party, including Governor Jim Edgar and former Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole, who served as her national campaign chairman. A hard-fought primary ensued, and Fitzgerald narrowly defeated the establishment candidate, becoming the Republican nominee. Despite great support from Republicans and Independents, he had alienated some of the party establishment during the primary. Meanwhile, Braun was helped by notable Democrats such as First Lady Hillary Clinton and U.S. Congressman Luis V. Gutierrez; final polling had the candidates running even. Fitzgerald defeated Moseley Braun in the general election by a 2.9% margin. He was the first Republican in Illinois to win a U.S. Senate race in 20 years and the only Republican challenger in the country to defeat an incumbent Democratic senator in the 1998 election cycle. Senate tenure Fitzgerald had two major moments in the spotlight in the Senate, the first in 2000 when he filibustered a massive federal spending bill because it included funds for the Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield. He accused Republican governor George Ryan, who later served a six-and-a-half-year prison sentence on a corruption conviction, of opposing competitive bidding so he could dole money to political allies, saying "I want Illinois to get a $150 million (Abraham Lincoln) library, not a $50 million library that just happens to cost $150 million." His second major moment was following the September 11, 2001 attacks, when Congress quickly passed a massive bailout measure for most of the major airlines, which were in trouble financially. Standing alone out of all members of the U.S. Senate, Fitzgerald delivered a speech, "Who will bail out the American taxpayer", arguing that the airlines would simply go through the money and remain financially unstable. The bill passed 96–1. Fitzgerald was staunchly conservative on such issues as opposition to abortion (except to save the life of the mother), gay marriage and taxes, but on some issues he broke with his conservative colleagues, particularly environmental issues; he opposed drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge throughout his tenure in the US Senate. Fitzgerald also supported "reasonable" gun control, immigration reform and the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform legislation. Throughout his tenure in the Senate, Fitzgerald battled with the state Republican Party leadership. He insisted on the appointment of an out-of-state US attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald (unrelated) to investigate corruption in the Illinois state government. Though state party officials wanted a "friendly" attorney for Illinois, Fitzgerald insisted on someone who