Illinois Issues Election Almanac By porter McNeil

QUESTION OF THE MONTH: Who has the highest winning vote average in state-wide general elections. Thompson or Stevenson?

THIS year's gubernatorial election features two of the bigger names in Illinois politics: One has been in front of the state's voters for a decade, while the other has been around sincethe turn of the century. Adlai E. Stevenson, the first of four generations of Stevensons to run for public office in Illinois, ran for Illinois governor in 1908 but lost to incumbent Charles S. Deneen by only 23.164 votes. Before that, he was elected vice president of the United States with President Grover Cleveland in 1892. He is the great-grandfather of the 1986 gubernatorial candidate.

The two candidates, Gov. James R. Thompson and Adlai E. Stevenson III, offer portraits of sharply differing political styles: Thompson is more aggresive and outgoing; Stevenson is more soft-spoken and cerebral. Yet they have similar electoral histories: Each has impressive vote power in Illinois statewide elections, Thompson has been the victor in all three of his gubernatorial campaigns, while Stevenson has won four out of five of his statewide campaigns (two U.S. Senate, one state treasurer and a 1964 at-large statewide election for the Illinois House of Representatives). Stevenson's defeat came from Thompson in 1982 when the two-term governor beat Stevenson by 5,074 of 3.5 million votes cast.

Before a Lyndon LaRouche-connected candidate won the lieutenant governor nomination in the March 18 Democratic primary to become Stevenson's running mate, the green light was on for another cliff-hanger between the two. Preprimary polls showed that voters were about evenly divided between Stevenson and Thompson. Since the primary, Thompson appears to have edged ahead, probably largely due to the LaRouchian dilemma. Officially declining the Democratic nomination, Stevenson is off the ballot but planning to get back on by petition with a new running mate, Michael J. Howlett Jr. The record books await the next entries from Thompson, the Republican, and Stevenson, the ex-Democrat, in the 1986 gubernatorial contest.

Here are brief electoral histories of both candidates. Note that Illinois requires candidates for governor and lieutenant governor to run as a team in the general election. Total votes and percentages of the total are listed.

Gov. James R. Thompson
1982 Gubernatorial Election:
Thompson/George Ryan, 1,816,101 (50%)
Stevenson/Grace Mary Stern, 1,811,027 (50%)
1978 Gubernatorial Election:
Thompson/Dave O'Neal, 1,859,684 (60%)
Michael J. Bakalis/Richard J. Durbin, 1,263,134 (40%)
1976 Gubernatorial Election:
Thompson/O'Neal, 3,000,395 (65%)
Michael J. Howlett/Neil F. Hartigan, 1,610,258 (35%)

Adlai E. Stevenson III
1982 Gubernatorial Election:
Thompson/George Ryan, 1,816,101 (50%)
Stevenson/Grace Mary Stern, 1,811,027 (50%)
1974 U.S. Senate Election:
Stevenson, 1,811,496 (63%)
George M. Burditt, 1,084,884 (37%)
1970 U.S. Senate Election:
Stevenson, 2,065,054 (58%)
Ralph Tyler Smith, 1,519,718 (42%)
1966 Treasurer Election:
Stevenson, 1,889,595 (51%)
Harris Rowe, 1,849,940 (49%)
1964 At-Large House Election:

Stevenson, 2,417,978 (top vote-getter among 236 candidates from both parties)

ANSWER: Thompson has an average general election winning percentage of 58 percent. Stevenson's average general election winning percentage (not counting the 1964 at-large race) is 55 percent.

July 1986/IUinois Issues/33