United States Senate election in Illinois, 2004

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Illinois United States Senate election of 2004 was held on November 2, 2004. Democratic candidate Barack Obama defeated Republican candidate Alan Keyes by 70% to 27% in the race to represent Illinois in the United States Senate. Obama's large lead in the polls led him to be invited to deliver the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention on July 27, 2004, and his victory in the November 2004 election raised his profile nationally and within the Democratic Party.

After Republican incumbent Sen. Peter Fitzgerald announced on April 15, 2003 that he would not seek re-election, and his predecessor, Democrat Carol Moseley Braun declined to run for election, the Democratic and Republican primary elections held on March 16, 2004 included a total of 15 candidates, who combined to spend a record total of over $60 million seeking the open seat. The Democratic primary election, including seven candidates who combined to spend over $46 million, was the most expensive U.S. Senate primary election in history. Obama came from behind after the leading Democrat in the race became embroiled in a domestic abuse scandal. Obama won the primary with a landslide margin of 29% over his closest Democratic rival; his vote total equalled the combined total of votes for all eight candidates in the Republican primary. Jack Ryan won the crowded Republican primary with a plurality of votes by a margin of 12% over his closest Republican rival, but three months later, on June 25, 2004 announced his withdrawal from the race — four days after the Chicago Tribune succeeded in persuading a California court to release previously-sealed child custody records containing embarrassing allegations by Ryan's ex-wife.

Six weeks later, on August 4, 2004, the Illinois Republican State Central Committee asked Alan Keyes of Maryland to replace Ryan as the Republican candidate. Keyes accepted four days later and moved into an apartment in Illinois four days after that, less than 3 months before the general election. The election was the first in which both major party candidates were African Americans, and the 43% margin was the largest in Illinois history in a U.S. Senate election.

1 Democratic primary
2 Republican primary
3 General election
4 References

[edit] Democratic primary

**Democratic Primary Election March 16, 2004**
Candidate	Votes	%
Barack Obama	655,923	52.8
Daniel W. Hynes	294,717	23.7
M. Blair Hull	134,453	10.8
Maria Pappas	74,987	6.0
Gery Chico	53,433	4.3
Nancy Skinner	16,098	1.3
Joyce Washington	13,375	1.1

In early polls leading up to the March 16, 2004, primary election, candidate Blair Hull enjoyed a substantial lead and widespread name recognition resulting from a well-financed advertisement effort.^{[citation needed]} He contributed over $28 million of his personal wealth to the campaign. However, Hull was soon embroiled by allegations of domestic abuse. Challenger Barack Obama, an Illinois state senator, won endorsements from four Illinois congressmen and former DNC chairman David Wilhelm, increasing his name recognition among voters.

In the final weeks of the campaign, Obama's primary campaign gathered support from favorable media coverage and an advertising campaign designed by David Axelrod. The ads featured images of U.S. Senator Paul M. Simon and the late Chicago Mayor Harold Washington; the support of Simon's daughter; and the endorsement of most of the state's major papers, including the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times.

In the March primary, Obama won a majority of support, earning 52% of the vote, fueled by an overwhelming victory in Cook County, including Chicago.

[edit] Republican primary

Republican Primary Election
March 16, 2004
Candidate	Votes	%
Jack Ryan	234,791	35.5
Jim Oberweis	155,794	23.5
Steven J. Rauschenberger	132,655	20.0
Andy McKenna	97,238	14.7
Jonathan C. Wright	17,189	2.6
John Borling	13,390	2.0
Norm Hill	5,637	0.9
Chirinjeev Kathuria	5,110	0.8

The GOP frontrunner, Jack Ryan, had divorced actress Jeri Ryan in 1999, and the records of the divorce were sealed at their mutual request. Five years later, when Ryan's Senate campaign began, the Chicago Tribune newspaper and WLS-TV, the local ABC affiliate, sought to have the records released. On March 3, 2004, several of Ryan's GOP primary opponents urged Ryan to release the records.^[1] Both Ryan and his wife agreed to make their divorce records public, but not make the child custody records public, claiming that the custody records could be harmful to their son if released. Ryan went on to win the GOP primary on March 16, 2004 defeating his nearest competitor, Jim Oberweis, by twelve percentage points.^[2]

Ryan was a proponent of across-the-board tax cuts and tort reform, an effort to limit payout in medical malpractice lawsuits. He was also a proponent of school choice, an approach that stresses accountability in education and the freedom to choose which public school one's children attend. He also supported vouchers for private school students.

Oberweis's 2004 campaign was notable for a television commercial where he flew in a helicopter over Chicago's Soldier Field, and claimed enough illegal immigrants came into America in a week (10,000 a day) to fill that facility.^[3] The stadium seats 61,500 people.^[4] Oberweis was also fined $21,000 by the Federal Election Commission for a commercial for his dairy that ran during his 2004 Senate campaign. The FEC ruled that the commercial wrongly benefited his campaign and constituted a corporate contribution, thus violating campaign law.^[5]

[edit] General election

[edit] Obama vs. Ryan

As a result of the GOP and Democratic primaries, Democrat Barack Obama was pitted against Republican Jack Ryan.

Ryan trailed Obama in early polls, with Obama opening up a 22-point lead^[6] after the media reported that Ryan had assigned Justin Warfel, a Ryan campaign worker, to track Obama's appearances.^[7] The tactic backfired when many people, including Ryan's supporters, criticized this activity. Ryan's spokesman apologized, and promised that Warfel would give Obama more space. Obama acknowledged that it is standard practice to film an opponent in public, and Obama said he was satisfied with Ryan's decision to have Warfel back off.^[7]

As the campaign progressed, the lawsuit brought by the Chicago Tribune to open child custody files from Ryan's divorce was still continuing. Barack Obama's backers emailed reporters about the divorce controversy, but refrained from on-the-record commentary about the divorce files.^[8] On March 29, 2004, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert Schnider ruled that several of the Ryans' divorce records should be opened to the public, and ruled that a court-appointed referee would later decide which custody files should remain sealed to protect the interests of Ryan's young child.^[9] A few days later, on April 2, 2004, Barack Obama changed his position about the Ryans' soon-to-be-released divorce records, and called on Democrats to not inject them into the campaign.^[8]

On June 22, 2004, after receiving the report from the court-appointed referee, the judge released the files that were deemed consistent with the interests of Ryan's young child. In those files, Jeri Ryan alleged that Jack Ryan had taken her to sex clubs in several cities, intending for them to have sex in public.^[10]^[11] The decision to release the files generated much controversy because it went against both parents' direct request, and because it reversed the earlier decision to seal the papers in the best interest of the child. Jim Oberweis, Ryan's defeated GOP opponent, commented that "these are allegations made in a divorce hearing, and we all know people tend to say things that aren't necessarily true in divorce proceedings when there is money involved and custody of children involved."^[10]

Although their sensational nature made the revelations fodder for tabloid and television programs specializing in such stories, the files were also newsworthy because of questions about whether Ryan had accurately described the documents to GOP party leaders. Prior to release of the documents, Ryan had told leading Republicans that five percent of the divorce file could cause problems for his campaign.^[12] But after the documents were released, GOP officials including state GOP Chair Judy Baar Topinka said they felt Ryan had misleadingly indicated the divorce records would not be embarrassing.^[13] That charge of dishonesty led to intensifying calls for Ryan's withdrawal, though Topinka said after the June 25 withdrawal that Ryan's "decision was a personal one" and that the state GOP had not pressured Ryan to drop out.^[14] Ryan's campaign ended less than a week after the custody records were opened, and Ryan officially filed the documentation to withdraw on July 29, 2004. Obama was left without an opponent.

[edit] Obama vs. Keyes

Keyes, a conservative Republican from Maryland, faced an uphill battle. First, Keyes had few ties to Illinois political leaders. Second, during the time when Obama had no opponent, he had campaigned throughout the more conservative downstate regions to build up name recognition. Third, Keyes was seen as a carpetbagger, only establishing legal residency in Calumet City, Illinois days before running. The Chicago Tribune in an editorial, stated that "Mr. Keyes may have noticed a large body of water as he flew into O'Hare. That is called Lake Michigan."^[15]

Obama ran the most successful Senate campaign for a non-incumbent in 2004, and was so far ahead in polls that he soon began to campaign outside of Illinois in support of other Democratic candidates. He gave large sums of campaign funds to other candidates and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and sent many of his volunteers to work on other races, including that of now-Congresswoman Melissa Bean who defeated then-Congressman Phil Crane in that year's election. Obama and Keyes differed on many issues including school vouchers and tax cuts, both of which Keyes supported and Obama opposed.^[16]

[edit] General election results

General Election
November 2, 2004
Candidate	Party	Votes	%
Barack Obama	Democratic	3,597,456	70.0
Alan Keyes	Republican	1,390,690	27.0
Albert J. Franzen	Independent	81,164	1.61
Jerry Kohn	Libertarian	69,253	1.39

The Keyes-Obama race was one of the first to be called on Election Day, November 2, 2004.

At the start of Keyes' candidacy in August, Keyes had 24% support in the polls. He received 27% of the vote in the November general election to Obama's 70%.^[17]

Following the election, Keyes refused to call and congratulate Obama. Media reports claimed that Keyes also failed to concede the race to Obama.^{[citation needed]} Two days after the election, a radio interviewer asked Keyes whether he had conceded the race. Keyes replied, "Of course I've conceded the race. I mean, I gave my speech to that effect."^[18]

On the radio program, Keyes explained that his refusal to congratulate Obama was "not anything personal," but was meant to make a statement against "extend[ing] false congratulations to the triumph of what we have declared to be across the line." He said that Obama's position on moral issues regarding life and the family had crossed that line. "I'm supposed to make a call that represents the congratulations toward the triumph of that which I believe ultimately stands for... a culture evil enough to destroy the very soul and heart of my country? I can't do this. And I will not make a false gesture," Keyes said.^[18]