With three open seats to defend, Republicans winnowed the field Tuesday in their bid to replace former House Speaker Dennis Hastert and picked a candidate they hope will succeed GOP Rep. Jerry Weller, who is stepping down amid ethics questions.

Democratic Rep. Daniel Lipinski, meanwhile, fended off three primary challengers in his suburban Chicago district, despite being labeled vulnerable and not a "true" Democrat by his opponents. He will face Republican real estate broker Michael Hawkins in November.

Hastert, a former wrestling coach whose 21-year career included the longest-ever stint as GOP speaker, resigned in the middle of his 11th term. That set up two primaries one to decide the field for a March special election to fill the rest of his term and another to choose candidates hoping to replace him next year.

In the GOP primary, voters nominated millionaire businessman Jim Oberweis to square off in a March special election to fill the rest of Hastert's term and to run this fall to replace him beginning next January.

With 92 percent of precincts reporting in the special primary, Oberweis had 38,332 votes, or 56 percent; State Sen. Chris Lauzen had 30,500 votes, or 44 percent. In the general primary, Oberweis had 40,688 votes, or 56 percent, and Lauzen had 30,170 votes, or 42 percent, with 90 percent of precincts reporting.

In the Democratic special primary, with 92 percent of precincts reporting, businessman Bill Foster was leading with 30,303 votes, or 50 percent, over his closest challenger, carpenter John Laesch, who had 25,251 votes or 42 percent. In the general primary, Foster had 29,924 votes, or 43 percent; Laesch had 28,554, or 41 percent, with 92 percent of precincts reporting.

Last fall, Weller said he wouldn't seek an eighth term representing a district from the suburban sprawl south of Chicago to the farmland of central Illinois. The announcement came amid questions about his Nicaraguan land deals and the finances of his wife, the daughter of former Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt.

The GOP nominee to replace Weller will be Timothy Baldermann, who is both mayor of New Lenox and the police chief in nearby Chicago Ridge. He defeated two challengers and will face Democratic state Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson this fall.

And in central Illinois, where GOP Rep. Ray LaHood is stepping down after seven terms, state Rep. Aaron Schock won the Republican primary to become the instant favorite in the fall election. At 26, Schock is the youngest member in the Illinois Legislature and would certainly be one of the youngest on Capitol Hill.

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