GOP at Illinois State Fair

Yesterday was Republican Day at the State Fair. Mitt Romney won the day in the GOP presidential stakes. Tribune:

Romney's win, with 40.4 percent, or 373 votes, marked his second straw poll win in less than a week. On Saturday, he won the much larger and more influential Iowa Straw Poll in Ames, a fundraiser for the GOP in the first-in-the-nation caucus state, with 31.6 percent.

CNN Political Ticker:

Illinois state Republican party chairman, Andy McKenna, said Romney won the Illinois Straw poll at the Illinois State Fair. "Congratulations to Mitt Romney, whose strong showing today indicates he has begun to put together a strong statewide organization," McKenna said. "There's no question that Illinois' demographics closely match those of the United States and this could be an indication as to whom Illinois voters are leaning toward this coming February."

Fred Thompson, who is expected to officially announce in September, came in 2nd at just under 20% of the vote.

Final Results:

1. Mitt Romney – 40.35%
2. Fred Thompson – 19.96%
3. Ron Paul – 18.87%
4. Rudy Giuliani – 11.61%
5. John McCain – 4.12%
6. Mike Huckabee – 3.04%
7. Sam Brownback – 1.08%
8. Duncan Hunter - .65%
9. Tom Tancrado - .33%

In contrast to the Democrat Disunity Day on Wednesday, referred to as a dud by at least one commentator, Republicans presented well. Hinsdale businessman Jim Nalepa announced an exploratory bid for the US Senate and commented to CBS2's Mike Flannery:

“With the debacle the Democrats have shown down here in Springfield, I think this gives us an enormous opportunity, when we come together, to take advantage of the Democrats' disarray,” said Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Jim Nalepa.

Flannery noted the crowd was surprisingly energetic despite rainy weather for the first half of the day. And confirmed candidate and family physician Steve Sauerberg met supporters at the Fair:

“The taxpayers, families, and seniors of Illinois want new leadership and real results, not more excuses from professional politicians, like Dick Durbin, who are responsible for the mess in Washington and here in Springfield.”

“What we saw yesterday was more dysfunction from out-of-touch career politicians,” said Sauerberg. “We have a responsibility to future generations of Americans to recognize something that Dick Durbin and his good friend Rod Blagojevich won’t – that the system is broken. We owe it to the hardworking men and women of this state to work to find better solutions to the challenges our country faces.”

“The voters of Illinois deserve a Senator who represents their values and a Senator who remembers that he works for the people of this state – not the ultra-liberal special interest groups,” concluded Sauerberg. “After 37 years on the public payroll, Dick Durbin has lost his way. Dick Durbin is part of what is wrong with our political system, and our campaign is part of the solution.

When I am the Senator from Illinois, I will fight for the taxpayers, families, and seniors of this great state, because we all deserve better.”

With Dick Durbin's leadership of the Do-Nothing Democrats in Washington and his most recent ethics' stumble in pandering to the extreme left of the Democrat Party at YearlyKos, Durbin is emblematic of Illinois Democrats---incompetent and corrupt.

Latest presidential primary polling at RCP.