Obama Effect Not Working in McHenry County

Any hopes of Democrats sweeping away lots of Republicans in McHenry County seem to be dashed from early returns.

With one-third of the vote counted, John McCain is leading Barack Obama by just over one percentage point.

That should buoy Democratic Party hopes, wouldn’t you think?

But look at the congressional race between incumbent Republican Don Manzullo and challenger Robert Abboud.

It’s 63% to 33% with Green Party candidate Scott Summers scoring 3 1/2%.

No coattails there.

State Rep. Mark Beaubien is cleaning Democrat Rich Garling’s clock 69% to 30%.

Much was made of Democratic Party state representative candidate Robert Kaempfe’s getting more votes in the primary election than incumbent Mike Tryon.

No carryover can be noticed this fall.

Tryon is winning 64% to 36%.

McHenry County State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi is leading challenger Tom Cynor almost 2-1.

McHenry County Auditor Pam Palmer, another Republican incumbent is not leading her opponent by as much as Bianchi, but she is still topping 61%.

Four term incumbent Coroner is getting 63% over Democrat Dave Bachmann. Not quite as high as Bianchi, but quite close.

So, at the legislative and countywide levels, there is no sign McHenry County voters are defecting to the Democrats.

The only potential crack in the Republican wall appears in county board races. More on that later.


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