With seven Democrats and eight Republicans running for U.S. Senate in Illinois,
it’s not easy to stand out. It’s even more difficult when voter turnout for
the March 16 primary is expected to be low, given the Democratic presidential
contest is already decided. Are candidates getting the attention they deserve?
Some have gone out on a limb for it. Some are running paint-by-the-number campaigns.
No one, though, seems to have sparked passion among the electorate. Among Democratic
and Republican voters, between 30 and 40 percent remain undecided, according
to most polls.
Despite spending more money than any U.S. Senate candidate before the new year, except for Blair Hull, Democrat Gery Chico has been unable to break out of the pack.
Chico’s campaign manager Michael Golden remains optimistic. “We’ve had impressive fundraising from the beginning,” he says. “Nearly $4 million for a first-time candidate.” And campaign spending — $2.4 million by the first of this year — helped boost Chico’s name recognition early. Chico, an attorney who was president of Chicago public school’s board of trustees and chief of staff for Mayor Richard Daley, had every reason to think of himself as a contender.
But despite his spending and experience, Chico hasn’t been able to break out of single digits in most polls. For a boost, he tried something unusual. He and another candidate — running in the Republican primary — announced a bipartisan healthcare proposal in January. It got some short-term coverage, but it didn’t stick. Primaries usually cater to the party faithful; going back to the 1960s, it’s not unusual for less than half the people who vote in the general election to vote in the primary. Chico’s Republican cohort, state Senator Steve Rauschenberger, is even farther down in the polls than Chico is.
Were Chico and Rauschenberger resorting to gimmickry? It’s hard to tell. Chico’s campaign has focused on presenting sincere solutions and money aside, Rauschenberger is no lightweight.
Still, Golden laments the lack of attention his candidate has received. “I wish more people would be paying attention to the debates,” he says.
“It’s not so much a surprise, but I wish, wistfully even, that people would look at these candidates.”
Campaign events, especially debates, should have helped candidates define themselves to voters, but most say several of the debates have been disappointing. The candidates have had less time to propose solutions for the economy, the health care system, problems in Iraq, and public education during the debates than in their own campaign commercials.
“The debates have been difficult,” even frustrating, says Barack Obama, who, until recently, was chasing after front runner Blair Hull in the Democrat primary (negative publicity about Hull’s 1998 divorce caused him to slip to second in some polls). Obama’s been forced to battle Hull’s mega-million media campaign, which has included busing groups of Illinoisans to Canada for pharmaceutical shopping sprees and has been paying “volunteers” to put up his yard signs. Obama has a media campaign of his own and is running a large volunteer-based campaign centered around town-hall-type gatherings statewide.
The town hall concept allows Obama to talk 20 minutes straight on his platform, says his political director Dan Shomon. “It’s difficult to focus on issues,” Obama says, when you’ve got “60 seconds on the economy.” The strategy has paid off well, Shomon says. Obama’s town hall meetings, being held throughout the state, have been pulling in 100 to 400 people a night. Chico has a grass-roots approach too, says Golden. He’s pitching his education platform to tens of thousands of school officials via e-mail.
But Hull’s recent front runner status, as most candidates admit, came from the name recognition he’s built by saturating television airwaves. There is no substitution for the well-crafted sound bite. Golden, still hopeful, says that TV is where his candidate needs to be now. “We’re starting another round of commercials,” he says.
There are less than two weeks before the March 16 primary. Most of candidates for the seat left open by retiring one-term Senator Peter Fitzgerald are far behind a small group of emerging front runners. For the Democrats, Hull, Obama, and State Comptroller Dan Hynes can all find ways to write a victory scenario, says Kent Redfield, political studies professor at the University of Illinois at Springfield. In the Republican race, Jack Ryan, a former investor who became an inner city high school teacher, has 20 points on second place dairy magnate and mutual fund manager Jim Oberweis. Andy McKenna, president of a suburban Chicago packing company, is close behind.
The rest have struggled for attention — even from their supporters. In the middle of January, Democratic candidate Nancy Skinner told a Chicago public radio audience that her party needed “fire in the belly.” About a month later, Skinner, a popular radio personality, was looking for something a little less ambitious. Supporters who donated $1,000 could win a chance to dine with her on Valentine’s Day. There was little interest; no one came up with more than a couple hundred bucks.
Democrat and Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas stood beside a Hummer SUV in front of various Hooters in Illinois and essentially blamed George W. Bush for the spread of both American icons. No one took her seriously; the event was not widely covered and at least one reporter had to ask whether the Hummer-Hooter pairing was a sexual pun. Pappas, a former psychologist, said it wasn’t. Rauschenberger — Chico’s bipartisan healthcare partner — scheduled a press conference to announce that he should coach the Chicago Bears. Just as he lacked the experience in football, he said, his opponents lacked experience to serve in the Senate. A valid point, considering his recent endorsements by some big newspapers statewide. But the gimmick belittled his seriousness as a candidate. He should have at least picked another team. The Bears’ offense was one of the worst in the league last year. They probably could have used Rauschenberger’s help. Oberweis has been roundly criticized for his campaign stunts — offering a lifetime supply of his dairy company’s ice cream to supporters and finding other ways to blur the line between promoting his business and his candidacy.
Still, Shomon of the Obama campaign doesn’t buy into the notion that candidates this primary season have resorted to gimmicks. “I haven’t seen as many this year,” he says. “People are looking for something serious.” He referred to a New York Times analysis that concluded voters aren’t as interested today in candidates who are likable. They want someone with depth.
Regardless, can you blame these candidates for doing anything they can to connect with voters?
“You have to invest a lot more into being informed when there are all these candidates,” says Redfield. Creative campaigning is a way to help the voter. Golden says that the lack of apparent time voters have to get involved in the issues has been one of the most difficult aspects of the campaign.
Redfield acknowledges that what’s been tried so far this primary season hasn’t worked very well. “Nobody has really come out and really grabbed the public’s [attention],” he says. He suggested that even the clearest front runner among both parties, Republican Ryan would be struggling if a bigger name were in the field.
“Ryan wouldn’t be beating [former Republican governor] Jim Edgar if it was a one-on-one race,” Redfield says. Edgar had at one time considered a senate run.
Redfield does credit Ryan for putting together a sophisticated and slick campaign, based on heavy television penetration. “Ryan is creating buzz,” he says. But not necessarily for anything he’s saying. “He’s got a strong personality, style, a lot of money, and a good ad campaign.”
But even voters leaning toward Ryan, a Harvard law grad once married to “Star Trek: Voyager” and “Boston Public” star Jeri Ryan, aren’t quite sure who he is.
“I have been waiting for the candidates to reveal themselves, which they’ve
just started to do,” says Craig Ruffolo, a financial advisor from Peoria who
plans to vote in the Republican primary. “There are two fellows that have drawn
my attention. Jack Ryan and Oberweis. In both cases I don’t know much about
them. Just an image at this point.”
This article appears in Mar 4-10, 2004.
