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......

Barack Obama swept the Potomac Primary last night, bringing his winning streak to eight, and eclipsing Hillary Clinton in the delegate count, 1,059 to 956 among pledged delegates. John McCain continued his march to the nomination, winning all three states and adding to his already substantial delegate lead. Mike Huckabee came close in Virginia, doing well in rural areas and losing the state by less than 50,000 votes. He vowed last night to stay in......

While John McCain spent Super Bowl Sunday in Massachusetts, Mitt Romney made his pitch to the most reliably conservative county in Illinois. At a packed rally of several hundred people at the College of DuPage yesterday, he tried to convince voters here that he is the true conservative standard bearer. Romney vowed that as president he would "stand up for the principles of the Republican Party and to live in the house that Ronald Reagan......

Well, they did it. Our elected officials in Springfield passed a budget (finally) this weekend. It's not a done deal, yet, as Blagojevich hasn't signed the bill yet, and has made some public indications that he's going to veto the bill. After the colossal failure of Blagojevich to get a budget with anything that he wanted, Mike Madigan stepped in a put the deal together, effectively castrating Blago while usurping the state GOP's attempts......

In the marathon that this presidential political season is becoming, presidential hopeful and former North Carolina Senator John Edwards made a pair of brief campaign stops in Chicago Wednesday, just one day before Barack Obama made a campaign stop in North Carolina. At BB's bar and restaurant on Hubbard, part of his "Small Change for Big Change" series of fundraisers, Edwards told the crowd, who had paid between $15 and $100 a head to hear......

As you read this, thousands of people are preparing to march from Union Park to Grant Park, past the Federal Center in the Loop, hoping that they can impress upon the rest of the nation the importance not only of their struggle, but the impact and significance that their lives have had upon our nation. Around the US today, immigration rights activists, immigrants, and yes, natural born Americans, will be carrying American flags in marches......

Were you aware that our state is the 2nd largest corn producer in the United States? According to Chicago Public Radio, the price of corn has doubled since this time last year and Illinois farmers are taking full advantage of it. Chris Gould, an Illinois farmer profiled in the story, said that normally during harvest season the price starts to drop and farmers are paid to hang on to the corn until the buyers need......

Yesterday we gave you a preview of who might be running for president in the Democratic camp. Today we turn our focus to the right, looking at the Republican side of the primaries. Since Dick Cheney isn't going to seek the presidency this time around, the field is wide open for any Republican to join the fray, hoping that his agenda is the one that will resonate most with conservative voters. And not unlike the......

Really, what was Big Red thinking when she decided to sell pictures of her dog and her honorary black belt in karate in a garage sale? There is low, and then there is low. Defeated Republican gubernatorial candidate Judy Baar Topinka held an estate sale over the weekend to rid herself of "tchotchkes" collected in her 26 years of public service. Included in her collection of tchotchkes are a 5-foot stuffed penguin, a singing plastic......

Chicagoist is grinning ear to ear after all the stunning news that hit us yesterday. In this most nationally-minded of elections, not only have the Democrats taken the House of Representitives, they have also taken control of the Senate, with the AP calling Virginia for Jim Webb last night. On top of that, Donald Rumsfeld has resigned (the day after the election!!!), and Dennis Hastert announced that he is stepping down from the GOP leadership......

Rich Whitney, Green Party Candidate for Illinois Governor ...

Now that Harriet Miers, the legal sensation that never was, is gone and forgotten, Chicagoist can focus our attention on the latest Bush Supreme Court nominee, Samuel Alito. Republicans are down right giddy about Alito’s long conservative record, and think he may be the key in moving the court to the right. In fact, Alito is nicknamed Scalito, after ultra conservative Justice Antonin Scalia. Side note--Chicagoist thinks Scalito sounds more like a Pepperidge Farm......

Have you ever been around a bratty little kid that was so desperate for attention that he or she would say the most outlandish thing possible just to make people turn quickly and his or her direction and exclaim “Tell me I did not just hear those words come out of your mouth!” Yesterday that bratty child was the Cook County Republican Party when it announced a $10,000 reward for anyone who comes forward with......

Just when things were really starting to get hot for Governor Rod Blagojevich, the Illinois Republican Party rides to the rescue! This week Republicans contributed to Rod's Rescue through the indictment of Michael Tristano, former chief of staff to former Illinois House Republican Leader, Lee Daniels. Tristano, in a nine count federal indictment (read it here), is charged with sending state employees to do campaign work while on the state payroll from 1998 to 2000,......

An open seat Congressional race is like catnip for people in politics -- and they don't come often. Only days after Congressman Henry Hyde's announcement that he will not run for reelection in 2006, one Democrat is in the race for sure, and two Republicans have officially announced their intended candidacies for the Sixth Congressional District. Of the two Republicans, State Sen. Peter Roskam of Glen Ellyn seems to be the front runner. A......

Are you employed by Cook County government or the city of Chicago? Do you have the inside scoop on corruption, waste or anything else salacious for which your Democrat bosses are at fault? Well then the Cook County Republicans want to hear from YOU! They've set up a hotline for you to call. The number is 312-WHISTLE. Cook County Republican Chairman Gary Skoien told WBBM780 that he expects the line to be busy morning to......

The answer is down, and to the slight left, as you look at a Chicago map. Of the five Collar Counties, Will is the fastest growing, and not incidentally home of some of the biggest political power tussles in the Chicago area. All those changing demographics are breaking the Republican Party's long-time deadlock on power, and upsetting a lot of pols in the process. The wedges in the Will County Democratic scrum are newly elected......

Alan Keyes! Alan Keyes! Oh, we'll never tire of writing about him. That laugh-a-minute homophobe is a website author's best friend—as long as he stays in the "news," the yuks pretty much write themselves. What's up this week with Mr. Illinois? He's moving! Woot woot. Let's recall…Keyes was crashing in an apartment in lovely Calumet City, and despite getting bitchslapped at the polls, he promised to stick around and help Illinois rebuild its Republican Party.......

There is one reason why Alan Keyes was a great choice for U.S. Senate nominee by the Illinois Republican Party: The debates should be a lot of fun. Democratic Senate Nominee, Barack Obama is a thoughtful and excellent speaker, and Alan Keyes is a master of flourishing statements. But when Obama was matched up against the lesser speaker, former GOP nominee (and sex clubber) Jack Ryan, he called for six debates. Now, Obama only wants......

Clearing up any mystery, yesterday the Illinois GOP officially asked Alan Keyes to be their nominee for U.S. Senate (here too) against Democratic nominee Barack Obama. Keyes, who had scheduling conflicts preventing him to come to Illinois to interview for the position, responded from a press conference in Maryland that he was "deeply honored and deeply challenged" by the offer and that it would require a "deep and serious and committed deliberation." It would be......

Whoo-hoo! This is SO exciting! The Illinois Republican Party has scoured the nation for candidates that accurately reflect their values to lead their party through the U.S. Senate race against the nation's potentially only African-American Senator! And imagine that! The GOP has narrowed down all their potential candidates to two African-Americans! We at Chicagoist are breathless! Illinois politicians are so progressive! Coming next: Lynn Martin for President! Let us catch our breath. Ah, now we......

Believe it or not, there are some folks out there that would like to see Mike Ditka elected as our next Illinois Senator. The Daily Southtown reports today that Tom Pence of Oswego, a Kendall County GOP committeeman, is leading an effort to get 10,000 signatures to put up Mike Ditka as the Republican State Party Chair, and now there's talk of him going for the Senate spot too. Da Coach has been "active" with......

"Three Ryans and you're out," was Saturday's most pithy comment, uttered by McHenry County Democratic Chair, John Bartman. Following the much anticipated resignation of GOP Senate candidate, Jack Ryan on Friday, the Illinois Republican Party is desperately searching for a replacement candidate. This is the second major Republican banner-holder to go flaming down due to scandal in the past two years. Former Governor George Ryan's administration was riddled by scandal and indictments, leading to Rod......

Erstwhile Beleaguered Republican U.S. Senate Candidate Jack Ryan didn't resign last night, in fact he held a press conference where he came out swinging. When asked about numerous GOP leaders turning their backs on him, including the Cook County Republican Party, Ryan said, "If former Governor Edgar and speaker Hastert say, Jack, we'd like you to get out of the race, what do you do? I am in the race to win in November and......

It might take a federal court to get President Bush�s name on Illinois ballots this November because the Illinois legislature hasn�t ironed out a wee little problem. In our fine state, to qualify for the November 2 ballot, the state elections board must certify presidential candidates by August 30. But the Republican National Convention runs August 30-September 2 this year, so Bush won�t be the official nominee for the Republican Party until after the deadline.......