The wave continues...
posted by
Dookie The Webmaster
6:31 AM
Foster win a big blow to GOP
The election of Democrat Bill Foster to a congressional seat held by Republicans for decades illustrated once again the power of timing in politics -- a contest framed by a sour economy that pitted a newcomer against a perennial candidate in a district shifting away from its GOP roots.
As Foster made a special election thank-you tour Sunday of the massive 14th Congressional District that former GOP House Speaker Dennis Hastert represented for 20 years, Republicans and their losing candidate, Jim Oberweis, sought answers to prevent the same result in their fall rerun for the full two-year congressional term.
"I think it was an enthusiasm for something different," Foster said as he stopped at buffets and diners in Batavia, Elgin, Geneva and Dixon.
But as much as the win by the little-known Foster reflected voters' desire for the elusive political factor of change, the election to finish out the retired Hastert's term that expires in January also was a referendum on Oberweis. And it symbolized the state of a listless GOP in Illinois that finds itself without a power base and plagued by infighting.
A good start in '08
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