Presidential Elections 1988 Illinois

Illinois Sen. Paul Simon said Wednesday he is now convinced the Democratic nominating convention will be brokered and because of this, he will in effect begin his presidential campaign anew in Illinois on March 15 so that he can be one of the brokers. His decision to keep going despite finishing fourth in both Minnesota and South Dakota on Tuesday underscored how muddled the still-crowded Democratic presidential race is.

Illinois voters, after leaning much of the night in Michael Dukakis' direction, looked headed for George Bush territory. With 78% of the ballots counted, polls showed the Republican vice president with a growing lead over the Democratic governor. After a night of see-saw totals, Bush had a 51%-49% edge and the state's 24 electoral votes appeared to be in his column.

Democratic presidential aspirant Sen. Paul Simon, whose droopy earlobes, large lips, horned-rimmed glasses and nerdy bow tie disqualify him as a blow-dried and tailored Hollywood stereotype politician, is telling the party faithful in Illinois: "I want your vote in the beauty contest, if you can believe it." Good for a nervous laugh, the line masks the urgency of Simon's plea.

Propped at the edge of Steve Murphy's desk is a paste-up of an old local newspaper story headlined "A Beginner's Guide to Illinois Politics." The article is satire, but its presence in the 15th-floor Loop office is as much irony as joke. Murphy is the Illinois state director for Michael S. Dukakis, a veteran Democratic strategist dispatched from Washington to trouble-shoot the party's presidential drive in a key industrial swing state that is often a bellwether of national voting trends.

Kansas Sen. Bob Dole risked the fate of his floundering presidential hopes on a spin of the television dial Saturday night as he aired a live, last-ditch plea for votes from the landmark site of one of the classic 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates.

In Illinois, where politics is not a polite occupation, the surviving candidates for President are finally trying to show some manners. Or at least they are slapping each other like gentlemen, with white gloves. No more kicking and biting. In his commercials, for instance, Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis never mentions Illinois Sen. Paul Simon or Tennessee Sen. Albert Gore Jr., although his message criticizing them as unable to win the Democratic nomination is clear enough.

Just this once, George Bush's forces were pleased to cede the front pages and media frenzy to Bob Dole. As rumors and facts about the Kansas senator's campaign plans boomeranged across the Illinois landscape, Bush spent Friday happily courting farmers, his weakest spot in a state where recent polls put him ahead of Dole by more than 20 points. "I am not a farmer," Bush said at the Illinois Farm Bureau here, in an obvious understatement.

In the 1988 presidential campaign's first primary in a major industrial state, Illinois voters today will provide a test of strength for Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis, the Democrats' narrow front-runner, and give Vice President George Bush, the overwhelming favorite in the Republican race, an opportunity to all but clinch his party's nomination. Opinion polls in the closing hours of the Democratic campaign showed the state's two favorite sons, Sen. Paul Simon and the Rev.

Kansas Sen. Bob Dole on Monday vowed that not even a plea for party unity from the White House could get him to quit his fight for the Republican presidential nomination. Faced with another probable drubbing at the polls here today, Dole dug in his heels as he sharpened attacks on Vice President George Bush, the GOP front-runner. At the same time, he made it clear his campaign would move on to the next battlegrounds of Wisconsin and Connecticut no matter how badly Bush beat him here.

As Michael S. Dukakis spoke to about 50 supporters and onlookers at the airport here Monday, a blaring loudspeaker kept interrupting his campaign speech with announcements, including one requesting: "Julie, please go to the ticket counter." Finally in mild exasperation, Dukakis said: "Julie, please go to the ticket counter."

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, the second-place finisher in the Illinois primary, sought to draw attention Tuesday to his new lead among Democratic presidential contenders in popular votes cast so far in the primary season. But it was also apparent that the loss to Illinois Sen. Paul Simon here was not in line with his other finishes in the sense that it was more of a setback than a boost.

Sen. Paul Simon's victory in the Illinois primary Tuesday clearly was the product of "favorite son" provincialism and probably did little to point the Democratic Party nationally in the direction of an ultimate presidential nominee, the Los Angeles Times Poll found. Massachusetts Gov. Michael S.

On Tuesday morning, Sen. Paul Simon planted a few peach trees in the yard of his southern Illinois home so that at least "something constructive" would come out of the primary election day on which many saw his political future at risk. By Tuesday night, it was clear that Simon gained a lot more than just fruit trees in his back yard. "I have renewed my strength by touching the ground of Illinois," the senator said of his easy victory in the Illinois Democratic presidential primary.

Vice President Bush moved closer to clinching the Republican presidential nomination Tuesday by soundly beating Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole in the Illinois primary. The decisive victory, coming on the heels of Bush's 16-state sweep in last week's Super Tuesday primary, should give the vice president an almost insurmountable lead in the crucial count for delegates.

Sen. Paul Simon, one of Illinois' two favorite-son White House contenders, won the Democratic presidential primary here Tuesday, prolonging his own shaky candidacy and throwing the turbulent campaign for his party's nomination into further confusion. The Rev. Jesse Jackson, the other Illinois presidential aspirant, finished second. Massachusetts Gov. Michael S.

These two strangers got out of town long before sundown. Two of the Democratic candidates who rode triumphantly through Super Tuesday just a week earlier had holstered their guns and left Illinois well before Tuesday's showdown became a walk-away victory for favorite sons Sen. Paul Simon and the Rev. Jesse Jackson. By the time polls opened Tuesday, Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis was back in Boston and Tennessee Sen. Albert Gore Jr. was in Michigan stalking key endorsements.

A defiant Bob Dole vowed Sunday to continue his faltering drive for the Republican nomination no matter how poorly he fares in the Illinois primary on Tuesday. "Our new theme song when we leave here is going to be 'On Wisconsin,"' Dole said, referring to that state's April 5 primary. "We're going to hand out sheet music today and road maps to all the traveling press."

Despite his big lead, Bush campaigned in Illinois Sunday like an underdog trying to make up lost time. The vice president began his day with a visit to St. Hyacinth Church in Chicago, one of the largest Polish Roman Catholic churches in the nation, where 3,000 parishioners applauded his brief speech, which followed a Polish-language mass.

In the 1988 presidential campaign's first primary in a major industrial state, Illinois voters today will provide a test of strength for Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis, the Democrats' narrow front-runner, and give Vice President George Bush, the overwhelming favorite in the Republican race, an opportunity to all but clinch his party's nomination. Opinion polls in the closing hours of the Democratic campaign showed the state's two favorite sons, Sen. Paul Simon and the Rev.

Kansas Sen. Bob Dole on Monday vowed that not even a plea for party unity from the White House could get him to quit his fight for the Republican presidential nomination. Faced with another probable drubbing at the polls here today, Dole dug in his heels as he sharpened attacks on Vice President George Bush, the GOP front-runner. At the same time, he made it clear his campaign would move on to the next battlegrounds of Wisconsin and Connecticut no matter how badly Bush beat him here.