From the Tribune:

ELECTION `06 COVERAGE

Acid-test campaigns come to bitter end
Illinois gets a taste of national races
11/6/06
By Rick Pearson, Tribune political reporter. Tribune staff reporters John Chase, David Mendell, Mickey Ciokajlo, Ray Long, John Biemer and Susan Kuczka contributed to this report
Published November 7, 2006

Illinois voters head to the polls Tuesday under a cloud of negative advertising to decide the outcome of rare competitive congressional contests with national implications, a bitter race for governor and a bevy of state and local matchups.

Many Illinoisans--unused to figuring into the national political equation--saw for perhaps the first time how races have been conducted across the country in the last few years, with millions of dollars spent by national Republicans and Democrats on attack ads, automated telephone calls and micro-targeted direct-mail pieces.

On the last full day of campaigning, Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Republican rival Judy Baar Topinka greeted Metra commuters before taking to the air for rallies around the state.

Sen. Barack Obama brought his national appeal home to boost fellow Democrats in a series of rallies for congressional candidates and Todd Stroger, candidate for Cook County Board president.

Stroger later appeared at a rare, 11th-hour joint forum with rival Tony Peraica, who predicted an upset victory would make him the first Republican Cook County Board president in 40 years.

At stake on Tuesday is the election of statewide officers, including attorney general, secretary of state, comptroller and treasurer; the 118-member Illinois House; 39 of the 59 state Senate seats; representatives from the state's 19 congressional districts; and numerous county and judicial posts.

Two of the congressional races--the west suburban 6th District and the northwest suburban 8th District--have gained national prominence as Democrats try to end the Republicans' dozen-year grip on the U.S. House.

Republican Peter Roskam and Democrat Tammy Duckworth are locked in a tight battle in the traditionally Republican-leaning 6th District for the right to replace retiring Rep. Henry Hyde in a rare open-seat congressional battle. In the 8th District, Democratic Rep. Melissa Bean is trying to hold onto the seat that she won two years ago against a challenge from businessman David McSweeney.

In the race for governor, Blagojevich started his campaign day at Union Station and concluded with a rally at his campaign headquarters on the Northwest Side featuring members of the city's congressional delegation.

Greeting commuters, Blagojevich said he was satisfied with the race he ran for a second term.

"I feel real good," he said. "I think we've done what we set out to do and that is to keep focusing on issues that matter to people. It's in their hands. They'll make the decision they think is right for them. I trust them and I'm grateful for the opportunity to serve them."

Before an evening rally in Countryside, Topinka traveled through several Downstate communities, hoisting a blue-and-white sign that read "Make your vote count" as she attempted to generate turnout.

In Quincy, Topinka, the lone statewide Republican officeholder, predicted that a "change is in the air" and said that she would overtake Blagojevich on Election Day.

"You have the ability in western Illinois to make history," the three-term state treasurer said. "This is my challenge to you: Tell your friends and neighbors, `This is it!'"

In Springfield, Green Party candidate Rich Whitney urged supporters to stick with him and not to get "cold-feet syndrome" at the polls and switch their vote to Topinka or Blagojevich. Whitney said he didn't expect to become the state's next governor but said he has a shot at victory because the race is "kind of up for grabs."

Meanwhile, at a union rally at Plumbers Hall on the Near West Side, Obama, Mayor Richard Daley, Sen. Dick Durbin and other top local Democrats pushed the election of Stroger. Democratic leaders selected Stroger to run after his father resigned as board president following a stroke he suffered the week before the primary.

Obama said he and Stroger "had a sit-down" and talked about what could be done with county government.

"I know that Todd is committed to doing the work," Obama said. "It's not going to be easy. But I know that he's committed to doing the work. And what we have to do now is to commit ourselves to be there with him to work with him, to make sure that we're lifting him up."

Later, Stroger and Peraica met face to face at the Congregation Rodfei Zedek in Hyde Park.

"The time has come for a change, and I offer you that change," Peraica said, calling himself a "radically different alternative."

Earlier in the day, Obama traveled to separate suburban rallies for Duckworth, Bean and 10th Congressional District candidate Dan Seals, who is challenging incumbent Republican Rep. Mark Kirk in the north and northwest suburbs.

In the 6th District, Roskam hit suburban Metra train stations before sunrise, spoke to a group of senior citizens in Lombard, then continued walking precincts.

"I'm going to keep up the pace and run through the tape and I'm not going to stop until 7 p.m. on Election Day," he said.

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