The Republican race is a tough affair between businessman Jim Oberweis of Sugar Grove and state Sen. Chris Lauzen of Aurora. Oberweis ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate in 2002 and 2004 and for governor in 2006. Lauzen has been in the Senate for 14 years, where he has alienated many legislators and been minimally effective. An odd quirk: Lauzen once sought to change his legal name to Christopher J. Lauzen, CPA. Yes, that would have been his full name. He didn’t think enough people knew he was a certified public accountant. He eventually dropped the idea.

This page has been critical of Oberweis’ campaign tactics, particularly his vitriolic anti-immigration message. He has acknowledged that he made mistakes in past campaigns. He has a much better grounding on national issues than Lauzen, and to our knowledge, has never tried to change his name to Jim Oberweis, Dairy King.

Oberweis, who has Hastert’s support, is endorsed. There is a third GOP candidate, Michael Dilger, who lives many miles from the district in Evanston.

Let’s remember who Oberweis is:

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Defunct blogger Polis had the definitive take on the commercial

Those Oberweis copter commercials may be the funniest thing on tv these days (save Arrested Development). Forget the fact that his numbers are said to be way off, just having him spout off that anti-immigrant rhetoric over the noise of copter blades is high comedy. The only thing that would improve on this would be if he was flying over the Mexican border with a rifle picking off crossing illegals. “Even if I stay up here and shoot all day, I can’t make a dent out of the thousands who are stealing YOUR jobs!”

He also has Mittmentum issues 

I suppose the Tribune felt they had to endorse someone, but if there was ever a place for a a non-endorsement, this was it.