The incumbent Republican senator from Illinois chose not to run because apparently he was too independent to be part of the Illinois Republican scene. (At the recent Republican national convention, Sen. Fitzgerald didn't even stay in the same hotel as the rest of the Illinois delegation.)
Following the Republican senate primary race which was populated by racists and goofballs, the party selected Jack Ryan. As you may remember, he was disgraced after disclosure of his divorce papers revealed that he had forced to wife, actress Geri Ryan to accompany him to sex clubs.
As if this wasn't enough, then the Repugs selected Keyes who isn't even from the state. Two former Republican Governors stated publicly that they wouldn't vote for him.
In any case, Obama did OK - but it was never a competitive race. Further, I've already heard some apprehension expressed by Dems locally because it seems that Obama is already trying to position himself
for a run at a national office.
Greg Boozell gboozell at juno.com
On Sun, 7 Nov 2004 00:28:24 +0800 kjkhoo at softhome.net writes:
> A different question about Obama: How did he/the team do it?
>
> Looking at the exit polls for him, the guy took every category and
> by
> handsome margins, except for self-confessed
> conservatives/conservative protestants, "moral values" types, and
> that was about 27% of the electorate -- the percentage the RP guy
> got. In other words, that would seem to be the hardcore base of this
>
> RP regime in a context like Illinois. He won with whites and blacks,
>
> rich and poor, no HS through post-grad, urban and rural -- everyone!
>
> He even won with those for whom "terrorism" was the big issue. And
> he
> did this, going by the victory speech, with a narrative that's
> acceptable, unless of course he was going "bomb Iran" during the
> stump (did he?). And he did it with his name and his colour. That's
>
> some achievement.
>
> kj khoo
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