- More Primaries « March 20, 2012 Illinois Primary
March 20, 2012 Illinois Primary
"It's Mitt" - Chicago Sun Times
"Romney Rolls to Illinois Win" - The Wall Street Journal
"Illinois widens Romney Margin" - USA Today
"ROMNEY IS VICTOR BY WIDE MARGIN IN ILLINOIS VOTE" - The New York Times (late edition)
"Illinois gives Romney big win over Santorum" - The Washington Post
Speeches and Statements: Romney | Gingrich || Republicans | Democrats
It appeared that Romney was well positioned heading into this primary. As in other states he lined up considerable establishment support, and he came off a resounding win in Puerto Rico which solidified his frontrunner status. News reports pointed to a 7:1 spending advantage by Romney and his allies in TV advertising.
Illinois sends a total of 69 delegates to Tampa; 54 were at stake in the primary. This primary occurred when the delegate math increasingly seemed to weigh against Santorum (to counter that view the Santorum campaign held a primary day media call "to discuss the REAL delegate math.") Even if Santorum did better than expected in Illinois he faced a problem in that his campaign failed to field delegate slates in four of 18 congressional districts (4th, 5th, 7th and 13th). Results of earlier primaries suggest that Romney would do well in the Chicago area and Santorum would find his strength down state.
Romney: Boone, Champaign, Cook-Chicago & Suburbs, Coles, DeKalb, DeWitt, Douglas (v. close), DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Lake, LaSalle, Livingston, Macon, McHenry, McLean, Menard, Morgan, Peoria, Piatt, Putnam, Sangamon, St. Clair, Stark, Will, Winnebago.
Santorum: Adams, Alexander, Bond, Brown, Bureau, Calhoun, Carroll, Cass, Christian, Clark, Clay, Clinton, Crawford, Cumberland, Edgar, Edwards, Effingham, Fayette, Ford, Franklin, Fulton, Gallatin, Green, Hamilton, Hancock, Hardin, Henderson, Henry, Iroquis, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Jersey, JoDaviess, Johnson, Knox, Lawrence, Lee, Logan, Macoupin, Madison, Marion, Marshall, Mason, Massac, McDonough, Mercer, Monroe, Montgomery, Moultrie, Ogle, Perry, Pike, Pope, Pulaski, Randolph, Richland, Rock Island, Saline, Schuyler, Scott, Shelby, Stephenson, Tazewell, Union, Vermilion, Wabash, Warren, Washington, Wayne, White, Whiteside, Williamson, Woodford.
The presidential primary coincided with the general primary, including contests in 18 CDs, 59 state Senate districts, 118 state House Districts and for assorted other offices.
| GINGRICH | PAUL | PERRY |
ROEMER
|
ROMNEY |
SANTORUM |
TOTAL |
|
| 74,482 7.98% |
87,044 9.32% |
5,568 0.60% |
3,723 0.40% |
435,859 46.69% |
326,778 35.01% |
933,454 |
Note:
On primary night there were quite several reports of problems with the ballot papers being too big. Illinois State Board of Elections spokesman Jim Tenuto provided this statement: "It appears there was an issue in 26 of the 110 election jurisdictions. The Board was informed that ballots were too wide and did not fit into the ballot reader. The Board is gathering information to determine the extent of the ballots affected, the number of precincts impacted, possible cause, steps taken to remedy the problem and solution so it does not occur again. All ballots were counted. A report will be presented to the members of the State Board of Elections at the April 20, 2012 meeting."
Copyright © 2012 Eric M.
Appleman/Democracy in
Action. All rights reserved.