the same week by the Illinois Republican Party: "In an unprecedented action, the Illinois Republican Party has officially rebuked the Gidwitz campaign for this ad because the Party found that the ad violates the Party's "Code of Conduct", which was enacted to police proper conduct among Republican candidates." Later in February, candidate Jim Oberweis, another rival for the Republican Gubernatorial nomination, started a series of attack ads for television markets, against Topinka, that were even more widely criticized, mostly for using "fake" headlines on the images of actual Illinois newspapers. These ads, like Gidwitz's ads, also came under review by the Illinois Republican Party. Because of the controversy generated, several television stations withdrew Oberweis's ads. A number of media outlets reported that Oberweis received a significant absolute number of write-in votes in the November general election, and he spontaneously re-appeared in some polls in October 2006 at up to 2 per cent, all apparently without endorsement or co-ordination by the candidate or his organisation . . . the official count was 20 607 votes or a little over 0.59 per cent (see below); where this fits in terms of standard deviation and other normal curve statistics has not been published. Results Lieutenant governor Candidates Joe Birkett, DuPage County State's Attorney Lawrence Bruckner, lawyer Jeremy Bryan Cole Steve Rauschenberger, member of the Illinois Senate Sandy Wegman, Kane County Recorder Results General election Candidates On ballot Rod Blagojevich (Democratic Party), incumbent Governor of Illinois Judy Baar Topinka (Republican Party), Illinois State Treasurer Rich Whitney (Green Party), attorney Write-ins Marvin Koch, Chicago-area property manager and naval reservist. Mark McCoy (Libertarian Party), legal Scholar and Rights Defender Angel Rivera, lung transplant procurement coordinator at the University of Chicago Medical Center Randy Stufflebeam, Illinois Constitution Party chairman, USMC veteran and church activist Mike Shorten Predictions Polling Results Blagojevich was declared the winner by 10:00 p.m. Aftermath The Green Party became an established political party statewide, according to Illinois state election law, when Rich Whitney received more than 5% of the total vote for governor. The new status provided the party with several new advantages, such as lower signature requirements for ballot access, primary elections, free access to additional voter data, the ability to elect precinct committeemen, run a partial slate of candidates at any jurisdictional level, and slate candidates without petitioning. The only other statewide established political parties were the Democratic and Republican Parties. It