| SPRINGFIELD, Ill., Feb. 3 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama Wednesday called to congratulate Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn for winning the state Democratic primary, a White House spokesman said. SAVE MONEY ON TRAVEL DEALS White House spokesman Bill Burton said Obama made the congratulatory call to Quinn even though the governor's opponent, Illinois State Comptroller Dan Hynes, had yet to concede, the Chicago Tribune reported. The newspaper said Obama's call put additional pressure on Hynes to concede. The comptroller was reportedly trailing Quinn by 7,000 votes early Wednesday. The governor earlier in the day called on Democrats to get behind his campaign, but didn't ask Hynes to concede while the votes were still being tallied. "I just think the results are in, the primary is over, the people heard both candidates and got a chance to vote", Quinn told the Tribune. "After that's over, it's time to count the votes and move on." With 99 percent of the state's precincts reporting, Quinn and Hynes both captured 50 percent of the vote, separated by about 7,200 votes in the heated contest to be the Democratic standard-bearer in the governor's race, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. "This is a close race. A very, very close race", Hynes told his supporters Tuesday night. "There are thousands of ballots that haven't been counted. And whatever the outcome, it's important for Illinois to get this right." On the Republican side, both state Sens. Bill Brady and Kirk Dillard had 20 percent, with only about 500 votes separating the two with 99 percent of the precincts reporting, the Sun-Times said. "I am confident that when the votes are counted, we will win now and we will win in November", Dillard said. Brady said his campaign is watching the tally "very closely." The last governor's race to go to a recount was the 1982 general election tilt between GOP incumbent Jim Thompson and Democratic challenger Adlai E. Stevenson III. Thompson was declared the winner by 5,074 votes. Illinois has no provisions for an automatic recount. Candidates must go to court to request the action. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Related News Topics:
Top news from around the world
Party politics and electioneering
Party politics and electioneering
World politics
News of Illinois
|
