by John McCormick
DENVER – Illinois is the third-largest state in play amid the 22 states that will hold primaries and caucuses on Feb. 5, but Sen. Barack Obama has no plans of campaigning in his home state before the voting starts.
Obama said he expects to be in Chicago on Feb. 5, but does not plan to campaign there before then, he told the Tribune aboard his campaign plane as he flew from Kansas City to here Tuesday evening.
“If I can’t win in Illinois,” Obama said, not finishing the sentence.
A Tribune poll in December showed Obama with a 2-1 advantage over Sen. Hillary Clinton among Democrats looking to cast ballots in the Illinois presidential primary.
Obama is expected to campaign here Wednesday morning, before traveling to Arizona and California later in the day.