Money talks, as they say, and what it said in last month's general election carried Republicans to victory in the state's two highest-profile races.

U.S. Sen.-elect Peter Fitzgerald essentially bought the seat now held by U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun, tapping into his own personal fortune to blitz the state with TV ads and directmail pieces telling Illinoisans why they should be ashamed of the Democratic incumbent. In all, Fitzgerald outspent Moseley-Braun $12.5 million to $6 million, according to figures compiled by the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform.

Similarly, Gov.-elect George Ryan used a $15.2 million war chest, compared to U.S. Rep. Glenn Poshard's $5.9 million, to underwrite a media campaign largely aimed at alienating liberal Democrats from their party's more conservative nominee.

In both contests, financial superiority let the Republicans wage the campaigns on their own terms, picking the defining issues and determining how they would be framed. While vote returns in the two races were quite similar — 1.7 million for each Republican, 1.6 million for each Democrat, roughly a 51 -47 GOP edge — the statewide totals mask stark contrasts in where and how the winners put together their majorities. (See tables on page 11 of this issue.)

In the Senate contest, Fitzgerald's strategy was simple: Make the election a referendum on whether Moseley-Braun lived up to voters' expectations after her history-making election in 1992 as the first African- American woman senator.

And the regional results crushed Democratic hopes that diversity at the top of the ticket might create a synergetic effect.

By keeping the spotlight on Moseley-Braun's miscues, Fitzgerald was able to mute discussion of the candidates' differences on substantive issues like abortion rights and the right to carry concealed weapons, two areas in which his views are more extreme, polls suggest, than most Illinoisans'.

More than most candidates, Fitzgerald also shunned reporters to avoid having to answer pesky questions about such policy matters. He even turned down an offer of free broadcast time to respond to canned questions because, his spokesman said, "We prefer to fashion our own message."

The single-minded attack worked. Moseley-Braun never was able to focus attention on public policy, and in the end, election results suggest, found herself abandoned by many voters who helped propel her into office six years ago. The falloff was particularly notable outside the six-county Chicago region; in the other 96 counties, Moseley-Braun garnered only 38 percent of the vote, losing downstate to Fitzgerald by more than 327, 000 votes, compared to her 51 percent, 95, 000-vote plurality there in 1992

In the governor's race, Ryan used his financial muscle to paint Poshard as a dangerous extremist on issues like gun control and environmental protection. In particular, the ad campaign targeted the Chicago area, where the southern Illinois congressman was relatively unknown.

Poshard's self-imposed limits on contributions hampered his efforts to fight back, and by the time the state Democratic Party and organized labor began a concerted media effort on his behalf, the damage was irreparable. Indeed, GOP tracking polls indicated that one of the Democratic ads — blaming Ryan for the deaths of six children in a Milwaukee traffic accident, and tying the tragedy to a licensing-bribery scandal in the secretary of state's office — actually backfired, enhancing the negative image many voters already held of the congressman.

The GOP strategy worked perfectly, election returns suggest, helping Ryan to win almost a third of the vote in Chicago, holding Poshard to a city plurality of about 220, 000 votes. In liberal-leaning lakefront areas, Ryan outpolled Poshard by thousands of votes, even while those same areas gave huge margins to Moseley-Braun. Ryan lost southern Illinois, and wound up beating Poshard by only about 9, 000 votes downstate, but piled up a suburban margin of almost 350, 000 votes to win.

The regional results crushed Democratic hopes that diversity at the top of the ticket might create a synergetic effect boosting both candidates. Indeed, had Moseley-Braun run as well in southern Illinois as Poshard, she would have won re-election; like-

42 / December 1998 Illinois Issues.