Just how important is the race in Illinois' Sixth District for Republicans this year? Laura Bush's presence yesterday at a fundraiser for the Roskam campaign answers the question. In a brief speech before a crowd of 280 packed into a banquet hall in Addison, the First Lady praised Roskam's record as a teacher and state legislator, saying that he would be an able successor to fill the "big shoes" left behind by Congressman Henry Hyde.

At $250 per plate and with pictures with the First Lady going for a cool $1,000, the event reportedly raised some $225,000 for Roskam - a significant boost for a hotly contested race heading into the home stretch. As of June 30 Roskam held a $400,000 cash on hand advantage over Duckworth, and he went out of his way to point out that while both campaigns have raised over $2 million thus far, 98% of Duckworth's money is coming from sources outside the Sixth District.

There are three major currents in this race right now. One is the specter of outside influences. Duckworth doesn't live in the district and was hand-picked by the Democratic party establishment types over the local veteran candidate Christine Cegelis. Roskam never misses a chance to point out that he was born and bred in the district while Duckworth's candidacy is essentially a creation of Rahm Emanuel, Dick Durbin, and Hillary Clinton.

Another related current is the issue of debates that I mentioned last week. Today Roskam is scheduled to sit across from another empty chair in a debate sponsored by the city of Elmhurst. Elmhurst is the second largest community in the district, and it was also host to a debate between Hyde and Cegelis in 2004, which has the Roskam campaign asking why it's not good enough for Duckworth this time around.

The last current in the race, which is the least local and perhaps biggest of all given Tammy Duckworth's status as a disabled war veteran, is Iraq. Roskam was hounded on the subject by a local reporter at a press conference after the event with Mrs. Bush, asking whether he thought Don Rumsfeld should be fired (no comment) and whether he supported Bush's "stay the course" policy. Roskam responded that he believes we should "finish well" in Iraq, without defining exactly what that term means. Roskam acknowledged that he's heard a wide range of opinions on Iraq as he's knocked on 5,000 doors throughout the district, but added that he believes the sixth is "not a timetable district" and "not a cut-and-run district."

More on the event with First Lady Laura Bush: Chicago Tribune | Chicago Sun-Times | CBS2 News | Daily Herald