Progress Illinois

If one thing became clear in Illinois last night, it's that incumbency is a powerful force in congressional politics.  For months, we anticipated that the U.S. House races throughout Northern Illinois would be tight and a strong showing by Barack Obama could tip the scales in the Democratic candidates' favor. Well, Obama held up his end of the bargain. The president-elect won by a substantial margin not only in Cook (75.4-23.6 percent with 93 percent reporting) but in every single collar county: 55.9-42.9 percent in Lake, 54.7-44 percent in DuPage, 55.8-43 percent in Will, 54.9-43.8 percent in Kane, and 51.9-46.9 percent in McHenry. Yet at the end of the evening, Reps. Mark Kirk, Judy Biggert, and Mark Roskam all cruised to sizeable wins.

What gives? For one, incumbents hold a dizzying array of built-in advantages. There's name recognition, party support, and most importantly, fundraising opportunities. In politics, money (both big and small) tends to follow success. That's why over 95 percent of incumbents who sought reelection were successful in the 12 biennial national elections from 1982 through 2004. Locally, Obama didn't really dig deep to help his fellow Illinois Democrats either, only cutting one radio ad for Dan Seals in the waning days of his campaign.  Some moderate Obama voters may have intentionally voted for their GOP congressional incumbent in order to constrain the impending Democratic wave. It's also entirely possible that Seals, Morgenthaler, and Harper don't quite fit in their districts.

While we can't turn back the clock on these contests, there is a major structural fix that could increase parity at the congressional level: public financing of elections. While it faced a great deal of debate and scrutiny at the presidential level -- particularly after Obama eschewed it to form his own broad-based financing apparatus -- with certain reforms, it could do wonders to revitalize the nation's democratic process.