Illinois voters go to polls in first primary of year

February 3, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois Democrats in the nation’s first primary picked candidates to defend the governor’s office and a U.S. Senate seat from the onslaught of a Republican Party eager to exploit Democratic disarray in President Barack Obama’s home state.

The targets include the Senate seat Obama held before moving to the White House, with Republican Mark Kirk winning a chance to try to take the seat away from Democrats.

GOP voters nominated the five-term congressman Tuesday. With 64 percent of precincts reporting, Kirk had 234,277 votes, or 58 percent.

Republicans have targeted the seat since then-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was arrested for trying to sell it more than a year ago. Blagojevich eventually appointed Roland Burris, who didn’t run for a full term.

Illinois is being even more closely watched after an upset win by the GOP in Massachusetts that cost Democrats the late Sen. Edward Kennedy’s seat.

The leading Democratic contenders are Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, former Chicago inspector general David Hoffman and Chicago Urban League chief Cheryle Jackson.

Losing the Senate seat in the increasingly Democratic-leaning state would be a bigger personal embarrassment for Obama than Republican Scott Brown’s upset victory last month in Massachusetts, which took away the late Edward M. Kennedy’s Senate seat.

The GOP also hopes to win the governor’s mansion after years of turmoil under Democrats. First Blagojevich was arrested and kicked out of office on federal corruption charges, including allegations he tried to sell an appointment to Obama’s seat. Then his successor, Pat Quinn, got into a vicious primary battle.

Quinn accused his opponent, Comptroller Dan Hynes, of ducking tough budget decisions, ignoring the desecration of human remains at a historic black cemetery and trying to divide voters along racial lines. Hynes called Quinn indecisive and incompetent.

Election officials said voter turnout was low across the state, and many voters seemed fed up with politicians.

“I’m tired of what’s going on, from the top to the bottom,” said Richard Saunders, 83, who cast a Republican ballot in the southwestern Illinois city of Troy. “I hope we can do something with our one little vote.”

The governor’s race, for both Democrats and Republicans, was close in early returns.

The nominees who emerge from the bruising midterm primary will fight for the chance to run a state so deep in debt it can’t pay bills on time and must consider painful service cuts, higher taxes or both.

Quinn sought a full term after being thrust into office a year ago when Blagojevich was expelled.

It initially appeared Quinn easily would win the Democratic nomination. But that was before The Associated Press disclosed that his administration was quietly granting early release to some prison inmates, including violent offenders. It also was before Hynes introduced an ad featuring footage of the late Chicago Mayor Harold Washington — a revered figure to many black voters — harshly criticizing Quinn.