Senate Hopeful Slams Rival Oberweis For Florida Trip
(CBS) -- One of the two Republicans vying to challenge U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin in the fall is taking issue with his opponent being on vacation in Florida less than a week before the primary election.
WBBM Newsradio's Mike Krauser reports Doug Truax, a former Army Ranger and insurance consultant, said it doesn't look good for rival Jim Oberweis to be spending time outside Illinois so close to the primary.
"I think it just goes to the way he feels about this race," he said. "It's going to take a warrior to take on Dick Durbin, and if he's not willing to run through this primary, and go out and see everybody, and make his case … he keeps saying he's a better candidate, and you don't prove it by, one, ducking out on debates – which he's been doing with me – and then, two, a week before the primary taking off."
Oberweis, a state senator from Sugar Grove who has run for the U.S. Senate twice before, and also ran for governor and Congress before winning his state legislative seat, has a solid lead in the polls against Truax.
But Truax said, "I think he's just coasting on name ID."
The Oberweis campaign said he's in Florida to keep a promise to his wife, who is celebrating his birthday, and to do some fundraising.