Illinois Democrats alarmed by the presence of Lyndon LaRouche candidates on their primary ballot have had little effect in calling the potential risk to the attention of voters, results of a new Tribune poll suggest.
A month before the March 15 election, most voters still cannot distinguish between the LaRouche disciples and “real” Democrats, the poll found, and almost half of Democratic voters don’t know or feel strongly enough about LaRouche to be concerned about his candidates.
Once again, the primary for lieutenant governor looms as the biggest risk for Democrats, and the contest for comptroller offers LaRouche’s stealth candidates a second opportunity for havoc.
In 1986, LaRouche followers were nominated for lieutenant governor and secretary of state, forcing Democratic gubernatorial nominee Adlai Stevenson III onto a doomed third-party ticket for the general election.
The new poll explains a sense of deja vu that has fallen over the campaign.
Now, as in 1986, there is little interest in the upcoming election and the ballots for lieutenant governor and comptroller are filled with relative unknowns. A high degree of volatility exists in both campaigns as the large percentage of undecided voters has increased since a similar Tribune poll was conducted last month.
In the race for lieutenant governor, state Sen. Penny Severns of Decatur is preferred by just 13 percent of likely Democratic primary voters over 10 percent for Palatine businesswoman Sheila Smith and 6 percent for the LaRouche candidate, Anthony Harper of Chicago, the poll found.
Seventy percent of voters are undecided about lieutenant governor, according to the latest survey, which was conducted Feb. 3-6.
Last month, Smith led with 14 percent to 12 percent for Severns and 8 percent for Harper; two-thirds of the likely voters were undecided in the poll conducted Jan. 5-9.
And there has been virtually no change in voter awareness of the candidates: 20 percent know of Harper, 23 percent have heard of Smith and 26 percent are aware of Severns, the poll found.
Similarly, little has changed in the crowded, ballot-bottom race for comptroller.
State Sen. Earlean Collins of Chicago is favored by 13 percent of the voters to 12 percent for Kane County Coroner Mary Lou Kearns; the LaRouche candidate, Mark Bender of Chicago, and Edward Schumann of La Grange each have 4 percent, the poll found. Sixty-six percent of voters are undecided about the comptroller nomination.
A month earlier, Collins led with 18 percent to 11 percent for Kearns, 6 percent for Bender and 5 percent for Schumann. The undecided vote then was 60 percent.
Few Democrats know who the comptroller hopefuls are. Less than a fifth of the likely voters can identify Bender or Schumann, only 28 percent recognize Collins and 32 percent can identify Kearns.
The numbers add up to confusion.
Confronted with the lineup of Democrats running for comptroller and lieutenant governor, 9 out of 10 likely voters do not know if the candidates are LaRouche followers or not.
The level of Democrats’ concern is evident in Smith’s campaign for lieutenant governor.
The Palatine Democrat is passing out a large handbill that identifies a smiling Smith to voters and alerts them, “Psst . . . Not the LaRouchie!” Smith’s camp also composed a ditty that concludes, “Vote Smith and not Jones.”
Sheila Smith is worried that the public has her confused with Sheila Jones, the LaRouche organizer and perennial candidate who is running in the Democratic primary for governor.
Smith held a news conference Monday to draw attention to her candidacy. “Unfortunately, a lot of Illinois voters don’t know who the LaRouche candidates are in this campaign. I’m actively focusing on it,” she said.
Indeed, 10 percent of likely voters mistakenly think Smith is a follower of LaRouche, the poll found, whereas 5 percent know she is not and 85 percent don’t know.
In other words, among Democrats who venture an opinion, nearly three out of five consider Smith, who unsuccessfully challenged Republican U.S. Rep. Philip Crane in 1992, to be a La Rouche follower.
However, the real LaRouche candidate in the primary, Harper, is known as such by just 2 percent of the voters, the poll found, while 94 percent don’t know if he is a LaRouche follower or not. Severns is also mistaken as a LaRouche follower by 2 percent of voters, according to the poll.
Lyndon LaRouche himself remains a shadowy figure for Democratic voters. Three-fourths of those likely to vote in the primary have heard of LaRouche. Fifty-five percent have an unfavorable impression of him, the poll found. But almost half of primary voters either lack awareness of LaRouche or don’t have an unfavorable opinion of him, the poll found.
That means nearly one out of two voters doesn’t know enough to be concerned that LaRouche candidates are on the ballot.
LaRouche is an extreme conservative who was paroled last month after serving 5 years in federal prison for mail fraud and conspiracy.
A Democratic candidate for president in every election year since 1976, LaRouche and his followers espouse theories that range from a drug conspiracy involving the Queen of England to plots by the United Nations and union school teachers to corrupt children.
Few people paid attention to the LaRouche slate in 1986 and two of his followers, Mark Fairchild and Janice Hart, were nominated as Democrats for lieutenant governor and secretary of state, respectively.
Then, as now, the greatest level of confusion and antipathy about the LaRouche candidates was in the African-American community and in Downstate counties.
Illinois Democratic Party Chairman Gary LaPaille has planned a public awareness campaign about the LaRouche candidates that will include a statewide radio campaign in March and handbills to be distributed by party organizations that identify the so-called “real” Democrats and the LaRouche followers.
“When you have a very quiet election campaign, like this one, voters go into the booth on Election Day and play the name game, voting for the one that sounds good,” LaPaille said. “We’re urging voters this time, if you don’t know the names, skip it and go on to the next race.”
