She's the woman who could have been Governor. But in 2006, Judy Baar Topinka, longtime Illinois politician and State Treasurer under Jim Edgar and the not-convicted-yet George Ryan, was defeated in the Gubernatorial race by incumbent Rod Blagojevich. And just look where that's gotten us. While most of our day-to-day political thoughts right now are focused on the presidential election, we're also in the beginning of the race for Illinois Governor in 2010. So what......

After an increasingly nasty campaign, science nerd Bill Foster prevailed over perennial candidate Jim Oberweis to win the 14th District congressional seat vacated by Dennis Hastert. The jury is still out as to if Foster won because of his methods to get out the vote, or just because even a lot of Republicans think Oberweis is a douche. But the flurry of mailers featuring cow puns and fear mongering isn't over yet -- thanks to......

With how nasty the race for Dennis Hastert's vacant seat has gotten recently, you'd think a couple of high school girls were running the campaigns leading up to tomorrow's special election for Dennis Hastert's seat in Illinois 14th Congressional District. Both Republican Jim Oberweis and Democrat Bill Foster have campaigned hard for the vacancy, and this week each accused the other of misleading voters. Bill Foster hit the dairy man on his use of actors......

Leading up to the special election this Saturday in Illinois's 14th Congressional District, Bill Foster's campaign has announced a slew of endorsements. The list included the Aurora Beacon News, the DeKalb Daily Chronicle, the Kane County Chronicle, the Algonquin Countryside, and the Chicago Tribune. Besides local and regional editorial boards, he's also been endorsed by the League of Conservation Voters, who cited his credentials as a scientist, and the Illinois Federation of Teachers, who like......

With the special election for Dennis Hastert's vacant 14th Congessional District seat coming up next Saturday, the race has heated up. Democrat Bill Foster has hit Jim Oberweis almost daily, pointing out the differences on Social Security, global trade, and the war in Iraq. Oberweis has fought back, calling Foster a liberal and a liar, and charging that he will raise taxes. The close race got even more interesting this week when Foster released recent......

John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, will visit Illinois next Wednesday, appearing at a fundraiser at the Rich Harvest Farms golf course in Sugar Grove to raise money for 14th District Congressional candidate Jim Oberweis. Oberweis's campaign spokesman Bill Pascoe said the appearance will give Oberweis a boost with independents as well as an infusion of cash heading into the the March 8 special election to choose a successor to former House Speaker Dennis......

With the Democratic primary election in the 14th Congressional District all but settled, Bill Foster and Jim Oberweis are duking it out over Iraq. Oberweis is accusing Foster of politicizing the Iraq War in his bid to take the seat that Dennis Hastert vacated by retiring. Foster says he won't support any policies that don't "change the course in Iraq and do it now." Oberweis's campaign says that view is out of touch with voters......

It wasn't just Presidential candidates that were running for nominations in yesterday's vote. A handful of local Democrats and Republicans also ran for their party's spot on the November ballot as well. Prosecutor Anita Alvarez won yesterday in a six-way Democratic primary for Cook County state’s attorney where no candidate had the edge going in. She'll face Tony Peraica, a Cook County commissioner from Riverside who ran unopposed in the Republican primary. Eugene Moore will......

As election results continue to roll in, at least one race is still neck and neck: The democratic race in the Illinois 14th. Perennial candidate Jim Oberweis nabbed the Republican slot, but Bill Foster and John Laesch were, at last count, separated by a scant 351 votes. (Foster: 32,189, Laesch: 31,838) A Laesch campaign staffer told us that within the next 48 hours, they're hoping to finish canvassing the county, making sure all the early......

The Tribune Editorial Board released its list of endorsements in the upcoming Illinois primaries on February 5. Among the list are 3rd District Congressman Dan Lipinski (striking a blow to challenger and progressive blog champion Mark Pera) and tenacious ice cream magnate Jim Oberweis -- running for Congress in the 14th District -- who is determined to get himself elected to some office, somewhere, some time (we hear Sugar Grove is looking for a......

The Chicago Tribune is reporting that the Jim Oberweis campaign will be announcing “a major endorsement” today, and that that endorsement will be from Dennis Hastert. Oberweis is running for the 14th Congressional District seat that was vacated when former Speaker of the House resigned earlier this year. Although Hastert endorsed Oberweis for US Senator in the 2002 Republican primary, Jack Ryan won that race, later withdrawing after his (sexy) divorce files were unsealed. An......

Now that Tony Peraica has thrown his hat in the ring for Cook County State's Attorney, and Luis Gutierrez has been worshipped in seeking a ninth term, we now have a whole flock of Democrats and Republicans lining up to beat the shit out of each other over Dennis Hastert's congressional seat. Addressing a crowd of supporters last Friday from the steps of the Kendall County Courthouse, where he launched his national political career, Hastert......

Yesterday Willowbrook family practitioner Steve Sauerberg announced his candidacy for the United States Senate, hoping that he will be the lucky Illinois Republican to challenge Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin for his seat in Congress. “Sen. Dick Durbin has been on the government payroll for the last 37 years.... Quite simply, he is part of the problem in Washington, D.C.” Sauerberg told Crain's Chicago Business earlier this week. With no other name-brand Republicans willing to......

Is Dick Durbin untouchable this season? It's starting to look that way. The intrepid senator from downstate is preparing to run for his third term in the Senate in '08, and the Illinois GOP is having a hard time fielding anyone to take him on. Even that perennial standard-bearer for the wacky-right in the Land of Lincoln, Jim Oberweis, is dodging this bullet, eyeing instead Denny Hastert's seat. Besides being the new Senate whip, and......

As we’ve mentioned before, State Senator James Meeks is none too happy with Governor Blagojevich, and he is thinking of running for governor as a third-party candidate. Originally he wanted to run because he was disappointed with Blago’s educational funding, but Meeks also thinks Illinois needs a pro-life and anti-gay marriage candidate like himself. Didn’t we already have a couple of candidates like that in the Republican primary? And didn’t they both lose? Meeks has......

Now that the primaries are over, we can all take a deep breath before we look ahead to the November election. However, there are still plenty of questions that need answering. Will Stroger be on the November ballot? We all know that he is currently recovering from a stroke, but what we don’t know is just how serious his condition is, and if he will recover well enough to stay on the ballot or serve......

Jim Oberweis never ceases to amaze us. The man who isn't a politician, but plays one during election season, is upset that Bill Brady and Ron Gidwitz will not drop out of the Republican race for governor because he believes they are taking away the votes he needs to beat frontrunner Judy Baar Topinka. Oberweis' solution? The three men should all draw straws to see which one can stay in the race. Seriously. Oberweis' campaign......

The George Ryan trial will soon be over. Closing statements are finished, and the case now lies in the hands of the jury. Oh to be a fly on the wall in the jury room! The prosecution said Ryan and his friends and family enjoyed "12 years of Christmas" after basically putting a "for sale" sign on his office. They also contend he is guilty of "breach of public trust" for covering up corruption when......

After taking part in a debate Wednesday night, Judy Baar Topinka decided to not participate in any more debates or roundtables with her fellow Republican gubernatorial opponents because, she says, doing so would allow them to “bash her forever.” Jim Oberweis is certainly going after Topinka. Oberweis has rolled out Topinka’s former chief of staff and lovah, Martin Kovarik, to say the treasurer had state employees do campaign work on the taxpayers’ dime and ordered......

In case you missed it last night, the big awards show was incredible. No, not that awards show. We’re talking about the awards Chicagoist gave out to politicians for outstanding achievement in campaign commercials—The Campaignys. Because none of the nominees were present, the members of the Academy of Campaign Commercial Arts and Sciences accepted their awards (cans of Sparks, a drink near and dear to our blood alcohol levels) and drank them on their behalf.......

Yesterday’s GOP gubernatorial debate between candidates Bill Brady, Ron Gidwitz, Andy Martin, Jim Oberweis, and Judy Baar Topinka on Chicago Public Radio’s Eight Forty-Eight seemed like any other debate—Republicans good, Blago bad. You can listen to the debate online. However, if you really want to be entertained, skip forward to the last few minutes when the debate was officially over and the candidates took questions from the media, or watch the video here or......

First Governor Blagojevich irritated his political opponents with his All Kids Insurance program, and now he is back at it with his Preschool for All program, which would allow all three and four year olds in the state to attend state-funded preschools. Blago estimates Preschool for All will cost $135 million over the next three years and would enroll around 140,000 students. Blago estimates closing corporate tax loopholes and money from Illinois’ special purpose......

For those of you who've wanted to visit Chinatown this weekend might be just the time. The Year of the Dog is upon us and that means that the annual Chinese New Year Parade strolls up Wentworth with its Chinese dragons, marching bands, and politicians glad-handing the parade watchers (we're placing even money on whether Jim Oberweis shows up trying to buy potential votes with milk). There's plenty of places to catch a quick bite......

Last night was the big Republican debate between gubernatorial candidates Judy Baar Topinka, Bill Brady, Ron Gidwitz, and Jim Oberweis. We were entertained, mostly by the horrible lighting that made the candidates look tired and haggard, but not enlightened. Too bad the earlier run-in between Brady and Oberweis was not televised. The debate focused on jobs, the economy, and the business climate in Illinois. The candidates agreed on most of the topics—the need to......

Clear your schedule on Wednesday evening. Four Republican candidates for governor, Bill Brady, Ron Gidwitz, Jim Oberweis, and Judy Baar Topinka, will be debating live on CBS 2 at 6 PM. We appreciate CBS 2 televising the debate tomorrow night, but we are incredibly disappointed that they are not letting the public send in any debate questions. As if that wasn't bad enough, they didn't even offer us any rules for drinking games. Personally,......

Politics and money. Like it or not, the two go together like vodka and tonic (and often leave you with a similar hangover). You can’t get elected without campaigning, and you can’t campaign without cash—preferably lots of it. For all the talk about campaign finance reform and the twisted influence money often has in politics, not a whole lot has been done to divorce the power money confers from politicians and their campaigns. Sometimes it......

If Republican gubernatorial candidate Jim Oberweis did not like illegal immigrants during his senate campaign last year, then he certainly doesn’t like them now. Yesterday two illegal immigrants filed a state labor complaint against Oberweis, alleging Oberweis Dairy hired a cleaning firm that paid them below minimum wage for cleaning dairy stores in the northwest suburbs. Rosa Ramirez and Jorge Ibarra say Patmar Janitorial Service of Lake in the Hills paid them just $3.23......

Jim Oberweis is launching another campaign for statewide office, this time for governor. Depending on who you are, that news brings tidings of joy for the Great Conservative Cause, anger because of his anti-immigrant positions, or anticipation for the almost guaranteed free ice cream at campaign stops and county fairs across the state. Chicagoist, on the other hand, just shakes its head in confusion. Confusion because last time out of the gate, not only did......

Everyone in Illinois breathed out last night -- Democrats sighed relief, Republicans sighed disappointment -- as former Chicago Bears Coach Mike Ditka announced in front of his restaurant that he was no longer planning to run for U.S. Senate as the GOP nominee. As we all suspected, it was the potential of the media dredging up his past that made him pause. "I had so many phone calls, I didn't know what was going......