Chicagoist Predicts, Obama Wins
By Sam Bakken in News on Oct 27, 2004 8:33PM
Last night was the last debate before Obama takes Illinois Republican Sen. Peter Fitzgerald's seat in the Senate. It got a bit heated, but overall it was more of the same. Sunday, the Tribune reported on a recent Tribune/WGN-TV poll that put Obama at 66% and Keyes at 19%. You've heard it here first. Chicagoist predicts that Barack Obama will win the 2004 Senate race.
So since that race isn't really even fun anymore [see below, ed.], though Keyes' concession speech could prove interesting or at least entertaining, we're going to give you a bit of information about a closer race for Illinois' 8th Congressional District. (Check this site out for more information on this and other House elections in Illinois).
The race pits 73-year-old incumbent Republican Philip M. Crane against a younger democrat, 43-year-old Melissa L. Bean. It is an interesting race in that Bean is proving to be quite a competitor. She's been endorsed by the Tribune, the Sun-Times and the Daily Herald, but she is a democrat in a traditionally very conservative district. A parakeet caged near the campaign compared voters in the 8th district voting for a Democrat to lakefront residents voting for a Republican.
Nobody thought she had a chance, but her campaign released a poll last week that put Crane at 46% to Bean's 44% among 400 likely voters in the area with a margin of error of 4.9 percent. Bean ran against Crane in 2002 as well with a lower budget than this year and she received 43% of the vote. Crane has held the seat for 35 years, so it seems like it might be time for a change, but Bean does have Donald Trump hair.
Chicagoist is taking a vacation day on November 2nd to watch what may be the greatest competition of the 2000s. We think it will be a lot like New Year's Day with all the football games and cheering and beer. But we're more interested in show business for ugly people than sports, so this is our Rose Bowl. It's going to be a great game. Unfortunately, this Chicagoist doesn't have cable. Does anyone know of any bars that will have a number of televisions tuned to a variety of cable channels throughout the day on November 2? Please leave a comment if you do. We want to get drunk, see "reports" on the exit polls, hear fiery Republican and Democrat rhetoric and wax political with other politics junkies.