CHICAGO -- Democrats were out early Saturday trying to fire up voters before President Barack Obama's Chicago rally, where he was expected to make another push to fend off Republicans who want to claim his former U.S. Senate seat and the Illinois governor's mansion.
Gov. Pat Quinn and Senate hopeful Alexi Giannoulias, both Democratic candidates on the top of the Illinois ballot, implored people to vote at the Rev. Jesse Jackson's Rainbow PUSH Coalition. That gathering that was televised and broadcast on the radio.
"Please don't waste our votes," Quinn told about 200 people at the PUSH headquarters on Chicago's South Side. "We're running against the right wing that wants to tear down President Obama. They want him to lose the office of governor in his own home state of Illinois."
Quinn and Giannoulias, who's in a tight race for Obama's seat against Republican Congressman Mark Kirk, were gearing up for an Obama get-out-the-vote rally later Saturday evening. It's the president's latest effort to bolster his party ahead of Tuesday's election.
Like the Democrats, Republicans were busy as well on this final weekend before Election Day. Kirk and GOP candidate for governor Bill Brady were making stops around the state before wrapping up with a rally of their own in the Chicago suburb of Northbrook.
More of the same was planned for Sunday, with a GOP rally in Chicago with Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown, who claimed the late Sen. Edward Kennedy's seat in a special election.
Illinois Republican Party chairman Pat Brady said Republicans in the state have mounted an aggressive get-out-the-vote effort over the past year and have made about 4.4 million outreach calls.
"I think this year we've beaten them at the get-out-the-vote effort," Brady said.
Obama's Chicago visit shows the Democrats are still trying to rally their base with just a few days to go before the election, which Brady said is "not good."
If Kirk wins Obama's old Senate seat it would be an embarrassing loss for Democrats and another big win for Republicans who are trying to shift control of Congress in Tuesday's election.
Giannoulias said he wants to help advance Obama's agenda to move the country forward and blasted Republicans for saying they want to take back America. He said Obama has been unfairly blamed for the country's problems, which Giannoulias said started under Republicans.
"How far back do you want to go? We saw what happened when they were in charge," he said.
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