http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060317/ap_on_...DMzBHNlYwM3MDM-Ill. Republicans Seem to Be StrugglingBy CHRISTOPHER WILLS, Associated Press Writer
Fri Mar 17, 1:51 PM ET
These are tough times for the Illinois Republican Party.
Their former leader is on trial on corruption charges. The biggest name in the party decided not to run for governor. The people who did run are slinging mud and calling each other names like "moron."
And whoever wins the nomination for governor in Tuesday's primary gets the pleasure of challenging an incumbent with a huge campaign fund in a Democrat-leaning state.
"It's wonderful, if you're into abuse," said Maureen Murphy, a member of the GOP State Central Committee.
Ethics and corruption have dominated the race for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. The candidates are simultaneously trying to distance themselves from former GOP Gov. George Ryan, now awaiting a jury's verdict on charges of racketeering and fraud, and tear down Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
The GOP front-runner, state Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka, has been hit with accusations that she is part of a corrupt network of political insiders. One challenger has accused her of ordering her staff to shred a potentially embarrassing document. The document was eventually released to the public.
In response, Topinka skipped some appearances with her rivals and said it was a relief not to debate "a bunch of morons."
Topinka would not even be in the race if things had worked out as she wanted.
She and other party leaders had lobbied for Jim Edgar, who served two terms as governor and remains widely popular, to get back into politics. He declined, and Topinka — the only Republican holding statewide office in Illinois — decided to run.
Her closest challenger is investment manager and dairy owner Jim Oberweis, who had 21 percent to Topinka's 36 percent in one recent poll. He is the one accusing Topinka of ordering a document to be destroyed, a claim he bases on the word of a former Topinka aide who has given contradictory accounts.
Oberweis might be best known for a campaign commercial from two years ago, when he was seeking the Senate nomination. It showed him in a helicopter over Soldier Field, complaining about illegal immigration — an image the Democrats could use to portray Oberweis as "a racist bigot," warned another GOP candidate for governor, Ron Gidwitz.
Gidwitz — who once ran Helene Curtis, maker of Suave and Finesse shampoos — has pumped about $5 million of his own money into the race but has barely managed to hit double digits in the polls.
Bill Brady, a state lawmaker from Bloomington, completes the list of major candidates. His main campaign theme has been scolding the others for their negativity.
Topinka and Gidwitz support abortion rights, research on embryonic stem cells and anti-discrimination laws for gay people, earning them the fury of the Republican Party's right wing. Oberweis and Brady are far more conservative.
There is a primary on the Democratic side, too, but Blagojevich has a huge lead over challenger Edwin Eisendrath, a former Chicago alderman who has run a disorganized campaign.
Still, Blagojevich could be vulnerable. Polls show that less than half the voters approve of his job performance. Prosecutors are looking closely at his administration. He has a record of giving jobs and contracts to political supporters.
Many Republicans say their differences will quickly disappear when their attention shifts to defeating the incumbent.
"Rod Blagojevich is one of our biggest assets in helping galvanize our party," said state Sen. Kirk Dillard, GOP chairman for DuPage County in the Chicago suburbs.
Two congressional primary races Tuesday are adding to the political drama.
In one, six Republicans are competing for the nomination for a seat in the Chicago suburbs now held by Democratic Rep. Melissa Bean, a freshman who won in an upset two years ago.
In the other race, former Army Maj. L. Tammy Duckworth, a helicopter pilot who lost her legs in a grenade attack in Iraq, is running for the Democratic nomination for the suburban Chicago seat being vacated by Republican Henry Hyde after nearly 32 years.