Obama leads in early returns in Illinois Senate race

[flpoljunkie]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64332-2004Mar16.html

By MIKE ROBINSON
The Associated Press
Tuesday, March 16, 2004; 8:34 PM

CHICAGO - Fifteen candidates in a field crowded with millionaires vied for the nomination for an open Senate seat Tuesday in a primary race dominated in its closing weeks by talk of drug use and divorce scandals.

In very early returns, state Sen. Barack Obama, a 42-year-old Harvard-educated Chicagoan, had 53,457 votes, or 60 percent, to 16,210 votes, or 18 percent, for his chief competitor state Comptroller Dan Hynes.

On the Republican side, novice candidate Jack Ryan, a 44-year-old investment banker-turned-teacher, had 2,406 votes, or 44 percent, to 1,313 votes, or 24 percent, for his closest rival, dairy owner Jim Oberweis.

Ryan was the GOP front-runner heading into the primary, but came under pressure from party leaders and rivals to unseal records of his divorce from "Star Trek: Voyager" and "Boston Public" actress Jeri Ryan.

<>Obama, who would become only the fifth black U.S. senator if he won election in the fall, was counting on large turnout among blacks and liberals, while Hynes pinned his hopes on Chicago ward leaders like his father.

By late afternoon, Chicago Board of Elections spokesman Tom Leach projected citywide turnout at 37 percent, while the Cook County clerk's office pegged suburban turnout in the mid-20s. Turnout in downstate, where Hynes was expected to do better than Obama, appeared to be light.

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