More than just casting a ballot, Illinois voters on Election Day will also be making a generational statement, a choice between a Republican ticket fielded by an entrenched, aging party apparatus and a Democratic slate featuring many old political names served up in a more youthful package.
Republicans have held the governor’s office for 26 uninterrupted years, and more than one-third of the state’s population has never seen a Democrat inhabit the Executive Mansion. But after years of promoting strong candidates from within the ranks, the Republican’s once-strong political bench is all but depleted, and the Grand Old Party is living up to its name in more ways than one.
The Democratic drought has lasted so long that the party has turned to the offspring of its leaders to make an election breakthrough. The new Democrats, while well coached in the ways of the political dynasties they sprung from, are actively exploiting their relative youth in making the case for change.
“I definitely think there is a generational piece to the campaign that we benefit from,” said Rod Blagojevich, the Democratic candidate for governor and the son-in-law of veteran Chicago ward boss Dick Mell. “Young people bring an idealism, and we haven’t had a leader of my generation in the Illinois governor’s office yet.”
Blagojevich, 45, is 11 years the junior of his GOP rival, Atty. Gen. Jim Ryan. Democrat Lisa Madigan, the 35-year-old daughter of Michael Madigan, is running for attorney general against Republican Joe Birkett, who is 12 years older. Tom Dart, the 39-year-old son of a former aide to the late Mayor Richard J. Daley, is the Democrat challenging Republican Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka, 58. An exception is Democrat Secretary of State Jesse White, who is 18 years older than his Republican challenger, Kristine O’Rourke Cohn, 50.
In promoting the age differentials between the members of the tickets, the Democrats have launched a new campaign subtext to argue that problems that have dogged the GOP this election season are a result of having held power for too long.
But Republicans contend that the maturity of their roster of candidates highlights experience developed from hard work and contrasts with a Democratic ticket dictated by lineage.
“We could make a lot of hay about a Democratic ticket that’s a result of being heirs apparent,” said state Rep. Brent Hassert, a Republican from Romeoville, “but we’re too busy chasing our own tails.”
The Democratic youth movement represents a swinging of the political pendulum.
Disco was king when an energetic young Republican, a scandal-busting former prosecutor named Jim Thompson, defeated an aging Democratic machine fixture named Michael Howlett in the 1976 race for governor. Thompson’s election ushered in a new wave of Republican leadership that remains entrenched more than a decade after Thompson retired from politics.
GOP `bullpen’ lacking
“The Republicans have not been as good as they should have been in keeping a bullpen going and bringing people up through the ranks,” acknowledged Topinka. “Part of the problem is complacency among the ranks of Republicans, and that we always get down to that old Machiavellian way of doing business–that power is never shared. Those that have are reluctant to give it up. You need to go out of your way to encourage young people to get into these races and give them some standing in the party.”
The theme of youth development was a critical part of Democratic Comptroller Daniel Hynes election win four years ago at the age of 30. Hynes capitalized on the name and connections of father Tom Hynes, a former Cook County assessor and president of the Illinois Senate. Still, Dan Hynes launched his campaign in 1997 by urging party leaders to recognize that Democrats needed youth.
“There’s definitely a positive image created by the youthfulness of our ticket,” said Hynes. “The image is especially helpful this year because unlike ever before, there is a clamoring for change. Politicians love to say the word `change,’ but candidates need to embody change and look like change.”
Six years ago, Hynes began hosting a political fundraising event that has now become an established annual social soiree on Navy Pier for thousands of young adults.
“It’s really a way to get 4,000 people to come to one place and hear from a candidate and sign their name on a list so they can be called later to see if they’re registered and then to get them to vote,” said Hynes, who is running for re-election against the Republican ticket’s youngest candidate, Thomas Jefferson Ramsdell III, 35. “It really has become an opportunity for us to get them together and get them active in politics.”
Blagojevich has borrowed the fundraising concept and recently held a downtown event that transcended politics and often appeared to be more of a singles mixer. More than 600 “young professionals” sipped wine and beer and mingled to the sounds of a band as they awaited the candidate’s arrival.
“Oh my God! My friend and I just had to shake his hand,” said a twenty-something woman who declined to give her name. “To me, he represents the idealism of the New Democrats. And he looks really, really good too.”
Leadership shake-up possible
Fearing a sweep by Democrats, some Republicans are predicting that such an outcome could lead to a shake-up in their leadership ranks in the legislature. House GOP leader Lee Daniels, 60, has served in the chamber since 1973, while 72-year-old Senate President James “Pate” Philip has been a member of the General Assembly since 1967. Among those touted for leadership roles are Reps. Tom Cross of Oswego, 44, and Dan Rutherford of Chenoa, 47, and Sens. Kirk Dillard of Hinsdale, 47, and Bill Brady of Bloomington, 41.
Other Republicans have taken it upon themselves to grow the party, building upon President George W. Bush’s 2000 campaign and the creation of “Young Professionals for Bush” organizations. Doug Ibendahl and his fiance, Cathy Santos, have kept the Illinois Bush group alive as Republican Young Professionals. They try to use social events to spur GOP political thought among the doctors, attorneys and accountants who live in Chicago but tend to vote Democratic. “We’re trying to attract those younger people who are just starting a family or starting to think about it,” Ibendahl said. “And we’re looking for those people who are least likely to look for government to solve their problems.”
“As Republicans have lost ground … we’ve closed ranks even more,” Santos said. “We should be doing just the opposite.”
But with many leading Republicans acknowledging that their party has rested on its laurels for too long, a cataclysmic election result could eventually plant the seeds for a new future.
“What we are faced with after November is starting from scratch,” said one leading Republican official. “Sometimes you have to burn down the forest to let the grass grow.”
