GOP Favored to Hang Onto Illinois District After Hastert Retires

[babylonsister]

I hope this headline can be changed.


GOP Favored to Hang Onto Illinois District After Hastert Retires
By Greg Giroux | 4:35 PM; Aug. 14, 2007 | Email This Article

The race to succeed former House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, who is expected to announce Friday that he will not seek re-election in Illinois’ 14th District, will serve as a test of Republican strength in predominantly suburban and exurban districts that have long been GOP bailiwicks.

On paper at least, Republicans will be favored to retain the 14th, which includes exurbs west of Chicago and rural communities farther west. President Bush took 55 percent of the vote in the district in 2004, and Hastert won re-election to an 11th term last fall with 59.8 percent of the vote. Still, that was his lowest vote share since he first captured the seat in 1986 with 52 percent of the vote.

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http://www.cqpolitics.com/2007/08/gop_favored_to_hang_onto_illin_1.html