Pontiac Daily Leader

John Faddoul/Staff Reporter

While the Bonneville is the main way Rutherford has visited all 102 counties in the state over the last three years, he does have three or four friends who own either airplanes or helicopters, and who have made those aircraft available to him on occasion. "I call the neighbors ahead of time," he noted about those times a helicopter will be landing near his home, so they know it's just a campaign flight and not any emergency.

In a telephone interview from his car Friday afternoon, Rutherford answered a question about his early start, even though not facing a primary opponent, by noting that Illinois is a big state to get around and there are a lot of people to meet, because he's "running to win" against the incumbent. "You just don't wait 'til after the primary," he said.

Lincoln Day dinners are one of the events where Rutherford will be appearing over the next few weeks, many as the featured speaker, including Warren, Lee and Scott counties. Republican leaders are looking for good speakers at their county or township events, and not being in a contested primary is a factor, he noted.

In addition to GOP events, Rutherford said, he's doing various media interviews. He was on WIND, a Chicago talk-radio station, this weekend, and was interviewed for Springfield television Thursday. Today he'll be part of a Martin Luther King Jr. Day luncheon in Peoria.

Rutherford also has spoken before groups not specifically Republican, such as an association of automobile parts distributors and, on Friday, a Chicago labor leaders luncheon, attended by, among others, the Chicago Teachers Union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the carpenters and operating engineers unions.

During Friday's interview, Rutherford was driving to Medina, to speak at a fund-raiser for Sen. Carole Pankau, who represents the 23rd Senate District. Rutherford ended his campaign day Friday with an appearance at the Cook County GOP convention in Rosemont, before returning to his rural Chenoa home.

"Right now," Rutherford said, "our primary focus is raising money and speaking through media."

Other GOP events on Rutherford's schedule include moderating a forum for Republican candidates for governor that will be held in Downers Grove Township and being the keynote speaker for the Lincoln Day Dinner in Aurora Township, in the second-largest city in Illinois.

Both Rutherford's home location and another place where he spends a lot of time - Springfield - offer some geographical advantages for campaigning statewide.

With the Legislature in session between now and early April, Rutherford can use those evenings to campaign in south-central Illinois. And Pontiac's being a two-hour drive from Chicago and its suburbs provides another base for covering the state.

Covering all of Illinois, with a major focus on its metropolitan areas, will mark the summer and fall of his campaign, Rutherford said in Friday's interview.

Visitors to Rutherford's campaign Web site can follow "Dan's Diary," with entries grouped on a monthly basis, starting with January 2005. Items for the current month include new campaign posters (made of recyclable paper) and "Rutherford for Secretary of State" bumper stickers which, the site says, "are popping up all over Illinois." December's diary notes that the "Bonneville only put on 3,000 miles this month."

Another section of the Web site is "Posted SOS Comments / Suggestions," where those postings are listed, along with responses from Rutherford.