GOP blames Obama 'mania,' 'lies' for Lake County Board losses

A ripple effect of the Barack Obama tidal wave that swept the U.S. presidency is blamed for the surprising election defeat of four Lake County Board Republican incumbents.

The ouster of Larry Leafblad, Randall Whitmore, Bob Powers and Terese Douglas eroded the Republican's once overwhelming majority on the 23-member board. It now stands at a tighter 13-10 edge.

GOP analysts are pondering what happened so they can mount a better challenge in 2010 when the next round of seats is up for reelection, Lake County Republican Chairman Daniel Venturi said.

"Obviously, I think the biggest impact was Obamamania," Venturi said. "I think that cost us between 10 and 15 points in every race across the board. I think people were angry with President Bush and the Republican brand."

Venturi surmises Democrats also did a better job of getting their message out to vote along party lines than Republicans did talking about Democrats' dysfunctional Illinois politics.

Not everyone blames Obama. Campaign mailers circulated by the Democratic challengers may have affected the outcome of Tuesday's county board races even more.

"It's certainly a Democratic year, but that's no excuse," Leafblad said Tuesday night as it became apparent he had lost his District 6 seat to Democrat Melinda Bush.

Leafblad, 66, ran as an independent-minded Republican and claimed a third of his support in past elections came from Democrats.

During the campaign, Bush and several county board challengers targeted out-of-control property tax assessment increases, which they blamed on the current board's failure to impose a 7 percent tax cap.

Though the county board did pass up the chance to vote on a tax cap, the Lake County State's Attorney's office ruled it doesn't have any jurisdiction on the assessment process, Leafblad said.

Yet another reason behind the upsets may have been incumbents misjudged how their districts have changed, said Douglass, who lost her 11th District seat to former Grayslake mayor Pat Carey, a Democrat.

"I think people took for granted the Republican districts," Douglass said. "When you go door-to-door, it's the most conflicted that I have seen Republicans. We had rollovers I guess, or (people) did not feel their vote was going to count."

Douglass said Democrats were simply better prepared to tackle issues such as the national economic crisis.

"The Democrats, you have to hand it to them, they were incredibly organized," she said. "They had people on the ground when they needed them. They spent money where they needed to."

Daily Herald Staff Writer Mick Zawislak contributed to this report.