Elginites defeated

The two Elginites competing for the GOP nomination for lieutenant governor came in at second and third place, it appears.

Birkett got 50 percent of the vote, with 54 percent of precincts reporting. State Sen. Steve Rauschenberger (R-Elgin) had 30 percent, Kane County Recorder Sandy Wegman had 14 percent and attorney Lawrence Bruckner of Downstate Thomson had 6 percent. (Source: Chicago Sun-Times)

Sandy Wegman is perhaps still viable as a future candidate, but this may be the end of Rauschenberger's political career.

Rauschie's major missteps in this campaign:

1. Blaming Topinka for the Keyes affair. This didn't square with what voters read in the papers. The papers had always been consistent in pointing to him and Dave Syverson as the primary proponents of an Alan Keyes nomination.
2. Paying his brother $44K for 6 months of campaign advice.
3. Saying he would not run with Topinka, and later telling the Courier in the same breath that that was "still true," but that he would run with Topinka. Did you get that? He said it was true that he would not run with Topinka and true that he would run with Topinka. Massachusetts voters may know how to make sense of such a statement, but Illinois voters don't.
4. Seeming to endorse one candidate and supporting that candidate's rival at the same time. This was the final straw for those who gave him the benefit of the doubt over numbers 1, 2 & 3. The conclusion they now drew was that Rauschenberger could not be trusted.