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.

more...

[rockymountaindem]

1. Is that good?

[jmags]

8. He was by far the best candidate of the pack

Take a look at his website:

http://www.obamaforillinois.com/

It will definately be a challenging race though. Jack Ryan is a very formidable GOP opponent, so Obama will need all the help he can get. But if we do help get him in, Illinois will play home to two of the greatest senators in Congress.

[hedda_foil]

2. Yes, it's great and better yet ... with 45% of vote counted, Obama has 63%

That's amazing, since the Chicago machine candidate, Dan Hynes, is at only 16% and Blair Hull, the rich guy who threw 30 mil into his own campaign is at 6%. There are 3 other candidates as well, all of them quite good.

[greatauntoftriplets]

3. And according to WBEZ....

AP has declared Obama the winner.

[flpoljunkie]

4. Fantastic!

Another Democrat in the Senate. Hot damn!

[Bombtrack]

6. uh, he has to win in November against a strong GOP candidate

Ryan is the ex-husband of Jeri Ryan, and like her character on Boston Public, he left a very high salary professional job to teach at a minority high school. He also has moviestar good looks.

[King of New Orleans]

11. What makes Ryan strong?

Turnout for him tonite was truly feeble

[Bombtrack]

13. He's the strongest of the GOP candidates. I still think that we have an

edge, the best edge of all the potential dem pickups. However that isn't good because it will be a relatively close race.

[in_cog_ni_to]

15. How long ago did he leave that high paying job

to teach in the inner city school?? I've been wondering that because I think he gave up that high paying job to teach because he was going to run for the Senate and thought it would look good on campaign commercials. How long has he been teaching?

I wonder when his divorce papers will be leaked? Probably in October. :)

[flpoljunkie]

19. Of course, he has to win in November, bombtrack! This was the primary!

Duh! My money is on Obama winning in November!

[Bombtrack]

5. Obama as dem candidate: Great!! Ryan as GOP candidate: Bad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This isn't going to be an easy race.

[TomSeaverr]

7. Lets see how he does

when the divorce smoking guns come out? He better not have cheated on his wife

[in_cog_ni_to]

16. If it was your every day divorce,

the papers would have been released. My guess is....the info in them is very damaging to him. Just a hunch. We'll find out before November, I'm sure.

[King of New Orleans]

9. With 55% reporting

Obama has 485,000 votes

Ryan has a whopping 86,000 votes. Ryan's movie star looks are really bringin' them out tonite huh?

[greatauntoftriplets]

12. Exactly, the repuke turnout is sad.

Turnout in the City of Chicago and collar counties was only 30-something percent -- never heard an exact number, but that is lame. Slightly above the 2000 primary, according to local NBC affiliate, while the rest of the state was lower than four years ago.

[never cry wolf]

17. I know it's not the GE but only the primaries but...

Obama has 4x the votes as ryan. I have also heard that if half the rumors about ryan's divorce papers are true, he is dead. Latest results:

U.S. Senate
U.S. Senate - - 8,310 of 11,745 precincts reporting
Name Party Votes Pct
Barack Obama Dem 532,779 57.1%
Daniel W. Hynes Dem 197,104 21.1%
M. Blair Hull Dem 80,230 8.6%
Maria Pappas Dem 57,661 6.2%
Gery Chico Dem 45,191 4.8%
Nancy Skinner Dem 9,866 1.1%
Joyce Washington Dem 9,488 1.0%

U.S. Senate
U.S. Senate - - 8,285 of 11,745 precincts reporting
Name Party Votes Pct
Jack Ryan GOP 129,398 35.5%
Jim Oberweis GOP 86,398 23.7%
Steven J. Rauschenberger GOP 75,709 20.8%
Andy McKenna GOP 52,119 14.3%
Jonathan C. Wright GOP 8,184 2.2%
John Borling GOP 6,685 1.8%
Chirinjeev Kathuria GOP 2,976 0.8%
Norm Hill GOP 2,862 0.8%

[flamingyouth]

10. Congrats to Obama!

A superior candidate and the next Senator from the great state of Illinois! :bounce:

[alcuno]

14. Obama has now cooked Bush's goose in Illinois.

Illinois was pretty much a Democratic lock in Illinois, but Obama seals the deal by ensuring a high turnout of African Americans in November.

[fujiyama]

18. Well I sure hope...

the dems win the state, because with all the southern democratss retiring I was starting to get worried about our numbers in the senate.