Is it a sign?

Democrat Bill Foster won a run-off election last night to win the seat for the Illinois 14th district, long held by former Republican speaker of the house Denny Hastert, who retired mid-term last year so he could spend more time with his family and make a lot more money a lot faster by getting out of dodge before new laws requiring a longer delay before an ex-congressman can begin lobbying former compatriots kicked in at the turn of the year.

Republicans can't be cheered by the news.

The district is counted as Republican +5, meaning there is a fairly solid built-in edge for the party. After having been represented by Hastert for over two decades, and having Hastert's active support for Republican candidate Jim Oberweis, the race was initially considered to be a fairly safe hold. However, just within the past few days the race was shifted from leaning Republican to toss up, and Foster actually ended up winning by a fairly respectable 6% margin.

Or, in other words, he performed 11% better than expected.

The two are slated for a rematch in the fall ... but unless something drastic happens, there is not much reason to expect a different result. Just another sign the Republicans are finding themselves looking for a miracle this year, as it appears to be all that might save them.