There was a little buzz about Alan Keyes’ new TV ad yesterday. The spot attacks Barack Obama on tort reform and taxes.

Democratic media consultants, however, say Springfield is the only town where the ad is being broadcast, and it ran twice on two stations last night.

Meanwhile, the two US Senate candidates voted this morning.

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Conservative political consultant and web publisher Dan Proft has some election-day predictions. Not sure I agree with every single one, but it’s definitely worth a read, even if the Keyes operative never mentions his candidate’s name (I assume that would be a conflict of interest).
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Rep. Ricca Slone (D-Peoria Heights) was whacked today with a negative headline and a not-so-flattering article in the Peoria Journal Star. She probably deserved it.

A flier circulated by state Rep. Ricca Slone’s campaign mischaracterizes the Journal Star’s editorial endorsement for opponent Aaron Schock, newspaper editors said Monday.

The Journal Star’s editorial board endorsed Schock, a Republican, in Saturday’s editions. But after the endorsement, Slone, D-Peoria, put out a flier that read “Journal Star explains why Slone is the best choice.”

The flier pulled several sentences written by the editorial board that were positive about Slone and critical toward Schock. The quotes were taken out of context, and the flier is “inaccurate and a misrepresentation of the newspaper’s editorial stance,” said Editorial Board Editor Barbara Mantz Drake.

The worst part for Slone is that her campaign was trying to make the case yesterday that Aaron Schock misrepresented an endorsement from a Democratic precinct committeeman who was no longer a committeeman and who is one of Schock’s tenants.

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Aaron Schock was the subject of a not so fabulous PJ-S story himself today.

The District 150 School Board will set up a three-member, outside panel to investigate whether board president Aaron Schock violated policy in accepting public political endorsements from district employees.

Schock is the Republican candidate in a highly publicized race against Democratic incumbent Ricca Slone for the 92nd House seat in the Illinois General Assembly.

Board Vice President Alicia Butler announced the panel during the School Board meeting Monday, the day before the election. She said three people will be nominated, and the board will be asked to approve them at the Nov. 15 meeting.

The investigative process is triggered automatically after a public complaint is filed, board policy states. Activist Ernestine Jackson filed the complaint last week.

Schock allowed Harrison School principal Aurthur Perkins and Peoria Federation of Teachers union president Terry Knapp to make campaign ads supporting him.

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Nastiness in Springfield. Quick, somebody notify the Tribune editorial board.

Without authorization from its own candidate, the Sangamon County Republican Party mailed a flier attacking a Sangamon County Board Democrat for brushes with the law, including a drunken driving conviction eight years ago.

County GOP Chairman Irv Smith said he wanted to send out the flier, which is aimed at Billy Earl, the incumbent Democratic board member in District 14. When party officials asked Earl’s Republican opponent, Joel Tjelmeland, about the idea some time ago, Tjelmeland refused to OK the attack mailer.

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The Illinois Campaign for Political Reform’s blog did a campaign fund wrap-up of the Supreme Court race yesterday that I somehow missed.

Circuit Court Judge Lloyd Karmeier (R-5th):
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has given $2.3 million for Karmeier’s campaign, mostly through the Illinois Republican Party ($2 million) and the Illinois Civil Justice League ($200K).  The American Tort Reform Association has given $420K for Karmeier’s campaign, mostly through the Illinois Civil Justice League ($385K) and the Manufacturers ($36K).   The Illinois Coalition for Jobs, Growth and Prosperity PAC has also sent funds Karmeier’s way, giving $150K through JUSTPAC and $8K directly.  For the general election, Karmeier has reported raising $4.2 million

Appellate Court Justice Gordon Maag (D-5th)
Trial lawyers have given at least $2.5 million to Justice Maag’s campaign, mostly through the Democratic Party (at least $2 million) and the Justice for All PAC (at least $500K).  For the general election, Maag has reported raising $3.5 million.

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The Daily Southtown has a story about schools closing on election day.

Dozens of schools across the Southland are closed today in what appears to be a new trend — keeping kids away on Election Day. [Snip]

School leaders say they need to schedule the staff development days anyway — and programming them for Election Day makes sense: There are fewer parking and traffic hassles for voters and less chance for strangers to come into contact with kids. In addition, it’s easier for teachers to get to the polls. [Snip]

Nearly half of suburban Cook County’s 1,400 polling places are located in schools, according to Scott Burnham, spokesman for the Cook County Clerk’s office.

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If you’re interested in generic campaign wrap-up stories, here are links to pieces in the State Journal-Register, the Chicago Tribune, and the Waukegan News Sun.

The Southern Illiniosan has several local political stories today, including some updated only on the web. Several of the links appear to be broken at the moment, but they should be fixed soon. You can find them here, here, here, here, and here. That last one is about a local fortune teller who predicts a Kerry victory.