Free Republic

Illinois Democrats looking to recapture retiring Republican Sen. Peter Fitzgerald's seat have been mobilizing for months -- raising moneiy, rounding up endorsements, recruiting volunteers. Republicans, meanwhile, have had trouble even finding candidates. First Fitzgerald said he wouldn't seek a second term. Then political veterans Jim Edgar, Judy Baar Topinka and Jim Ryan bowed out. In the past month, a handful of newcomers have stepped in. With 17 months to go before Election Day, Republicans, already tainted by former GOP Gov. George Ryan's scandals, must now fight a costly, uphill battle to hold the seat. "They kind of had that head...

PRICED OUT In the aftermath of former Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar's decision not to seek Illinois' open Senate seat in 2004, word is trickling out about the reasons why Edgar's candidacy came to naught. Last week plans for him to run seemed to be on track. He and his wife had returned from Washington after a house-hunting expedition, upbeat about having a place to live. And then Edgar sent a representative to sit down with Republican Senate leaders to discuss financial support for his Senate campaign. "He wanted a firm commitment up front of at least $3 million from us,"...

The race to succeed Illinois Republican Sen. Peter Fitzgerald was thrown wide open Tuesday after the first-term senator said he wouldn't seek reelection next year. Fitzgerald's announcement at Chicago's Union League Club complicated GOP efforts not only to hold onto the seat but also to retain the party's paper-thin one-vote edge in the Senate. Republicans who may seek the Senate seat include former Gov. Jim Edgar, former attorney general Jim Ryan, State Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka, Chicago businessman Andrew McKenna Jr., and Rep. Ray LaHood of Peoria. On the Democratic side of the race, potential candidates include investment bank Blair...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Within hours of Illinois Sen. Peter Fitzgerald's surprise announcement that he will not seek re-election, top Illinois Republicans were courting former two-term Gov. Jim Edgar to become the party's standard bearer in 2004. "He's clearly our dream candidate," said Bob Kjellander, an Illinois member of the Republican National Committee, who spoke with Edgar early Tuesday before Fitzgerald publicly confirmed his decision. Edgar, a moderate who has twice rejected party appeals to run for Senate and retired as a popular incumbent in 1999, said the race was wide open and he was not ready to enter it. "I...