Dillard still down, not conceding in GOP Gov. race

All the votes should be counted, but a winner in the Republican primary for Illinois governor is still not certain more than two weeks after voters went to the polls.

State Sen. Kirk Dillard of Hinsdale said Tuesday he is catching up to state Sen. Bill Brady of Bloomington, but he believes he remains about 220 votes behind as he continues to hold out.

"We want to ensure that all votes are counted and counted accurately," Dillard said. "This election is crucial to the future of Illinois and perhaps the Republican Party."

But Brady was confident Tuesday he would still win in the end, saying "... we're a little more comfortable today than I was on Election Day."

Tuesday was the deadline for all election departments to have their remaining few thousand absentee and provisional ballots counted. Before Tuesday, Brady was ahead of Dillard by about 420 votes.

Election officials have until Feb. 23 to finalize their vote tallies and forward them to the Illinois State Board of Elections. Dillard said he is waiting until that day before deciding on whether to concede, move for a recount or - if he comes out on top - declare victory.

For one thing, Dillard said, a clear picture of the final statewide vote count won't be available until all the numbers are sent to the state election's board. The extra week, he said, will also help ensure local counting was accurate.

"The tiniest mistake can swing a 200-vote election," Dillard said of the seven-candidate primary that drew some 750,000 votes.

Yet, suburban numbers reported Tuesday did not appear promising for Dillard, who generally did best in the Chicago and collar-county region compared to Brady.

Dillard gained 163 votes in Chicago and the counties of Cook, DuPage, Lake, McHenry and Kane, officials from those areas reported after their final tallying.

Brady tended to lead downstate and figures for those scores of election departments were not clear Tuesday.

Neither campaign was providing exact internal figures Tuesday.

Dillard did downplay talk of a costly and legally difficult recount if he remains on the short end of the final vote tally. He said Tuesday his losing margin would have to be "something less" than the roughly 220 he believed he had Tuesday to consider a recount.

"I want to do everything that I can to avoid a recount," Dillard said. "The number would have to be very close for me to ever put my political party or the state of Illinois through a recount."

Meanwhile, both candidates continue to focus on running against Gov. Pat Quinn in the general election, set for Nov. 2.

"We have to be in a position to take immediate action and we're doing that, as I'm sure Senator Dillard is," Brady said. "So what you do is you have to be respectful of your opponent in this race, work through that process, and in the meantime you can't sit back and just wait. You have to position yourself. You have to talk to people. You have to be in a position to where you can hit the ground running and actually make some contacts that move the campaign forward."

In other campaign news, Chicago Democrat Scott Lee Cohen's withdrawal as a candidate for lieutenant governor is now official. The embattled primary winner's letter of withdrawal was accepted Tuesday by the state elections board.

Cohen announced his withdrawal Feb. 7 after facing considerable pressure from Democrats concerned about his admitted history of steroid use as well as graphic domestic abuse allegations.

The Democrats' state central committee will now have to pick a replacement to run with Quinn in the general election. The committee is set to meet next month.