Illinois House Republican Organization

As has been well documented, 2006 was an extremely difficult election cycle nationally for Republicans. To complicate matters in Illinois, the IL GOP had faced several scandals the previous cycle and was left without a viable statewide contender in 2004 at the top of the ticket. At the top of the ticket in 2006, there was an unpopular Democratic Governor, but he outspent his opponent by more than three to one. While the GOP candidate for Governor never had the opportunity to fully capitalize on Governor Blagojevich’s unpopularity, many state house candidates did.

The caucus commissioned American Viewpoint to conduct polling in the targeted 12 districts. Rather than taking a "cookie-cutter" approach to these races, benchmarks were conducted in each of the districts with different issues tested depending on the makeup of each race.

While each district had its own unique issues, a common theme was seen throughout - voters were unhappy with the leadership of the Governor and the direction the state was headed. Much of the messaging was focused on tying Democratic incumbents to the Governor and "Chicago political bosses." This strategy put the Democrats on the defense, forcing them to spend resources in what were thought to be relatively safe seats, rather than aggressively competing against potentially vulnerable GOP incumbents.

Weekly brushfire surveys were conducted in the key districts during the final month of the campaign where most of the key pickup opportunities tightened for the Republicans. These brushfires allowed the caucus leadership to adjust messaging and reallocate resources where it was needed most.