Imaginary Numbers

If money is the mother's milk of politics then the Illinois GOP must be the well-oiled breast pump. At least according to the Daily Herald:

With the election 20 days away and in-person early voting starting Monday, tallies of campaign spending reveal where the toughest legislative battles are being waged in the suburbs. Five Illinois House contests we looked at drew donations of more than $200,000 in the third quarter of the year.
GOP puts big money into 5 suburban races

The Herald examined five IL House races and concluded that Illinois Republicans were spending some big money. Just how much money is big money? Your LakeCountyEye loaded the Daily Herald numbers into a spreadsheet to find out:

Contest	Republican	Raised	Democrat	Raised	Advantage
IL 61st House	Sheri Jesiel	$228K	Loren Karner	$414K	$186K +D
IL 45th House	Christine Winger	$245K	Jenny Burke	$293K	$48K +D
IL 55th House	Mel Thillens	$124K	Marty Moylan	$370K	$246K +D
IL 62nd House	Rod Drobinski	$36K	Sam Yingling	$238K	$202K +D
IL 59th House	Leslie Munger	$61K	Carol Sente	$179K	$118K +D
TOTAL	Republicans	$694K	Democrats	$1,494K	$800K +D

Source: GOP puts big money into 5 suburban races

As operatives can plainly see, it doesn't look good for the Democrats, at least in the burbs. Out of 5 different State Rep contests -- hand-picked for analysis by the Daily Herald -- the Republicans are outfunded in only 5 of them. And overall they lag behind the Democrats by an insignificant $800,000. The Herald was right on the money!

When the Daily Herald sees the GOP pouring big money into suburban IL House races, your LakeCountyEye listens. Note to ops: if you work for one of those overfunded Democratic opponents, do yourself a favor and cut your losses. Quit now.