IL-14: All Eyes On Illinois

Yes, Wyoming awards 12 delegates in the Democratic primary tomorrow, but the most important race is in the Chicago suburbs.

In what some analysts describe as a proxy for the November election, voters in Illinois’ 14th District head to the polls Saturday for a momentous special election to fill the vacant seat of former House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, who resigned last November. Democratic scientist Bill Foster and Republican dairy executive Jim Oberweis are competing [...]

Democrats see an upset victory by Foster as the ultimate repudiation of the Republican Party and of President Bush, who handily carried the 14th District in the 2004 election — by a margin of 55 percent to 44 percent for Democratic Sen. John Kerry. But Bush was more popular then than he is now, and Republicans acknowledge a competitive race between Foster, a first-time candidate, and Oberweis, who lost Republican primaries for senator in 2002 and 2004 and for governor in 2006 [...]

Republican strategists acknowledge that the race is very close and that they’re aware of the implications of a Democratic victory in the former Speaker’s district.

“We understand the symbolic importance of the race,” Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole , the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), told reporters Monday at a breakfast meeting that was organized by the Christian Science Monitor. “It will be spun out of all proportions if we were to lose it. It will be ‘my God, it’s the end of the Republican Party, the Speaker’s seat is gone.’ ”

Jim Oberweis is grabbing at straws. He put out a mailer claiming that your taxes would raise under Bill Foster that had an admission at the bottom:

The four examples are fictional, and any similarity between these characters and any real people is pure coincidence. The effects on the individual's tax bills was calculated using the tax calculator found at a link to the Heritage Foundation.

Barack Obama is imploring his supporters to volunteer and help Bill Foster get elected. Oberweis is such a tool. His going down would almost be as satisfying as turning Denny Hastert's old seat blue.

UPDATE: It's notable that one candidate is helping get Democrats elected to Congress, and the other is claiming that John McCain is more ready to be commander in chief than a fellow Democrat.