McCain, Oberweis stand united

With shared views on issues including immigration reform, limited government, and a gradual withdrawal from the Iraq war, Republican presidential hopeful John McCain on Wednesday expressed his support for congressional candidate Jim Oberweis.

"I'm proud to be here with Jim Oberweis to begin the Republican march back to a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives," McCain told reporters after landing at Aurora Airport on his way to a $1,000-per-ticket fundraiser for Oberweis.

Oberweis' campaign hopes McCain's backing will win the votes of independent voters in the 14th Congressional District. The fundraiser, held at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, is expected to raise $200,000 for the dairy magnate from Sugar Grove.

McCain described Oberweis as a successful businessman who shares retired U.S. Rep. Dennis Hastert's "values, his principles and his fiscal conservative ideals." Hastert held the seat for 20 years before leaving office in November, forcing a special election on March 8. Oberweis faces Democrat Bill Foster, a Geneva scientist.

In likening himself to McCain, Oberweis said both are unafraid of standing up for their beliefs.

"John McCain has established a reputation, as I have, for speaking his mind even if that means taking a position that might be out of step with the so-called fashionable thinking and even if it might be politically unpopular," Oberweis said.

In a news conference outside the airport, Foster criticized McCain for his Iraq war stance. The Arizona senator said in a New Hampshire town hall meeting last month that having U.S. troops in Iraq for 100 years "would be fine with me."

"I respect Sen. McCain and his decades of service for this country, but when it comes to Iraq, I think Senator McCain, President Bush, and Jim Oberweis are flat wrong," Foster said. "Like George Bush, Jim Oberweis says we need to stay the course in Iraq."

McCain said his quote was taken out of context; he was referring to maintaining an American presence in Iraq after the war is over.

"It's very clear that what I was talking about was after we succeed in this conflict … then we will enter into negotiations and discussions as far as the military and other relationships between our two countries," McCain said.

A few members of Fox Valley Citizens for Peace & Justice protested McCain's visit, holding up signs outside the airport.