Free Republic

The race to succeed Illinois Republican Sen. Peter Fitzgerald was thrown wide open Tuesday after the first-term senator said he wouldn't seek reelection next year. Fitzgerald's announcement at Chicago's Union League Club complicated GOP efforts not only to hold onto the seat but also to retain the party's paper-thin one-vote edge in the Senate. Republicans who may seek the Senate seat include former Gov. Jim Edgar, former attorney general Jim Ryan, State Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka, Chicago businessman Andrew McKenna Jr., and Rep. Ray LaHood of Peoria. On the Democratic side of the race, potential candidates include investment bank Blair...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Within hours of Illinois Sen. Peter Fitzgerald's surprise announcement that he will not seek re-election, top Illinois Republicans were courting former two-term Gov. Jim Edgar to become the party's standard bearer in 2004. "He's clearly our dream candidate," said Bob Kjellander, an Illinois member of the Republican National Committee, who spoke with Edgar early Tuesday before Fitzgerald publicly confirmed his decision. Edgar, a moderate who has twice rejected party appeals to run for Senate and retired as a popular incumbent in 1999, said the race was wide open and he was not ready to enter it. "I...