Foster tops Oberweis
Just before 9 p.m. Saturday, the crowd gathered at Long Island Sound Banquets in Aurora erupted in cheers as staffers for Democrat Bill Foster shouted about the race being called in Foster's favor.
"We made history," one campaign worker yelled.
(Marianne Mather/Staff Photographer)
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Foster's two teary-eyed children -- Christine and Billy -- hugged each other in a sea of cameras and flashbulbs.
"I'd just hug him," Billy said of his father, who had not arrived for the celebration by the time the announcement came.
Foster won handily over Republican Jim Oberweis in the 14th Congressional District race to fill out the remainder of the term of retired former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert.
In a district stretching from Aurora to the Mississippi River, Foster, a former Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory scientist and businessman, unofficially topped Oberweis by 5,000 votes. Traditionally Republican Kendall and DuPage counties cast their ballots in favor of the Democrat.
Foster becomes the first Democrat to represent the Fox Valley since Tim Hall won the congressional seat after the Watergate scandal in the mid-1970s.
At the Q Center in St. Charles, Oberweis, an Aurora dairy magnate and businessman, tried to lift the spirit of those at his campaign gathering.
"As I said a month ago, coming in first is a lot more fun than coming in second," Oberweis said to his supporters at about 9 p.m.
"Unfortunately, we're on the other side of that this time"
Oberweis said he had called Foster to congratulate him. He then led the crowd in a rendition of Happy Birthday for his wife, Julie, who turned 50 on Saturday.
"I'm sorry we came up short, but we have another run at it in seven months," Oberweis said.
Foster, as the winner of Saturday's special primary election, will fill out Hastert's term until January 2009. He and Oberweis will face off again in the November general election, and the winner then will become the Fox Valley's new congressman in the term beginning in January 2009.
Before the ballots were counted Saturday, Foster and Oberweis joined hundreds of others in the St. Charles St. Patrick's Day Parade.
Foster maintained an active schedule of throughout the day, including visits to Aurora and Elgin area restaurants and polling places to greet residents. Campaign spokesman Tom Bowen said 500 volunteers were out knocking on doors to remind people of the rare Saturday election.
"We have an incredible volunteer force on the ground," Bowen said.
The Oberweis campaign took a different approach, making a few early day appearances, while staffers watched polling places.
Oberweis limited his appearances to one radio program, a quick press conference after voting, and the parade. He also conducted a "tele-town hall" meeting where 11,000 voters are contacted with one phone call and invited to ask Oberweis a question. About 2,900 participated in Saturday's call with the Republican, spokesman Bill Pascoe said.
