Laesch could challenge result, create two different Democratic nominees for Hastert’s seat

A close race in the Democratic primary for former Rep. Dennis Hastert’s (R-Ill.) seat could lead to a quandary for the party’s efforts to win and keep that district, as the second-place finisher is preparing to challenge the results.

{mosads}Scientist Bill Foster has won the primary for the special election to fill the seat for the remainder of the 110th Congress, but he leads 2006 nominee John Laesch by fewer than 400 votes in the regular primary, which determines the nominee for November’s general election.

There was one more candidate in the general primary than in the special primary, and he appeared to take nearly all of his 8 percent from Foster.

If Laesch were to get the general primary result flipped, Foster, who is seen by national Democrats as a potentially strong contender for the seat, could ostensibly win the seat next month but not be the nominee in November.

A challenge to the result could also cause Foster additional headaches during the short five-week period before the special election, which will be held March 8.

Laesch spokeswoman Heidi Wetzel said the campaign is collecting information and will likely make an announcement on Thursday. Some county election boards have closed down due to severe weather in the area, making information-gathering difficult.

“We’re calling all of the counties, we’re gathering the information, and we haven’t really made any decisions yet,” Wetzel said. “We’re also calling to see what percentage of absentee ballots has come in because there’s still two weeks for that. We’re checking everything out.”