Posted on 08/09/2004 5:28:52 PM PDT by RWR8189
CHICAGO (CBS 2) Illinois' senate race is heating up with both Democrat Barack Obama and new Republican candidate Alan Keyes in town pressing the flesh and warming up to voters.
The Republican candidate in this race may just be getting started, but according to an exclusive new CBS 2/Newsradio 780 poll, Keyes has a long way to go. 67 percent of Illinois voters prefer Democrat Obama; 28 percent would choose Keyes.
Keyes and his supporters were feeling the heat of the August sun as he announced for U.S. Senate at a crowded rally in Arlington Heights. Our exclusive voter opinion survey shows Obama generating another kind of heat.
Obama's lead in our CBS 2/Newsradio 780 Survey was most pronounced among women voters, 74 percent to 21percent for Keyes. Among men, it was 59 percent to 36 percent.
There was no surprise in strongly Democratic Chicago: 79 percent for Obama, 16 percent for Keyes.
But in the heavily Republican collar counties, it was Obama with 62 percent, Keyes with 34 percent. . Even downstate, 56 percent of those polled preferred Obama to 38 percent for Keyes. The results were almost the same in rural areas: 57 percent to 39 percent.
Virtually every Democrat we talked to favored Obama. Among independent voters, 64 percent chose Obama, 30 percent chose Keyes. Even among Republicans, 27 percent defected to Obama, 67 percent chose Keyes.
White voters went 62 percent to 32 percent for Obama; black voters by a margin of 89 percent to 10 percent.
The poll was conducted by Survey USA this past Friday and Saturday. It is accurate to within plus or minus four percentage points.
His retoric is top notch
Obama will most certainly wimp out on debates, as he as nothing to gain from debating Keyes.
Thats MR. Excitement. That makes me his DADDY.
lol
Hillary was also a liberal icon campaigning in a liberal state. Keyes is a conservative firebrand heading into the belly of the corrupt Democrat machine. Imagine if Hillary ran in Texas?
I love Keyes and so does my liberal-leaning wife. She just admires his speaking ability and the way he brings everything back to core principles instead of getting caught up in the horse-race muckety-muck.
I think Alan Keyes was excellent. But he is WAYYY behind. He needs to get on TV whenever he can and make his case. I think he was very good on Hannity/Colmes, but he got a little arrogant with Hannity and had trouble staying on message. He needs to really hammer away at barak obama on the debates issue.
What you--and the media--do not seem to understand is that a poll is not an election. I'm tired of newsrooms using these polls and then reporting them as news. No poll counts until election day--and thank God that's the case, or Bush would have been a gonner many times during this latest cycle. Polls are rarely useful for anybody but those who want to influence opinion. This includes the news organizations that conduct and report them.
Arnold ran from a position of strength.
Keyes is running from a position of weakness. This is only an exercise of ego building on Keyes' part. Keyes will receive no support from the RNC since he has no chance of winning. How is he going to by TV ads?
Surely, you jest in insisting on comparing this to Arnold's triumph.
Sounds like an average basement to be starting in all things considered.
it's CBS...what can you expect
The last IL Senate race in 2002 had Dick Durbin spending $5.8 million to win 60% of the vote. The Republican James Durkin spent $ 775k to win 38% of the vote.
To be fair, probably quite a few dems voted for Durkin (R), thinking they were voting for Durbin (D). I have heard democrats have problems with divining the mysteries of ballots and voting for the wrong guy in the past.
In any case, all Keyes has to do is jump 20% points in the polls without totally freaking out the electorate.
If nothing else this sure will be an entertaining race. Lets hope the debate is televised.
The race was lost when the Republicans kicked the chair out from under Fitzgerald after tightening a noose aroun his neck.
I'm continually astonished how the Republicans have completely blown it in Illinois. I have a difficult time conceiving of a Republican ascendancy there anytime in the next 6-8 years.
I have a few serious questions, to which I'd like to get serious answers.
(Forgetting voter fraud, if you can) How many registered voters are there in Illinois? How many actually vote? What is the breakdown of D to R and I voters? How many people are eligible to vote, but aren't registered?
This poll is more worthless than used toilet paper. Keyes just said yes yesterday.
1. PETER FITZGERALD. I would have made a major effort to get him to reconsider retirement. He has the obvious advantages of incumbency, plus a reputation as a anti-corruption reformer. This is precisely why George Ryan's idiots at the the State GOP hate him.
2. JACK RYAN. That's right, the pervert who (gasp) allegedly asked his wife for sex. He could have easily recovered from the "scandal." Believe me, there are plenty of people in the state who think he got unfairly screwed (no pun intended) by the Chicago Tribune. Again, it was the state GOP who finally did him in.
3. OBERWEISS. Rock solid conservative, who finished second in the primary despite every effort of the Springfield GOP dimwits.
Agree 100%
The RINO dirtballs drove Fitzgerald into retirement because he wouldn't "play ball".
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