November 21, 2006

In This Issue:
• TV News Coverage Lacking in Fall Campaign
• Fitz a Hit
• Final Election Fundraising Tallies Until January
• Have a Great Thanksgiving

TV News Coverage Lacking in Fall Campaign
ICPR today released the latest findings from the on-going survey of broadcast TV coverage of campaigns and elections, finding that viewers in Chicago and Springfield are far more likely to see a political ad than they are to see a political story during a typical half-hour program. In both markets and around the region, stories about sports and weather, crime, and local interest issues each got more time than stories about the elections; stations even spent more time on teasers, bumpers, and introductions to stories than they did to election coverage. Stories that did get aired were more likely to focus on horserace, polling and campaign strategy than to issues. For details, visit our website.

Fitz a Hit
ICPR's luncheon with former U.S. Senator Peter Fitzgerald was a huge hit and a very satisfying event. A crowd of over 110 gathered to hear about the Senator's arguments within Congress and with the White House over who should be the U. S. Attorney for Northern Illinois. Thanks to everybody who helped make the event the success it was. For photos of the event and links to press stories about it, please visit our website.

Final Election Fundraising Tallies Until January
Now that the General Election is behind us, we all go back into the dark regarding campaign finance disclosure. We've posted fundraising tallies for the biggest races to our site, including 10 (!) legislative contests that crossed the $1M mark and two downstate judicial contests that broke records. We've also compiled the top donors during the run up to the General Election (Top Donors through June 30 of this election cycle are here). For more data than you can shake a turkey leg at, see our website. Semi-Annual disclosure reports of receipts and expenditures for all candidates are due during the month of January for the last half of 2006; check back in February for an updated Sunshine Database.

Have A Great Thanksgiving
In the spirit of our Pilgrim forebears, who left a corrupt England to build a beacon of sunshine in the New World, ICPR wishes you and yours a happy and honest Thanksgiving.

Please consider making a donation to ICPR. We need your contributions and your help to clean up Illinois politics. Visit our online donations page.

ICPR Spotcheck is a publication of The Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, a non-partisan public interest group that educates, conducts research, and advocates reforms to promote public participation in government, address the role of money in politics, and encourage integrity, accountability, and transparency in government.

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