why every vote counts. under a democratic president, it's republicans who think they'll be celebrating by night's end. >> but in illinois, every major race is a toss up. night's end could be many hours and vote counts away. >> and we're following it all from illinois governor to senator to cook county board. it's election night on wgn. good evening to you and welcome. we've been here a couple of hours in these seats on our sister station cltv and wgn now. for election coverage decision 2010. i'm mark suppelsa. >> we want to welcome our wgn

america viewers as well. we want to see where we stand right now in the big races right now. >> let's start with the illinois governor's race. with 51% of precincts reporting, we've got 51-42 pat quinn over bill brady. scott lee cohen dragging out at the bottom. >> and we've got 36% of the precincts reporting for u.s. senate. giannoulias 54% and mark king 41%. >> cook county board president toni preckwinkle running away with it. let's see what she has to say. ♪ [ music ] >> thank you. thank you very much. thank you very much. thank you. ♪ [ music ]

thank you. thank you, thank you. ♪[ music ] >> thank you very much.

i'm proud to stand here as your next cook county board president. [ cheering ] nearly two years have passed since i first announced my candidacy. when we started, the conventional wisdom was that i was a long shot. [ laughter ] the least-known candidate in the race. but the conventional wisdom failed to measure the depths of dissatisfaction amongst the people of cook county. i've spent the last two years

learning about the issues facing us. i've covered the county from corner to corner speaking with thousands of residents about how cook county government could serve them better. i want to say this to the residents of cook county: for far too long you've seen your taxes go up with less and less to show for it. many have questioned whether our county is still capable of creating the change we desperately need. but i believe that it's a new day in cook county. [ cheering ] and with all of your help, i'm confident that we can meet the challenges before us. and tonight we can celebrate the opportunity we've been

given. i promise to make the most of it. we're going to cut taxes. we're going to clean up county government. [ cheering ] by ending patronage and doing everything in our power to root out the waste and fraud that's cost taxpayers millions of dollars. [ cheering and applause ] we will deliver a county government of which we can all be proud. as a history teacher, i've often said that democracy is at the same time the best and most fragile form of government on earth for the same reason it requires an active engaged citizenry. we've put on a long journey and

i wouldn't be here withoutout. i'm grateful for the love and support of my family, my long suffering husband zues. and my children and grandchildren. i want to thank my parents who were both public servants and who encouraged me to go for a life of public service. i want to acknowledge the hard work and countless hours put in by my staff and interns and volunteers. thank you. [ cheering and applause ] >> toni preckwinkle, the first elected female to the cook

county board president. giving her congratulations and thanks to all her followers. now we come back to decision 2010 here at wgn and we pull out and introduce our guest, our key analyst here tonight. we've got clarence page on the right from the chicago tribune. >> and on the left -- figuratively. >> why do you chuckle at that? >> she's playing tricks. >> there she is. preckwinkle is in there. we mentioned before that a lot of people in that county board, there are a lot of mayor daley's people what's going to happen? >> does he still meet to decide what to tell the board president? >> does he? >> well, we'll have to see. but toni preckwinkle, congratulations. >> can she be the reformer she claims she could be when she

was running? >> she's been in the political light 20 years. i remember when she defeated for alderman many years ago when we were much younger. >> all of us. >> and i used to believe in people riding white horses and reforming that way. they don't do it. we'll have to see what she does. look, the county government is full of waste and corruption. so is the city government and state government. >> we do those stories every night. >> they'll stop now because she's in? >> she's in to reform, isn't she? >> she pitches that way but we'll have to see what the decisions are. >> i want to congratulate her too. after decades of cook county leadership being so predictable, anybody would have expected 20 years ago that preckwinkle would be the board

president. it would be a north side or south side irish guy. with sensible shoes. and i think she's -- she's awesome. i like her personally. and she does bring a different sense of purpose to the job. the question for her and the challenge is whether or not she'll be able to deal with the entrenched interests. the guys in the highway department. those guys. the people who pour the asphalt, the people who pour the concrete. they expect certain things. >> and they carried both stroger's waters for years and years and year. let's talk about the illinois governor race for a moment. pat quinn, stiff competition. bill brady. here are the numbers we're seeing as we speak with 51% of the precincts reporting. a lot of this early stuff we believe may be cook county -- although 80% of the illinois

population lives above i-80, bill brady did well enough in the primary down state in central illinois to pull that thing off. so the best is yet to come in terms of these numbers. >> again, as you were saying earlier it depends on where the numbers are coming from. >> we've all done elections for a long time. people watching this have seen a lot of election coverage. although this is awesome election coverage; right? and i think they understand that there comes a time when these decisions are made. >> let's make this election coverage more awesomer. tom negovan is live in bloomington right now. >> reporter: you guys have a way with words. those numbers you're talking about have really set the tone here in bloomington. ever been to a party where everybody hangs out in the kitchen? you have that scenario here. you don't see a lot of bill brady supporters behind me right now. but they're here. at times when the band's not

playing you can hear a pin drop in this room and the reason obviously the numbers crawling across the bottom of your screen. the numbers referencing this race. bill brady and the gop see that being a cook county issue. an issue of where the numbers are coming from. let's take you upstairs here at the hotel upstairs to a room that wgn camera crew has left just a short time ago where state senator bill brady and company are watching those returns coming in with nervous anticipation. he described it to me a while ago, big smile on his face, but said he was just cautiously optimistic about the way tonight would go. have a listen. >> hard work. great campaign team. great volunteer staff. people of illinois are energized and interested. it's a clean break from the past.

the blagojevich era hasn't helped illinois. people need to feel good about illinois again. >> reporter: upstairs right now brady is watching those numbers come in with great interest as are folks here and pat brady who joins us live. thanks for making time for us. how are you feeling tonight? there's a lot of tension in this room given the way the numbers are unfolding. >> you know what? let's look at the bigger picture too. three or four congressional seats to pick up. and adam and bobby. you feel grate about that. the numbers for the brady campaign are coming in like we thought they would. it's going to be a long night but our numbers are coming where we thought they would. >> reporter: anything can happen. >> anything can happen. down state hasn't come in, king county hasn't. so we've got a ways to go but we're where we thought we should be. >> reporter: you haven't

wavered all night on our predictions. >> it's been pretty solid. we have a lot of time. >> reporter: a long night yet to come. thank you for taking time with us. the chairman of the illinois gop watching the numbers with us in bloomington. back to you. >> thank you. one of the most important and most powerful races or offices here that we've talked about many times cook county assessor claypool. try he's ready to say something any moment. >> it's never easy to lose. but sometimes there can be victory in defeat. and the way to do that is i think what we've done in this campaign. you plant seeds. and we planted seeds in this defeat. seeds that will grow and be harvested by others. and all my career, my entire public career i've tried to plant seeds. seeds of liberty against

oppressive, abusive government. seeds of decency on behalf of the most vulnerable. the people who are increasingly squeezed out by the voracios appetite. and fairness for people who aren't in the club. people who aren't in the tribe of our patronaged based politics here in cook county. on behalf of those people, i fought my entire career. i hope tonight you will leave this room and plant your own seeds of liberty, fairness, and decency. thank you all. [ applause ] >> claypool conceding to berrios. very emotional i would say. >> the numbers don't look good.

47-32 with 70 plus precincts reporting. he was the guy -- we were talking about it before on cltv. he was the guy that said he was taking on berrios who was the guy with the backing of everybody of city hall to mike madigan. looks like the berrios campaign wins it out. >> the first thing: you control the apparatus. the machine controls how the elections work. they control everything about it. the amount of fight like this, this is a real reformer to talk about other people who talk about reform. this guy in some sense really has changed in the last 20 years and is going after him. i think he truly believes about the entrenched interest, the corruption and the way he said it just now, i'm thinking is this the man to stop the

grandfather? >> you want him to run for mayor too? >> he should think about it. the man's got to be exhausted but can i tell you something? >> wouldn't he will political toast at this point? >> you know what? i'm not going to tell someone to jump in to the ring if he doesn't want to jump into it. but that's the kind of message that has to go out here. over and over and over again until these bosses are gone. >> clarence, you talked to these gentlemen and women running for that assessors office. you were kind of astounded in the archaic way that property taxes are assessed by that office. >> there's such a high level of tolerance not just for corruption but the apparatus of corruption in cook county and statewide for that matter. but you see this in cases like the assessors office where the simple mechanics of the office have been kept in a medieval state so they can be

manipulated. it's remarkable. >> if you're in cook county voting in this race, you did not get your property taxes. you should have had your property taxes a long time ago. you're not going to get them until the day you start brining your thanksgiving day turkey. claypool and others have made that suggestion and you got to think that maybe there's truth to it. but the fact is there's no coincidences in politics. you don't get your property tax, there's a reason. they don't want you to be angry when you go to the polls. >> also mentioned that berrios is now giving a victory speech. we're not inside, but we will get information from the outside. there she is. muriel what is that? giving the victory speech correct? >> how does it not sound?

apparently she can't hear us. >> we'll come back to her as soon as we can and we have a video feed of that acceptance speech but he won't let other cameras in so we're waiting. [ overlapping speakers ] >> we were interviewing him tonight for the first time the chicago tribune cartoonist and he's been drawing all night for us. what's on the board right now? >> right now is actually the cartoon that's going to appear in tomorrow's chicago tribune. we were talking about how toni preckwinkle has won the assessor's office -- not the assessor's office. she's walking into the office of the cook county board president. and on the cartoon everything has been removed from the walls, the fixtures and one of my favorite details is that even the doorknobs have been stolen spray painted on the wall of course. it says lots of luck lady. that's what she's walking into. john has a great point. she may be a reformer.

she may have great intentions but she's walking into these swirling things that will tear hearth shreds because of the entrenched interest that we tolerate here are still in place. >> tell us how you do this drawing. if someone sees this mechanical board, how's it working? >> this is what i did earlier when we were talking to another guest. here's our crack team here in the newsroom. this is a tablet i can draw collectively on it. i'm posting the cartoons to my blog as i draw. you can see them as i draw them. as the night progresses, you're going to find that i'm going to be doing cartoons on those subjects and all night. >> one thing people don't really get from watching this and i sit next to him so i know. we have to go out when it's done on the paper, he's doing

something we might have some fresh air and then we come back in and i'm like man i can't write this column. or he says this cartoon is this and we go back and forth. he is really the best at his job. he's an awesome cartoonist. >> we are honored to have you here. >> thank you. >> our coverage of decision 2010 continues after a short break. >> kumbaya. in illinois we have tight races. we'll look at those when we come back.

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the gop who said they're polling some 60% down state. now, what that means, how far down state? how many precincts? i have no idea. but there's still optimism there. that's why i think we're in for a long night. >> all right. we are going to talk about the illinois senate race. this will be critical and the balance of power in congress is at stake tonight. we see where we are right now with 62% of the precincts reporting. most of you who went to the polls today voted twice because this is to continue obama's term. >> this is that eight week session. >> roland burris ends tonight. and the senator will go until early january. >> and the second vote is for the full term. that was the first one and this is the second. was it the same? i didn't notice. >> plus or minus one. >> let's go to bob jordan who is at the giannoulias camp right now and find out how

things are feeling down there. >> reporter: well, i can tell you that throughout the evening we've been watching these numbers as has the supports who are here in the headquarters. and of course the early numbers show giannoulias with a much larger lead. and as the overall precincts have been coming in up until now with 63% showing giannoulias with 49%, kirk with 46%, jones 3%, we are seeing these numbers get increasingly closer together. i have a political veteran with me here congressman danny davis who knows how to read the tea leaves as well as the numbers 37 what does this tell you? >> it means that things are pretty close. but it also means that you got to know where those numbers are coming from. i'm not exactly sure although i understand that lots of numbers have not come in from down state. but there might also be some places in cook county where the

numbers have not come in yet. and maybe the two will balance each other off. and that's what i'm hoping. so i'm still hoping that alexi is going to maintain a lead. and i'll take a three point. i mean, i'll take a two point as long as there's a victory. >> reporter: and it looks as though these other two candidates with a combined 5% could make a difference here. >> it does indeed. i always say to people that one vote sometimes makes all the difference in the world. sometimes people think their vote does not matter or our ten votes don't matter. but there have been so many places in history where just a few votes separated the winners from the losers. so if you want to be on the winning side, you better make sure that you vote when you have a chance. >> reporter: quickly, what's the landscape going to be like when you get back to

washington? how will you deal with that? >> well, i'm optimistic that nancy pelosi is still going to be the speaker, that we're going to hold on and be in control of the house. but any way you cut it, the tightness and closeness is going to require a tremendous amount of diplomatic political maneuverance and people figuring out how to do bipartisan legislation so the country can move forward. >> reporter: thank you so much congressman danny davis. as we see a trend happening here, these numbers are getting closer and closer. so we could be in for a long night. it's all a wait and see now. >> robert jordan is right.

chicagotribune.com reporting 66% precincts. >> reporter: we were talking to the press secretary and she said we are down by 19,000 votes statewide. i asked her what percent reporting in and she didn't know. she also said that while it is festive here, it's a little fearful because the early numbers or chicago numbers, cook county numbers and that is certainly not his support base. according to the spokesperson, she said that 65% of the city vote alone -- just the city -- they're receiving 23% of the vote and they think that is very good. what we're not hearing from are big support groups like champaign county. another one that's just trickling in is dupage county. they have been very supportive of mark kirk in the past. and joining me right now is somebody who knows dupage

county well, that's joe burkett the county attorney. >> i think the trend is looking good for kirk and brady. i think there's a very good likelihood that mark kirk will be the next senator from illinois and bill brady will be the next governor. based on my own experience, i don't know the numbers like some people do, but i feel very good about these numbers. they're doing much better in cook county than some republicans have done in the past and who have still squeezed out victories. i feel good. the democrats know it's a turnout race. they had workers out all day because they knew there would be high down state turnout. there was a high down state turnout. i think that spells victory for bill brady and kirk.

it's going to be a long night. >> reporter: a lot of people are saying that. how important is the dupage county vote? >> it's critical. it's the second largest vote total in illinois. it just is saturated with democratic votes in cook county. dupage is very important. he's well known there. he's well liked. i think the conservative base came out for mark kirk. and that's the sense that i got just talking to people about their concerns about mark's stance on social issues. i think conservatives did turn out for mark kirk. and i think bill brady and mark kirk complimented everybody on this ballot. i'm very optimistic. >> reporter: as a candidate in races, you know all too well how difficult it is this night when it's a tight race. what do you think he's feeling right now? >> well, he's nervous. he's looking at the numbers and just hopeful.

he knows -- i know one thing. mark kirk left everything on the field. he spent every bit of energy he could and worked very hard. i think he's a man of great integrity and should be judged on what he's done in his career and not what others say about him. i think he'll be a great united states senator. >> reporter: thank you very much for joining us. he of course is referring to the character issue which has just covered this race. now, i have covered mark kirk for about ten years and i think the toughest race he ever faced was his first congressional race ten years ago and the numbers showed it. he won by 51% of the vote. that could be a repeat tonight weather it's a win or a loss. everybody seems to think it's going to be a very tight race. i did want to show you one last thing before we leave the kirk group. this is what's being handed out right now. people are being optimistic.

it is something where you can take orders of a collectible of mark kirk winning and you can order those right after it happens tonight. so i'd say there's some optimism in this night. back to you. >> i think you're right. republicans are very uptight about the fact that absentee ballots are not being counted tonight -- some of them not being counted night according to cook county. and pat brady in bloomington says they're going to file suit because there's several thousands of them down there. >> have we seen this before? >> whenever it gets close, democrats or republicans, people's fear and anxiety is high. sometimes there's shenanigans, sometimes there's not. just have to wait and see. clearly people are making these

charges because it's a close race and there's a lot at stake. you know what's at stake? billions of dollars of your money that they want to spend. that's why it's a big deal. >> that's what it comes down to. holding back the river wards came from chicago. and we sit in dupage county as well where republican votes are -- we're still waiting for them to report out. just two years ago about 10:00 at night we thought that the race was over and all of a sudden a couple of truckloads of ballots disappeared. like on their way to downtown chicago and we stayed up late waiting to find this truck out there. >> i've got some big news to report right now. in the 22nd representative district, house speaker mike madigan is the boss of illinois. he's killing the guy that he's running against john patrick

ryan. who never had a campaign sign. even john patrick ryan's mom and dad and neighbors didn't know he was running. right? i mean, this is perfect that this is the guy i should have endorsed. i'm sorry a lot of people said you should endorse this guy ryan. i think he works at streets and san and after this election being a stooge or a patsy or whatever you want to call it, i hope that he becomes foreman. he might get a job at a foreman. what do you think? at least. or maybe deputy commissioner. >> as we understand it, john, the woman that you think may be governor in four years is about to take the stand after winning the attorney general tonight. others say she may run for mayor. i don't know maybe. she is about to take the stand. >> podium, not the stand. >> podium. [ laughter ] >> telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

lisa madigan with a predictably huge lead with 67% of the precincts reporting. we'll go to her as soon as she takes the podium and not the stand. john, you really think the way the combine as you call the state works is that boss madigan meaning her father would love nothing more than to have her eventually moved into the governor's mansion once the current governor who is declared winner sometime today or tomorrow or very soon has to raise taxes, anger the voters, try and balance the budget. she comes in on a white horse, cleans it all up. >> i don't call him governor jell-o for nothing. i mean, that's why we used the jell-o thing. governor quinn is governor jell- o when it comes to boss madigan. he'll do what -- he'll flip and do pet tricks.

and madigan wants his daughter to be governor. and they're going to do whatever they can. they'll probably call her a reformer by the time we're done tonight she'll be the biggest vote getter in the history for women. and call her reformer. >> did you say your cartoonist is the one that called him governor jell-o. >> no, john did it first. it was an homage. >> it was homage. that means what? without sauce? >> it means i stole it. >> also we're expecting now governor quinn -- i mean brady -- >> hold on to that thought. we're going to madigan who has taken the podium. >> susie, thank you very much for that wonderful introduction and thank you for all of the work that you have done for me and my campaign. i greatly appreciate the support. [ cheering and applause ]

well, i am delighted that so many of you could be here with us tonight. i am really delighted that all of you could be here to celebrate this victory on behalf of the people of the state of illinois. [ cheering and applause ] i can tell you that i am very thankful and very proud that i have been given another opportunity to serve as your attorney general. which [ cheering and applause ] it is a privilege every single day to make illinois a safer and more just place for all of us.

as illinois attorney general, it is my highest priority to fight for those who often cannot fight for themselves. our children, women, the elderly, consumers, and in this economy homeowners. i help solve problems every day that the people of illinois face. and i take my duties as the people's lawyer seriously. because i care deeply about the future of our families, our communities and our state. and i believe that the work my office does makes illinois a better place to live. [ cheering and applause ] because of the work that i have done along with the help of my dedicated and committed staff, we have received recognition and support from throughout the

state of illinois. i receive the endorsements of every major newspaper in the state of illinois. that was a shock. >> we're going to break away from lisa madigan. let's now go to muriel who is with berrios. >> reporter: there are a lot of happy smiling faces standing around us. and we have the candidate himself joseph berrios who earlier said that he wanted to thank his fiercest opponent mr. claypool for calling him. and he said that it has been a really nasty fight, but that he took the high road. how are you feeling now? >> i'm feeling absolutely fabulous. i'm glad the voters and taxpayers have shown their support and trusted my election and that confided in me to make

sure the assessor's office runs as fair as can be. that will be my main objective to make sure that no taxpayer pays more than his share of the property taxes. >> reporter: you yourself had said it had been a nasty fight. as you know your campaign underwent a lot of scrutiny. what is your reaction to that? >> to be honest with you, i wish i could have paid for all that free advertising that my opponent had during the general election. but we carried our message through. and people saw through all that. people saw that all of the dirt and negativity of the election were false accusations. i thank my family for believing in me. i thank my supporters for believing in me and working hard to make sure we had a great victory here today on november 2. i want to especially thank toni preckwinkle who i look forward

to working with in county government to make sure every person in cook county is treated fairly. >> reporter: what are the things that you said -- what are you going to do? are you going to do anything to change that office? or to beat back some of these nasty things that you said have been said? >> sure. my plans are to make the assessor's office a fair office for -- >> your grandson wants to say goodbye. >> that's my grandson. he's leaving. >> reporter: his grandson wanted to make a came-- cameo. >> i plan on opening the offices up on saturdays so they don't have to take a day off of work to correct an error the government has made. it will have so much more information so people can understand how we got to that evaluation. and we will make sure that our office is there to serve each and every one. no matter what neighborhood you come from and no matter what if

you feel you are being assessed improperly and the taxes are too high, we'll have an open ear for you. >> reporter: my colleague john has a question for you. what is that question? >> the question is how important is it for the cook county democratic party to have joe berrios elected and what does it mean when you have -- when you run an independent basically trumps him the way joe trumps claypool? >> reporter: how important is it for -- because you're the chair of the democratic party -- to have won this election and what was the second part? >> an independent going up against a regular democratic organization in this county. >> reporter: and what about the fact that an independent went up against the democratic organization? you want to elaborate on that? >> number one, we in the democratic party have our fights in the primary.

and generally when that happens, after the primary democrats come together and support the candidate that the people choose in that primary. ray ferrell who is my opponent both in turn came on and endorsed my candidacy for election here in the general election. as a party we have to stick together. we can have our fights in the primary, but when it comes to the general election, we have to make sure that we come together for the good of the democratic party. because the democratic party is the party that works for working families and makes sure we are represented within government. it's very important that we stick together. those that didn't support me in the general, i would turn around and ask them to reevaluate and come back and join the democratic party and be part of the system that's going to make sure that we bring about the change president barack obama has talked about. he needs our support. and here in cook county, it looks like we're showing our

support for the president. >> reporter: will you extend that invitation to forest claypool as well? >> i will definitely be talking to him to make sure we can work together in the future and try to mend fences so him and i can make sure the democratic party is there to serve everyone. >> reporter: thank you for joining us. we'll let you go ahead with your celebration. >> thank you. >> reporter: back to you in the studio. >> excellent translation there of john's question there. >> i'm sorry. >> you were good. >> reporter: i'm sorry, john, i could hardly hear you. >> he's a soft spoken guy, muriel. >> when you see joe berrios standing with muriel, do you know how thin he looks compared to the pictures in claypool's ad? >> he lost a lot of weight. >> it shows you the power of

the cook county democratic organization. when it counts, when you've got assessor which is a money job -- >> big money job. >> bigtime. mike madigan was not going to let that go. >> are they going to mend fences? >> yeah. i think if you put the heads of all the opponents on the fence post, there'll be a good fence. >> modernizing that office and that sort of thing. there's 11 law firms in town that control 90% of the -- >> the one that counts is mike madigan. that's his guy. >> you got it. so that cesspool is so odd that you've got mike madigan -- here's the guy who just won assessors office, he's head of the democratic organization. then you've got mike madigan who has this law firm that goes to bat for big properties -- big name properties in downtown chicago. who does he have to go to? to joe berrios. >> or the assessor.

how does that work? you know what it is? it's just a coincidence. >> small town after all. >> what claypool argued is those big money firms help big money properties downtown get big tax breaks and put on the shoulders of we homeowners. >> and the chain goes on. >> you know what? that's true, but at the same time guys like president barack obama do not get elected or change make it republican. this is part of politics too. and guys like berrios are the guy that we all shake our fingers at and say how dare you. but that's the guy that sits down with other people and puts a ticket together that can win. have to think -- it's not -- you got to think of the whole complete issue there. >> i just looked at some of the numbers and this is not the assessors office but the

giannoulias-kirk campaign is now about 1% point away. kirk is coming up now. also the 8th, 11th, and 14th districts of the illinois congressional delegation falling to the republicans. although melissa bean has a slight edge over joe walsh who is a tea party candidate. it's neck and neck. the republicans in the 14th and the 11th are taking it back from the incumbent democrats. we'll talk more about that as we come closer to our break. we've also got somebody in the house who is well aware of -- >> speaker of the house. >> our house. and that 14th district we were talking about. we will continue our coverage of decision 2010. we'll be back to bring you more of the numbers and analysis in keep -- key people in our

state.

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congress. and it is a big night for republicans across the country. and so far here in illinois. >> let's go now to former governor of illinois jim edgar. thank you for joining us. >> good evening. >> what are you looking at? right now we're seeing the races close in very tightly with pat quinn and with bill brady. is this what you expected? >> i think it might be a tad closer than i thought. but the numbers i just seen, i think we're going to win four statewide seats. think mark kirk is almost even now. we have a lot of votes down state to come in. i think bill brady will squeak by. a landslide for republican in illinois is 1%. >> you're saying it may be a squeak by at this point? >> well, squeak by is great for a republican in a state that is

predominantly a democratic state. >> you talking about topinka. >> i think a lot of people regret they didn't vote for her four years ago. she had great recognition. i think all along we thought she would probably run the strongest. but if we end up with four statewide offices, i think that means the republican party is back as a factor in illinois. it's been a few years since we've really been able to compete with the democrats. and i think after this election, we'll be able to compete. >> got a $14 billion deficit here in the state of illinois. is that what's needed? a republican in the state of illinois to turn the state around? how will it be done? >> first of all the one party rule we've had the last eight years hasn't worked. and i really think a mixed governor -- the split government is the best when you're trying to reach compromise to solve tough

problems. so a republican governor to deal with a democratic legislature might be in the better position to make tough choices and reach consensus more than if one party was in control. history has proven that hasn't worked well in recent years. many voters are looking for a change. and i think we'll see a change in this election. >> we talk about tough choices that need to be made. we talk about mike madigan holding it. is this what needs to be done? can bill brady stand up against them and get something done in the state? >> i think again if you have a republican governor, democratic legislature, you can kind of spread the blame around. sometimes it's hard to get one party to make the tough decisions. and you need both parties at the table and they can kind of come up with what we call a constructed role call. and people on both sides willing to make she choices.

might be a better chance of gets that consensus and those tough choices as opposed to if it was just democrats in the control. i think many voters and i would agree with them, we need to try a change. this is the change i think we're going to get. i'm hopeful. we can't do much worse than we've been doing. this thing continues to get more and more of a problem -- the financial mess. hopefully now that we've reached bottom we can begin to dig our way out. >> governor, mark suppelsa. if you did not talk about the recall referendum on the ballot, it appears that illinoisans would like to see the ability to recall a governor. do you think that's a good idea? >> no. i think that's why we have elections. that recall is questionable. that's a very difficult process. so i'm not sure if people are really going to get recall. there's enough trouble getting elected officials to

concentrate on making tough decisions without making every group circulate petitions because they don't like something. again, i think people ought to pay attention on election day. if somebody's messed up, vote them out. that's why we have elections. but i could be in the minority. a lot of people were unhappy with rod blagojevich's term as governor. i just wish they had paid more attention in the last election instead of waiting until a year later saying we want him out. >> thank you so much for joining us tonight. appreciate it. >> we'll be right back with more of decision 2010 here on wgn tv. come on, kids, come inside.

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and also chicagotribune.com reporting 76% precincts reporting and kirk in the lead. >> what do we see as far as the governor's race. >> looks like 78% of precincts reporting. a lead over bill brady. >> let's go to the newsroom. >> the same trend we're seeing in the suburbs with the democrats and house falling, we're seeing that across the country as well. we're taking a look at the u.s. senate race. right now very close as far as who is going to control the senate. >> it is. at this point the republicans have picked up four seats the most recent called now is calling wisconsin. so russ feingold loses. that sends a message. feingold one of the more progressive voices i