Posted on 03/21/2002 8:23:12 AM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
Rep. Rod Blagojevich, D-Ill., overcame a poor showing in Chicago and its suburbs to eke out a narrow victory over former Chicago schools chief Paul Vallas and capture the Democrat gubernatorial nomination Tuesday.
Attorney General Jim Ryan posted a convincing victory on the Republican side, besting conservative legislator Patrick O'Malley and liberal Lt. Gov. Corinne Wood.
The results set up a general election contest between two former Golden Gloves champions, prompting some wags to dub the November gubernatorial campaign a heavyweight championship bout.
On the Democrat side, with 96 percent of the vote counted, Blagojevich led Vallas 37 percent to 34 percent. Burris trailed with 29 percent. For the Republicans, Ryan captured 45 percent of the vote, compared to 28 percent for O'Malley and 27 percent for Wood.
Blagojevich, the son-in-law of powerful Chicago Alderman Dick Mell, who had the backing of the Chicago Democrat machine, ran a dismal third in Chicago behind former Attorney General and Comptroller Roland Burris, the first black ever elected to statewide office, and Vallas, who dominated the suburban vote. In conceding, Burris said this campaign was his last.
During the campaign, Blagojevich emphasized his background as the son of working-class Serbian immigrants. He attacked Vallas for the budget decisions he made as head of Chicago's government school system, one of the worst in the United States.
While the votes still were being tabulated, Vallas came out to talk with supporters.
"My father is in the church lighting candles. So far he has lighted about 500," Vallas quipped.
Ryan, who has survived several bouts with cancer, moved directly into the general election campaign. He called for unity among Republicans and pledged to "take our state in new directions."
"I see Illinois as a state that lives within its means, a state that welcomes new ideas, not new taxes," Ryan said, also promising to restore confidence in state government.
O'Malley, however, said he could not support a Ryan candidacy.
Gov. George Ryan, who decided not to seek re-election because of an investigation into a license-selling scandal in the secretary of state's office while he held that post, became an issue in the Republican primary.
O'Malley pitted himself against the outgoing incumbent's record and likened Jim Ryan to the governor. He accused Jim Ryan of overlooking the wrongdoing in the secretary of state's office and ran a commercial in which pictures of the two Ryans morphed back and forth into each other. The Ryans are not related.
The governor lashed out at O'Malley and his conservative supporters. He said they were not serious about winning the nomination and "probably wouldn't know what to do with it if they did win." He suggested the "far-right" wing of the party separate from the mainstream GOP and form its own party.
About 7 million Illinois residents were registered to vote. Turnout was pegged at less than 30 percent.
Votes from Chicago and Cook County were counted at a record clip. New equipment designed to alert voters to errors on their ballots tabulated the results as they came in, speeding the reporting.
Durkin vs. Durbin
In other races:
State Rep. Jim Durkin captured the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat held by left-wing Democrat Dick Durbin, setting up a Durkin-Durbin contest for November. Durkin defeated dairy owner James Oberweiss and investment banker John Cox. Incumbent Durbin ran without opposition. Durkin captured 47 percent of the vote to Oberweiss' 30 percent and Cox's 23 percent.
As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Durbin voted with other leftist Democrats such as Ted Kennedy and Patrick Leahy to refuse to allow the full Senate to vote on moderate judicial nominee Charles Pickering, who was supported by Democrat officials in his native Mississippi. That anti-choice stance should be an issue in the campaign.
Clintonoid Wins
Former Clinton administration staffer Rahm Emanuel captured the Democrat nomination in the 5th Congressional District, defeating community activist Nancy Kaszak 51 percent to 49 percent. The race, the most expensive in Illinois with the candidates spending $1 million, was tainted by anti-Semitic remarks.
In the 4th Congressional District, incumbent Democrat Luis Guitierrez faced the strongest challenge of any sitting congressman but managed to capture the nomination, handily defeating community activist Martin Castro, 68 percent to 22 percent.
Another Madigan
Lisa Madigan, the daughter of powerful state House Speaker Mike Madigan, captured the Democrat nomination for attorney general, handily defeating former Associate U.S. Attorney General John Schmidt, 59 percent to 41 percent.
On the Republican side, DuPage County State's Attorney Joe Birkett topped attorney Bob Coleman, 47 percent to 30 percent, despite a series of entertaining commercials Coleman ran poking fun at his political inexperience. Late in the race, Birkett parodied a Coleman spot in which Coleman wrestled with screaming babies. The Birkett spot ended by saying children like him.
Despite the fact that Durkin has solid conservative credentials, bet on the fact that he's gonna get FReeped on this site simply because he's a salwart friend of John McCain! As evidenced by their postings, some FReepers would rather see a liberal Leninist RAT like DICK Dubin elected rather than a friend of McCain's!
Being a friend of McCain is not the same thing as working to advance McCain's liberal agenda. However, since McCain is the one who ties "friendship" to agreeing with him on everything, we'll just have to see where Mr. Durkin comes down on the issues before making that decision.
If it walks like a McCainiac, and quacks like a McCainiac, it usually ain't a conservative.
I think the deciding factor for me was Durkin's unabashed support for the death peanlty. Ordinarily, this is no big deal...but in Illinois we're dealing with an endless death penalty "moritorium" that the liberal media FAWNS over. Literally every IL politican falls over themselves to praise it or the media will say they're heartless and want to execute "innocent" people. It's Governor George RINO's "legacy"-- and it hasn't "saved" a SINGLE "innocent" person so far-- but oh well, the media loves the facade that it might. Durkin stood up for the death penalty when his more "conservative" opponent in the primary actually said McVeigh should have been spared, and capital punishment should be abolished NATIONWIDE. Then I asked his campaign if he planed sponser legislation to do exactly that as a Senator-- and they wouldn't give me a straight answer. Hmmmm.
Durkin has spine.
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