Oberweis plans 'positive' fall rematch

BATAVIA -- For a guy whose family name graces a chain of ice cream stores, Jim Oberweis isn't nearly as popular as you might think.

The millionaire Republican businessman has run for public office -- and lost -- four times, most recently last month, when he was flatly rejected by voters who handed a reliably GOP district to a Democrat with a lot less name recognition.

But Oberweis has another chance this fall to win back former House Speaker Dennis Hastert's seat for Republicans, and he's looking to refocus his campaign to be as appealing to voters as his family dairy's sweets are to the dessert set.

He recently talked about his plans, and pondered some of the reasons he believes he lost last month's special election to Bill Foster, who is filling the remainder of Hastert's term until January.

A tough campaigner, Oberweis used words like "positive campaign" and "respectful discussion" to describe what voters will see from him between now and November. That would be a switch from this last hard-fought matchup with Foster when both crowded the airwaves with negative TV ads.

Since losing last month's special election, Oberweis said he has spent time talking to voters, party leaders and activists to try to figure out what went wrong.

His listening tour isn't over yet, but he knows people were turned off by negative campaigning.

"We're going to do everything we can to make sure this is a positive campaign based on a serious and respectful discussion of issues that are important to people in the 14th Congressional District," Oberweis said.

Voters will see different television ads, possibly some featuring his family and children, whom he said want to be more involved in appealing to voters.

He wants campaign forums so he can debate Foster, who got 53 percent of the nearly 100,000 votes cast in the special election that was prompted by last year's retirement by Hastert, who represented the district for two decades.

Oberweis blames his loss on several things, including the barely more than one-month's time between a bruising Republican primary and the March special election. He believes some voters who supported his Republican primary opponent, state Sen. Chris Lauzen, didn't back him against Foster -- though he's hoping to soothe any bitter feelings between now and the fall election.

He also says he was hurt by Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's support for Foster and his opponent's success in connecting President George W. Bush to the race. The president's popularity has suffered because of the war in Iraq, and Oberweis has contended the troop surge there was working.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee says that no matter what Oberweis might do to rejuvenate his campaign, voters still will be turned off by his views on issues from the war in Iraq to health care.

"He was and will continue to be rejected by voters," said DCCC spokesman Ryan Rudominer in an e-mail statement.

Part of what he's learning, Oberweis said, is that he needs to make sure voters know more about him personally, including that he's a recently remarried father of five and a former kids' chess coach with a "great sense of humor."

Oberweis said he fares better when people get to know him, and when they do he says they conclude that his portrayal in the media isn't accurate.

And he doubts that being a failed candidate will hurt his chances this time.

Neither the head of the Illinois Republican Party nor the National Republican Congressional Committee has pressured him to ditch his campaign to let another candidate try. And Oberweis says he doesn't see anyone who would be a stronger candidate.

"The voters selected me ... as the Republican candidate," he said.