Progress Illinois

Don't be fooled by the bevy of McCain/Palin and Peter Roskam yard signs staked throughout the western suburbs, says Dawn Hall, a waitress from Lombard. 

The 49-year-old hit the polling place early this morning, in time to make her 7 a.m. shift at Granny's Diner. And, unlike years past, she wasn't alone in her determination to inject some blue into the Dupage County vote count.

"Even though DuPage County has been a Republican stronghold, I think there's enough disgust for the war and the economy that Democrats have a good chance this year," Hall said.

That's the sentiment that 6th District Democratic congressional candidate Jill Morgenthaler is banking on today. Early voting surveys revealed an enthusiasm among Democrats in the district, who cast a majority of straight-ticket, pre-Election Day votes, according to Morgenthaler, who is criss-crossing the district today in her Ford Mustang with signature "GI Jill" plates.

Here's how she boils it down: "I need every Democrat voting and every independent vote."  The magic number is 60 percent, Morgenthaler adds. That's the share of Obama voters she must attract to take the seat from GOP incumbent Roskam.

Her get-out-the-vote strategy is part of a grassroots ground campaign being waged from a shuttered beauty shop in Glendale Heights. Soccer moms are driving the elderly to the polls. Friends and neighbors make phone calls. And her extended family is pounding the pavement, knocking on doors and shaking hands in suburbs where polls show the undecided vote is greatest.

Believe it or not, those folks are still out there. We met up with one, Rosemarie Scanlan, a semi-retired businesswoman from Glendale Heights who walked into her polling place this morning still undecided about the congressional race. Thus far, Scanlan had devoted most of her energy to the choice at the top of the ticket.

"I'm not too political," Scanlan said. "It was a tough choice but I'm going for Obama." 

We noted last week how Roskam is trying to attract ticket-splitters through his "Obama Voters for Roskam" website, but voters like Hall think most people have laughed off the idea that the pair is a team. 

"People are fed up," she said. "We're looking for [something] different."