Of all the history that Illinois voters will write Tuesday, none will be as compelling as the decision made by a narrow band of Chicago and suburban neighborhoods on the fate of U.S. Rep. Dan Rostenkowski.
After decades of comfortable incumbency, Rostenkowski finds himself hobbled by a federal investigation and struggling to keep ahead of John Cullerton, a junior state senator from Chicago’s Northwest Side.
But it is only one of several races with historical promise. Elsewhere in Illinois, political barriers for women and minorities are certain to fall.
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Unless there is a major upset, Democrats are likely to nominate either a woman, Dawn Clark Netsch, or an African-American, Roland Burris, for governor. It will mark the first time that a major party has nominated a minority or woman for governor in Illinois.
Democrats will also give Penny Severns or Sheila Smith the nomination for lieutenant governor, unless a follower of political extremist Lyndon LaRouche sneaks off with the election.
Should Netsch and Severns or Smith win, November’s general election would pit a pair of women at the top of the Democratic ticket against a pair of men atop the Republican one.
In Cook County, Aurelia Pucinski or Maria Pappas will become the first woman or John Stroger will become the first African-American to win the Democratic nomination for president of the County Board.
And in DuPage County, two women are in a four-way race for the Republican nomination for County Board president. Again, if one of the women wins, it’s a first.
But none of this has drawn the attention being given to Rostenkowski’s struggle against Cullerton and three other challengers in the 5th Congressional District’s Democratic primary.
Heavy hitters from across the country have lined up to help protect Rostenkowski’s enormous power as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, which determines how the federal government collects money and how it spends it.
President Clinton has come to town to stand by his side. Industrial leaders, business giants, even a collection of college and university presidents have chimed in for Rostenkowski.
In one memorable sound bite, Mayor Richard Daley said, “I’d do anything for Dan Rostenkowski, any time, any place he wants me to go.”
On Friday, it was House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt’s (D-Mo.) turn to visit the 5th Congressional District to “speak up for my friend Dan Rostenkowski, who I believe should be renominated.”
Also Friday, Republican Gov. Jim Edgar, who will surely shun the Democratic ballot Tuesday, appeared with Rostenkowski to give him a boost anyway. “I would like to personally thank the congressman for his leadership,” he said.
The parade continued Saturday. Three of Rostenkowski’s Democratic house colleagues, Barbara Kennelly of Connecticut and Anna Eshoo and Nancy Pelosi of California, traveled to Chicago for a forum on women’s health hosted by Mercy Hospital and Medical Center that was little more than a Rostenkowski love-fest.
But all that may mean nothing to the voters of the district, a strip of mostly working-class neighborhoods running east to west from the lakefront on Chicago’s North Side to the county line.
“Mr. Rostenkowski’s staff always acts like we’re bothering them,” said a senior citizen who lives in a North Side Chicago Housing Authority seniors development.
“They only come around when they want you to vote for them,” said another, Lillian C. Martinez, 73.
At a precinct captains’ rally Saturday in the 38th Ward, organized by P.J. Cullerton, a relative of the challenger, Rostenkowski asked for their help Election Day and responded to assertions that he is out of touch with the district.
“In the 36 years I’ve been in Congress, I’ve come home every weekend with the exception of maybe 30,” he said. “That’s 30 weekends over 36 years. Once was because of the death of John F. Kennedy. Another time it was for a civil rights vote. I’ve been here.”
Cullerton has waged an aggressive, sometimes negative campaign, portraying one rival, former Ald. Dick Simpson, as a religious extremist and Rostenkowski as corrupt. Cullerton has stressed local concerns such as crime and education.
Although Rostenkowski has not been charged with wrongdoing, he has been damaged by a federal investigation that grew out of the House post office scandal.
On the campaign trail, he says he wants to win so he can help Clinton reform the nation’s health care system.
“I’d like to close out my career doing probably the most important thing since Franklin Roosevelt and Social Security,” he said recently.
Despite the potentially history-making races in the 5th District and elsewhere in Illinois, the relatively low-key election campaign has failed to quicken the pulse in the body politic. Voter turnout is expected to be low.
Toppling race and gender barriers in politics, it seems, has become old hat.
Oddly, that could be healthy. As women and minorities have been filling in the ranks of political offices, it is becoming increasingly commonplace for them to rise into higher positions.
“People aren’t seeing this as exceptional,” said John Frendreis, professor of political science at Loyola University. “They’re seeing these candidates as themselves first and then as symbols later.”
This could undermine traditional political thinking, which says women will vote for Netsch because she’s a woman and African-Americans will vote for Burris because he’s black. In fact, recent Tribune polls have shown that Netsch isn’t doing that much better among women than among men and Burris has been unable to nail down the black vote.
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There’s history of another kind that could be made in another congressional race.
U.S. Rep. Philip Crane, a conservative first elected in 1969, has his hands full with three challengers in the Republican primary in the 8th Congressional District. With voters still in an anti-incumbent mood, challengers are trying to make those 24 years of experience a liability, not an asset.
Crane never had much trouble in his primary campaigns until the last one, when Palatine businessman Gary Skoien mounted an aggressive campaign and came within 10 percentage points of winning.
Skoien is back, still scrappy, and this time he has been joined by challengers State Sen. Peter Fitzgerald (R-Inverness) and Barrington attorney Judy McCracken Svenson.
Despite the abundance of important races, fewer than a third of eligible voters are expected to turn out, and some election officials predict that the turnout could be as low as 25 percent.
Lack of interest in the statewide races other than governor could give candidates aligned with Lyndon LaRouche what they rely on most in their campaigns-anonymity.
Democratic leaders have been trying to help voters identify the LaRouche candidates, especially Sheila A. Jones (for governor), Anthony Harper (lieutenant governor), Rose-Marie Love (secretary of state), Mark Bender (comptroller) and Thomas Beaudette (treasurer).
The LaRouche candidates stand their best chance of winning by hiding on the ballot and hoping to get votes by dumb luck.
A LaRouche victory, however, would not be historic. In 1986, two LaRouche backers came out of nowhere to win Democratic primary elections for lieutenant governor and secretary of state.
That forced gubernatorial nominee Adlai Stevenson to abandon the Democratic Party and run on a doomed third-party ticket-a bit of history that Democrats hope will not be repeated.