Obama lends support to Foster

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is lending his celebrity to Bill Foster's heavily contested congressional run in the far west suburbs.

Illinois' junior senator from Chicago cut a political ad for the Geneva physicist a few weeks ago and it started running on broadcast and cable channels Tuesday. The warm ad will be a respite for voters in a heated race that has drawn millions of dollars in negative ads from both sides.

In the ad, Obama tells voters that Foster "represents the change we need."

Republican Jim Oberweis, a Sugar Grove dairy magnate, and Foster face off for the former seat of U.S. Rep. Dennis Hastert, the longest serving House Republican speaker, in a special district election Saturday.

Oberweis spokesman Bill Pascoe said Obama's touting of non-attack politics doesn't fit with Foster's negative campaign advertising. He also said the ad will not sway district voters.

"Barack Obama is not on the ballot," Pascoe said.

National Democratic organizations have targeted the race, attempting to turn the GOP-leaning region blue. Labor groups and national Republican organizations have also joined the fray, blanketing the expansive 14th Congressional District with mailers, fliers and canvassers.

Foster's camp hopes the Obama ad will woo independent voters to their side.

"Voters are looking for something new this year," said Foster campaign manager Thomas Bowen.

For a Republican-leaning district, Obama is certainly popular. He took 25,810 votes Feb. 5 while Republican John McCain got 20,794 in Kane County, where about 60 percent of the district's voters reside.