Illinois

ILLINOIS	21 Electoral Votes
	Illinois went from 22 electoral votes to 21 as a result of the 2000 Census

Population
(Source: U.S. Census Bureau, State Board of Elections)

Total Population, July 1, 2004 est.	12,713,634
Total Registration, Nov. 2004	7,499,488

(Illinois voters do not register by party).
Illinois has: 102 counties.
Five largest counties: Cook (5.2 million), DuPage, Lake, Will, Kane.
Five largest cities: Chicago (2.7 million), Rockford, Aurora, Springfield, Peoria.

Government
Governor: Rod R. Blagojevich (D) elected Nov. 2002.
State Legislature: Illinois General Assembly House: 118 seats Senate: 59 seats
Local: Counties, Cities NACO Counties
U.S. House: 10R, 9D - 1. B.Rush (D) | 2. J.Jackson Jr (D) | 3. W.Lipinski (D) | 4. L.Gutierrez (D) | 5. R.Emanuel (D) | 6. H.Hyde (R) | 7. D.Davis (D) | 8. P.Crane (R) | 9. J.Schakowsky (D) | 10. M.Kirk (R) | 11. G.Weller (R) | 12. J.Costello (D) | 13. J.Biggert (R) | 14. D.Hastert (R) | 15. T.Johnson (R) | 16. D.Manzullo (R) | 17. L.Evans (D) | 18. R.LaHood (R) | 19. J.Shimkus (R). *lost 1 seat in 2002 as a result of the 2000 Census. >>
U.S. Senate: Richard Durbin (D) re-elected in 2002, Peter Fitzgerald (R) did not seek re-election in 2004.

Democrats picked up a Senate seat and a House seat. Barack Obama (D) trounced Alan Keyes (R) by 3,597,456 (69.97%) to 1,390,690 (27.05%) with 153,374 votes (2.98%) going to other candidates. (Republicans selected Keyes after Jack Ryan withdrew). In the 8th CD Melissa L. Bean (D) defeated incumbent Rep. Phil Crane (R), who was first elected to Congress in 1969, by 139,792 to 130,601 votes (51.70% to 48.30%). In the 3rd CD Daniel Lipinski (D) succeeded William O. Lipinski (D).

The Prairie State

State of Illinois
State Board of Elections

Democratic Party of IL
IL Green Party
IL Republican Party
IL Constitution Party
Libertarian Party of IL
Natural Law Party of IL
Reform Party of IL

Chicago Tribune
Chicago Sun-Times
Media (Newsp.)
Media (TV)

Capitol Fax
Politics1-IL

General Election -- Tuesday, November 2, 2004

Deadline to register to vote is October 5, 2004 (27 days prior to the election).

+Kerry/Edwards (Dem.)	2,891,550	(54.82)
Bush/Cheney (Rep.)	2,345,946	(44.48)
Badnarik/Campagna (Lib.)	32,442	(0.62)
Nader	2,357	(0.04)
Nader	1,214	(0.02)
Peroutka	440
Cobb	241
Others (9)	132
Total........5,274,322

Total ballots cast: 5,350,493

2004 Overview
Although the Democratic margin was slightly reduced, Kerry-Edwards easily carried Illinois, gaining a plurality of 545,604 votes (10.34 percentage points). Kerry carried only 15 counties to 87 for Bush. Cook County again accounted for about 39 percent of the votes cast in the presidential race (2,049,434 of 5,274,322), providing a plurality for Kerry of 842,319 votes.
General Election Details

Kerry/Allies

Bush-Cheney '04

Past Results

1996

Clinton (Dem.)....2,341,744	(54.31)
Dole (Rep.)........1,587,021	(36.81)
Perot (Ref.)...........346,408	(8.03)
Others (3+w/ins).....36,218	(0.84)
Total........4,311,391

1992

Clinton (Dem.).....2,453,350
(48.58)

Bush (Rep.)........1,734,096
(34.34)

Perot (Ind.) ...........840,515
(16.64)

Others(5+w/ins).......22,196
(0.44)

Total........5,050,157

2000

+Gore/Lieberman (Dem.)	2,589,026	(54.60)
Bush/Cheney (Rep.)	2,019,421	(42.58)
Nader/LaDuke (Grn.)	103,759	(2.19)
Buchanan/Foster (Ind.)	16,106	(0.34)
Browne/Olivier (Lib.)	11,623	(0.25)
Hagelin/Goldhaber (Ref.)	2,127	(0.05)
Howard Phillips	57	-
David McReynolds	4	-
Total........4,742,123

Turnout as a percentage of voting age population was 52.79%. (U.S. avg. 53.76%)...l
ll

2000 Overview
Illinois remained solidly in the Democratic column as the Gore-Lieberman ticket won with a plurality of 569,605 votes (12.02 percentage points). Gore carried a total of 24 counties to Bush's 78. Cook County, which accounted for 39% of the votes cast in the race for president (1,865,907 of 4,742,123), provided a plurality of 746,005 votes for Gore.

General Election Activity

Primary: Tuesday, March 16, 2004

Democratic

	Votes	Percent
+John Kerry	873,230	71.72%
John Edwards	131,966	10.84%
Carol Moseley Braun	53,249	4.37%
Howard Dean	47,343	3.89%
Al Sharpton	36,123	2.97%
Dennis Kucinich	28,083	2.31%
Joe Lieberman	24,354
Wesley Clark	19,304
Lyndon LaRouche	3,863
Total	1,217,515

186 Delegates (Pledged 156, Unpledged 30) and 27 Alternates.

Note. As in many states, the process of lining up delegate slates occurs months before the primary. For example, Porter McNeil served as downstate Illinois advisor for the John Kerry for President campaign from Sept. 15, 2003 through Jan. 15, 2004, charged with recruiting and organizing the delegate slates in every congressional district outside of Cook County and some of the collar counties, and with persuading elected officials to endorse John Kerry in the primary. Starting in September 2003 he was busy calling mayors, state reps, state senators, congressional staff, etc. During the entire time, Sen. Kerry was trailing Howard Dean in the polls. Despite that difficulty, the Kerry campaign slated some major Democrats as delegates including leaders in the Illinois General Assembly and major downstate mayors. After the Iowa caucus, McNeil's phone started ringing with calls from officials who were suddently much more interested in Kerry. By then, it was too late to slate them as delegates. The Kerry campaign filed a full slate of delegates with the Illinois State Board of Elections in early January 2004.

Republican
George W. Bush: 583,575 73 Delegates (57 CD and 16 AL)

2000 page >>