Illinois

ILLINOIS

21 Electoral Votes

Population
(Source: U.S. Census Bureau, State Board of Elections)

Total Population, July 1, 2007 est.	12,852,548
Total Registration, Jan. 2008	7,304,563

(Illinois voters do not register by party).
Illinois has: 102 counties.
Largest counties: Cook (5.3 million), DuPage, Lake, Will, Kane. >
Largest cities: Chicago (2.8 million), Aurora, Rockford, Naperville, Joliet, Springfield, Peoria. >

Government
Governor: Rod R. Blagojevich (D) elected Nov. 2002, re-elected in 2006.
State Legislature: Illinois General Assembly House: 118 seats Senate: 59 seats
Local: Countie s NACO Counties
U.S. House: 11D, 8R - 1. B.Rush (D) | 2. J.Jackson Jr (D) | 3. W.Lipinski (D) | 4. L.Gutierrez (D) | 5. R.Emanuel (D) | 6. P.Roskam (R) | 7. D.Davis (D) | 8. M.Bean (D) | 9. J.Schakowsky (D) | 10. M.Kirk (R) | 11. G.Weller (R) | 12. J.Costello (D) | 13. J.Biggert (R) | 14. B.Foster (D) | 15. T.Johnson (R) | 16. D.Manzullo (R) | 17. P.Hare (D) | 18. R.LaHood (R) | 19. J.Shimkus (R).
U.S. Senate: Richard Durbin (D) up for re-election in 2008, Barack Obama (D) elected in 2004.

Battle for the 111th Congress:
-D.Hastert (R-14) resigned effective Nov. 26, 2007 at 11:59 p.m.; primary election on Feb. 5, 2008 and general election on March 8, 2008; Bill Foster (D) elected.
-On July 27, 2007 R.LaHood (R-18) announced he will not seek re-election.
-On Sept. 21, 2007 G.Weller (R-11) announced he will not seek re-election.

The Prairie State

State of Illinois
State Board of Elections

Constitution Party of IL
Democratic Party of IL
IL Green Party
IL Republican Party
Libertarian Party of IL

Chicago Tribune
Chicago Sun-Times
Media (Newsp.)
Media (TV)

Capitol Fax
Politics1-IL

blogs
Illinois Review
Illinois DemNet

Primary Election -- Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Early voting - Jan. 14-31, 2008..

Democrats
185 Delegates (153 Pledged and 32 Unpledged) and 26 Alternates.
4.57% of the 4,049 Delegate Votes.

Clinton | Obama
former: Richardson

Results

+Barack Obama
1,318,234

64.66%

Hillary Clinton
667,930

32.76%

John Edwards
39,719

1.95%

Bill Richardson
3,538

0.17%

Dennis Kucinich
4,234

0.21%

Chris Dodd
1,171

0.06%

Joe Biden
3,788

0.19%

2,038,614

Republicans
70 Delegates: 3 RNC; 10 at-large; 57 by CD (3 x 19).
2.94% of the 2,380 Delegates.

McCain | Paul | Romney
former: Giuliani | F.Thompson

Allocation: CD delegates are directly elected on the primary ballot as committed to presidential candidates. At-large delegates elected at the state convention on June 7, 2008.

Results

Ron Paul
45,055

5.01%

Mitt Romney
257,265

28.60%

+John McCain
426,777

47.45%

Fred Thompson
7,259

0.81%

Alan Keyes
2,318

0.26%

James Mitchell, Jr.
483

0.05%

Tom Tancredo
375

0.04%

Rudy Giuliani
11,837

1.32%

Mike Huckabee
148,053

16.46%

Total
899,422

Green
Kent Mesplay 384, Cynthia McKinney 1,513, Jared Ball 311, Howie Hawkins 464 ...Total 2,672.

Setting the Primary Date
On Jan. 10, 2007 Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan (D) proposed moving the Illinois presidential primary from March 18 to Feb. 5 to aid a possible campaign by Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL). The House passed HB0426 on March 28, 2007, the Senate passed the bill on May 15, 2007, and Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) signed it into law on June 20, 2007.

General Election -- Tuesday, November 2, 2004

Deadline to register to vote is October 5, 2004 (27 days prior to the election).

+Kerry/Edwards (Dem.)
2,891,550

(54.82)

Bush/Cheney (Rep.) 2,345,946 (44.48)

Badnarik/Campagna (Lib.) 32,442
(0.62)

Nader
2,357

(0.04)

Nader
1,214

(0.02)

Peroutka
440

Cobb
241

Others (9)
132

Total........5,274,322

Total ballots cast: 5,350,493 2004 Overview
Although the Democratic margin was slightly reduced, Kerry-Edwards easily carried Illinois, gaining a plurality of 545,604 votes (10.34 percentage points). Kerry carried only 15 counties to 87 for Bush. Cook County again accounted for about 39 percent of the votes cast in the presidential race (2,049,434 of 5,274,322), providing a plurality for Kerry of 842,319 votes.
General Election Details
Kerry/Allies | Bush-Cheney '04

Past Results

1996

Clinton (Dem.)....2,341,744
(54.31)

Dole (Rep.)........1,587,021
(36.81)

Perot (Ref.)...........346,408
(8.03)

Others (3+w/ins).....36,218
(0.84)

Total........4,311,391

1992

Clinton (Dem.).....2,453,350
(48.58)

Bush (Rep.)........1,734,096
(34.34)

Perot (Ind.) ...........840,515
(16.64)

Others(5+w/ins).......22,196
(0.44)

Total........5,050,157

2000

+Gore/Lieberman (Dem.)
2,589,026

(54.60)

Bush/Cheney (Rep.)
2,019,421

(42.58)

Nader/LaDuke (Grn.)
103,759

(2.19)

Buchanan/Foster (Ind.)
16,106

(0.34)

Browne/Olivier (Lib.)
11,623

(0.25)

Hagelin/Goldhaber (Ref.)
2,127

(0.05)

Howard Phillips
57

-

David McReynolds
4

-

Total........4,742,123

Turnout as a percentage of voting age population was 52.79%. (U.S. avg. 53.76%)...l
ll
2000 Overview
Illinois remained solidly in the Democratic column as the Gore-Lieberman ticket won with a plurality of 569,605 votes (12.02 percentage points). Gore carried a total of 24 counties to Bush's 78. Cook County, which accounted for 39% of the votes cast in the race for president (1,865,907 of 4,742,123), provided a plurality of 746,005 votes for Gore.
General Election Activity

Primary: Tuesday, March 16, 2004

Democratic

	Votes	Percent
+John Kerry	873,230	71.72%
John Edwards	131,966	10.84%
Carol Moseley Braun	53,249	4.37%
Howard Dean	47,343	3.89%
Al Sharpton	36,123	2.97%
Dennis Kucinich	28,083	2.31%
Joe Lieberman	24,354
Wesley Clark	19,304
Lyndon LaRouche	3,863
Total	1,217,515

186 Delegates (Pledged 156, Unpledged 30) and 27 Alternates.

Note. As in many states, the process of lining up delegate slates occurs months before the primary. For example, Porter McNeil served as downstate Illinois advisor for the John Kerry for President campaign from Sept. 15, 2003 through Jan. 15, 2004, charged with recruiting and organizing the delegate slates in every congressional district outside of Cook County and some of the collar counties, and with persuading elected officials to endorse John Kerry in the primary. Starting in September 2003 he was busy calling mayors, state reps, state senators, congressional staff, etc. During the entire time, Sen. Kerry was trailing Howard Dean in the polls. Despite that difficulty, the Kerry campaign slated some major Democrats as delegates including leaders in the Illinois General Assembly and major downstate mayors. After the Iowa caucus, McNeil's phone started ringing with calls from officials who were suddently much more interested in Kerry. By then, it was too late to slate them as delegates. The Kerry campaign filed a full slate of delegates with the Illinois State Board of Elections in early January 2004.

Republican
George W. Bush: 583,575 73 Delegates (57 CD and 16 AL)