Obama cuts ad in Illinois House race

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is hoping to share some of his popularity in Illinois, cutting an ad for a Democratic congressional candidate just days away from a special election there.

Obama, locked in a battle for the Democratic presidential nomination, stars in an ad on behalf of Democrat Bill Foster, who is running for former House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s (R-Ill.) seat.

{mosads}Foster is in a tight race with Republican nominee Jim Oberweis, and voters will go to the polls Saturday to decide who gets to finish out the recently retired Hastert’s term.

The two candidates will then face off again in November.

Foster also won the endorsement Tuesday of the Chicago Tribune.

According to a statement, Foster unveiled the ad with Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), and it is slated to run on Illinois stations “indefinitely.”

“Like Barack Obama, I’ll work to end politics-as-usual in Congress,” Foster said in a statement. “The people of Illinois’s 14th district are hungry for change, and I’ll join Sen. Obama in Washington to bring about that change.”

In the ad, Obama speaks directly to the camera and says voters don’t “have to wait until November to vote for change.”

Obama continues: “Here in Illinois, you can start Saturday, March 8. That’s when you can vote to send Bill Foster to Congress.”

Obama cruised in Illinois’s Super Tuesday primary Feb. 5, winning about 65 percent of the vote to rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s (N.Y.) 33 percent.