Oberweis takes a different approach this time

In 2004, Jim Oberweis, a Republican candidate for a U.S. Senate seat, stepped off a helicopter that had just flown over Soldier Field and into the political history books with an immigration ad that soon saw him labeled as a xenophobic extremist, or worse. Oberweis lost the race.

Two years earlier in his first bid for Senate, he drew smirks and smiles, but not enough serious appeal or votes, when his campaign manager spent most of the race running around in a chicken suit in an attempt to portray fellow hopeful Jim Ryan as too scared to debate him. Oberweis lost that race, too.

In his 2006 bid for governor, Oberweis got slammed again for political ads that put false headlines on actual newspaper articles. Chalk up another loss.

All the moves were well-intentioned moves that backfired, said his current campaign manager, David From.

It's left Oberweis, a dairy magnate, labeled as more of a milk dud than a political stud.

But this time around there's something a little different with the Oberweis campaign.

Gone are the antics, at least to this point. And in come the pictures of Oberweis with his new wife, family and even a dog.

Gone are the campaign personnel who led him astray in the past. In comes a manager who has worked with Jim Edgar and Dennis Hastert.

Gone are any fellow Republicans standing in his way just to get on the final ballot. All that's left is a traditionally Republican district with an upstart Democrat as the incumbent.

For all those reasons and more, Jim Oberweis and his staff believe this time, for the first time, voters will get a real picture of who he is. And when that happens, they say, he'll win.

"For whatever reason, I have not done a good job communicating who I am, and I'm not sure why," Oberweis said in a Daily Herald interview.

Somehow, the self-image he had in deciding to get into politics never became the persona voters tagged him with.

"I thought, I'm a nice, lovable guy who makes ice cream," Oberweis said. "How can people not like that?"

Or, perhaps more appropriately, how can a traditionally Republican district not vote for the only Republican in the race? From said it's about timing and logistics.

For instance, only about 22 percent of the registered Republicans in the district voted in the special election in March that put Democrat Bill Foster in office. But a highly charged presidential race featuring an Illinois Democrat is sure to get more voters in general to the polls.

Many of those, they hope, will be the Republicans who sat at home last March. From expects a Republican turnout three times better than the March election. That is, if they can persuade Republicans in the district to vote for Oberweis.

From recognizes Oberweis hasn't been the most popular guy in the Illinois Republican Party. Attack-filled primary campaigns have been the norm in just about all the contests Oberweis has competed. That's where timing comes in again, From believes. With no primary in this November contest, From said he believes Republicans in the district will have had sufficient time to get over any grudges lingering about their favored candidates not making the cut.

From said that at the start of the campaign, Republicans in the district gathered with Oberweis for a gripe session where not everything said was easy for Oberweis to hear. But it provided the tools for a makeover. Indeed, perhaps Dennis Hastert summed it up best when he openly told Oberweis in the news media that he needed to revamp his image.

That started with redirecting public attention on the issues. Immigration is still a hot-button issue for Oberweis, but it hasn't played as prominent a role in the campaign as in other races, largely because of the economy taking center stage. While that's bad for most Republicans this year, Oberweis has used it to position himself as the guy with the business and investment acumen to do the right thing at the right time.

In fact, the Oberweis campaign has tried to make the economy the one and only issue in the race. Recently, Oberweis told voters at a forum to vote for Foster if they think he and Congress got the $700 billion bailout package right. If not, they should vote for Oberweis.

Then Oberweis changed the delivery of his message on illegal immigration. Instead of scaring people about the number of immigrants flowing across borders, Oberweis is calling for enforcement of the laws already on the books.

"My position hasn't changed at all," Oberweis said. "But the TV commercials four or five years ago were way too harsh. They were calling attention to a serious issue, but they didn't do it in the best fashion."

In other words, there will be no helicopters or chicken feathers in this race. Indeed, the campaign doesn't expect much help from the Republican Party nationally or locally to fund much advertisement at all. Instead, the approach to winning will be a hard line on the economy and a soft serve on the attacks that's gotten Oberweis in trouble in the past.

"I haven't changed," Oberweis said. "I hope the perception of me has changed."

Voters will let him know Nov. 4.

Approach: Oberweis says TV ads in the past were too harsh