Politics

(CBS) Democrat Bill Foster snatched former House Speaker Dennis Hastert's congressional seat in a closely watched special election that gave the longtime Republican district to the Democrats.

Foster won 52 percent of the vote compared 48 percent for Republican Jim Oberweis. With 564 of 568 precincts reporting, Foster had 50,947 votes to Oberweis' 46,125.

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen said in a statement that the win is a stunning rejection of the Bush Administration.

Critics earlier questioned whether Foster would be able to pull this one out, given the past two decades of GOP wins.

But the physicist says he may have the perfect formula to return for another win come November. Foster will fill the remainder of Hastert's term until it ends next January.

This marks the first time in decades, a Democrat has won the 14th Congressional seat, which was held until last year by former House Speaker Dennis Hastert.

The 14th District includes most of Kane County and stretches west almost to the Mississippi River.

Foster walked into a relatively small, but crowded hall Saturday, only about 10 minutes after his supporters had heard the news he carried the vote.

He urged his supporters to maintain their energy for a run to the November elections – where he'll likely go up against Jim Oberweis again, this time for a full-term in the 14th District.

"This is a great night. Back in the laboratory, this is what we'd say was a pretty successful experiment," Foster said. "Today, the voters of the 14th District were given a national stage on which to speak to our country and you sent a clear message to everyone in Washington. You are demanding change and you are demanding it now."

"Little did I know that as a new candidate presenting himself for the first time he would face this onslaught, this barrage of negative campaigning hitting him right between the eyes. He soldiered on every single day," said Sen. Dick Durbin.

Durbin flanked Foster on the stage bringing up the point that his competition has thrown some pretty hard punches with its messages.

This is the fourth failed attempt at elected office for Oberweis. Before this election bid, the 61-year-old from Sugar Grove ran for U.S. Senate twice and Illinois governor once. This time he came up short less than 5,000 votes. But he vowed Saturday to fight on in the November election, where he expects a higher voter turnout.

"We've come up a little bit short," Oberweis said in his concession speech. He said he called Foster to congratulate him and "to encourage him on our hopes of lower taxes rather than higher taxes and to represent all people in the district for the next nine months."

He said it's too early to say why his campaign came up short, but he did say he thinks his chances will be better in the 60 percent Republican district in the general election.

Foster, a nuclear physicist and entrepreneur, was locked in a tight race against perennial candidate Republican Jim Oberweis, the milk and ice cream titan. Hastert endorsed Oberweis, while presidential candidate Barack Obama lent his support to Foster.

In the final stretch of the campaign, the candidates accused each other of lying and mudslinging, to the point where lawsuits and election complaints were filed.

First, Oberweis filed suit against the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, saying the claim in a Foster campaign commercial that Oberweis Dairy hired undocumented immigrants is false.

The ads referenced newspaper stories from 2005 about an Illinois Labor Department complaint filed by a Chicago-based immigrant-rights group. The group claimed two illegal Mexican immigrants were paid less than half the minimum wage to clean Oberweis Dairy stores in Cook County.
In 2005, Oberweis responded to the allegations by saying the workers in question were employees of a local cleaning company hired to clean stores after hours. Dairy President Joe Oberweis said Friday the dairy was never served with a labor complaint and is not sure one was ever filed.

Oberweis also says he's been smeared as anti-immigrant in an anonymous flyer hitting the many Latino households in the 14th Congressional District.

Oberweis replied that he has never had a position on or a problem with immigration. His campaign countered with an ad where he accuses Foster of trying to solve all kinds of problems by "throwing money" at them.

"I think one of the more effective ads of the campaign has been, you know, the comment made by Bill Foster saying government can through money at any problem," said Oberweis supporter Ryan McLaughlin. "I think the Illinois experience has shown us that's absolutely the wrong thing to be done."

Foster has said the quote used in Oberweis' ad was taken out of context.

Then on Friday, the DCCC filed a complaint against Oberweis with the Federal Election Commission. In the complaint, the DCCC claimed that Oberweis illegally benefited from resources from his dairy when he filed the "frivolous" lawsuit.

Previously, the Federal Election Commission sanctioned and fined Oberweis for using corporate resources from his dairy company for his campaign, the DCCC said.

And Foster is piggybacking a Chicago Tribune attack that Oberweis used actors instead of real people in a mailer.

"Oberweis is using fake numbers and fake people to smear me in the mail," Foster said.

Some have said it's been a bitter campaign, but Bill Foster, the Democratic candidate says he was determined to make the end a little sweeter.

But if you take a closer look, you might find Foster's strategy in media messaging this week has been similar to Hillary Clinton's. We've heard her bash Obama, then credit him for having a few good ideas. Each day, he's put on numerous slams against Oberweis and at the same time his campaign has sent out negative flyers and attack ads.

Foster says his campaign changed from lashing out at his opponent to a more positive approach focusing on strengths and spotlighting an endorsement from Senator and presidential candidate Barack Obama.

After Foster's win, Obama said in a statement: "I want to congratulate my friend Bill Foster on winning his race for Congress. As a distinguished scientist and successful businessman, Congressman-elect Foster has demonstrated the kind of vision and leadership we need in Washington. And his victory today shows that change is sweeping this country. By electing him to a traditionally Republican seat - a seat that former Speaker Dennis Hastert held for 20 years - the people of Illinois have sent an unmistakable message that they're tired of business-as-usual in Washington. I look forward to fighting side-by-side with Congressman-elect Foster to end the Iraq war, to take immediate steps to strengthen our economy, and to bring about real change not just in Illinois, but all across America."

Foster agreed with those sentiments in his statement:"Today the voters of the 14th District were given a national stage on which to speak to the country, and we sent a clear message to everyone in Washington. We demanded change and we demanded it now," Foster said about his win. "We said loud and clear that we wanted an end to the bickering and political posturing. We want reasonable solutions to the problems that we face every day. Today, the people of the 14th District stood up and said loud and clear that they were ready for change."

Foster is filling a seat held for 21 years by Hastert. In order to stay there full term, he'll have to win a rematch in November.

The current term ends in January 2009, and as of now, Hastert and Oberweis will face each other again in November. But Democrat John Laesch, who lost to Foster in the February primary, has asked for a recount of votes in 51 precincts, claiming that the regular primary showed Foster only won by 398 votes.

Laesch, the Democrat who lost dual primary elections to Bill Foster in February, has formally asked for a recount of votes that could make him the party's 14th Congressional District nominee for the November general election.

His challenge pertains only to the regular primary's results that show a 398-vote win by Foster. The pair's vote totals are within 5 percent of each other, making the tally eligible for a discovery recount.

Hastert's is one of three open seats in Illinois this year because of GOP retirements. Reps. Jerry Weller, who represents a district from the suburban sprawl south of Chicago to the farmland of central Illinois, and Ray LaHood of Peoria are also stepping down. Democrats' chances to pick up one of those seats improved when the Republican nominee to replace Weller dropped out of the race.

CBS 2's Rafael Romo, Pamela Jones, Mike Puccinelli, the Associated Press, and the STNG Wire contributed to this report.

(CBS 2, the Naperville Sun and the Aurora Beacon-News are news partners covering stories in the western suburbs. Send story tips to tips@cbs2chicago.com. (© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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