scrapping fiercely for advantage, launching an ad last week that underscores the campaign's message that Emanuel has no roots in the community.

Titled "Wheels," the spot features Kaszak driving through the district in her car and talking to the camera.

"I'm Nancy Kaszak. I'm running for Congress and I know my way around. I'm from here. I'm a wife and a mom. I've worked on community issues for 25 years."

The ad then depicts Emanuel chatting on the phone while a limousine rolls through the neighborhood.

"My opponent just drove into town ... made millions while arranging the ComEd merger that eliminated thousands of jobs."

"That's just not me," the spot ends. "In Congress, I'll always look out for you."

"In this particular race, you can't find a larger contrast between the two candidates who are running," claimed Kaszak campaign manager Chris Mather. "One candidate lived in the district for 25 years and has been a community leader for most of that time. On the other side, you have somebody who just moved into the district and does not have a record of working at the community level."

Mather called accusations by the Emanuel camp that Kaszak's campaign was too negative "outrageous," pointing to ads he ran earlier in the week that slammed Kaszak's record on crime.

"We're running against a guy who got his career started as a negative campaigner. He has a reputation for being somebody that tears people down," Mather charged. "It behooves him to label Kaszak a negative campaigner because he is running from the fact that he's running a distortive campaign."

But Kaszak has been aided substantially in her battle by the pro-abortion-rights group EMILY's List, which ran attack ads slamming Emanuel for spearheading the charge against the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Emanuel campaign spokeswoman Becky Carroll believes that Kaszak's negative campaign tactics will backfire with voters tomorrow.

"Her whole negative campaign is potentially going to backfire on her," Carroll said, pointing to the gubernatorial race, which has been dominated by notably negative politics, in arguing that voters would be "turned off" by it. "Ultimately, I think that voters are going to reject that."

She said that Daley's endorsement and subsequent television pitch would help Emanuel win over voters who had yet to settle on a candidate.

"Mayor Daley is perhaps our most beloved political figure here in Chicago, not just today but perhaps over all time," Carroll said. "People really love him, and I think that most importantly, it's going to help us with the undecideds."

Over the weekend, Emanuel planned to march in the St. Patrick's Day parade along with about 150 volunteers clad in green-and-white T-shirts and clutching similarly colored pompoms. Kaszak, meanwhile, was going to try to shore up support among the Polish-American community by campaigning with Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio). Her campaign manager said that anti-Emanuel comments made recently by Polish American Congress President Ed Moskal would not rub off on Kaszak, who has called them "deplorable."

In the gubernatorial contest, the latest surveys showed a tight race between Blagojevich, former Chicago Public Schools chief Paul Vallas and ex-Attorney General Roland Burris. Blagojevich was in a dead heat with Burris in a March 2-5 Chicago Tribune/WGN-TV survey and trailed Vallas by 6 points in a March 6-9 Mason-Dixon poll.

But the House Member had to spend time last week parrying charges that he hired non-union workers to renovate his home. Blagojevich defended himself by claiming that he believed the general contractor would only hire union members to do the work, while conceding he should have asked more questions.

"It's an oversight," he said. "I wished we would have asked more questions, and it's another learning experience."

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