Jan. 07--Bernie Sanders on Wednesday joined Hillary Clinton and Martin O'Malley in filing for Illinois' Democratic presidential primary, as a half-dozen Republican contenders also submitted paperwork on deadline day for the March 15 ballot, though a few in only in a symbolic way.
Republicans Carly Fiorina, John Kasich, Rand Paul, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum and Ben Carson joined previously filed GOP presidential candidates Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Chris Christie and Marco Rubio.
While most of the GOP candidates filed full slates of 54 delegates, Huckabee found himself with only two people running as delegates and Santorum with 11. Christie filled all but one delegate spot after one candidate withdrew. Paul filed at least 44 delegate candidates as election officials continued processing paperwork Wednesday night.
Delegates are the key in Illinois' Republican presidential primary. For the GOP, the vote for presidential nominee is a "beauty contest" with no bearing on delegates. Instead, voters directly elect national convention nominating delegates -- three to a congressional district.
That means any showing Huckabee and Santorum might achieve in Illinois largely would be symbolic, because without delegates they would not get any closer to the nomination.
The filing of full delegate slates in Illinois is viewed as a sign of the organizational strength of Democratic and Republican presidential candidates while the campaigns focus on the early states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucuses are on Feb. 1.
Sanders, the Vermont senator, and Clinton, the former secretary of state, filed a full slate of 102 Democratic delegates with the State Board of Elections. O'Malley, the former Maryland governor, filed only 42 national nominating delegates.
Sanders delegate candidates include Chicago state Reps. Will Guzzardi and LaShawn Ford; Chicago Alds. Susan Sadlowski Garza, 10th, John Arena, 46th, and Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, 35th; as well as former state Rep. Naomi Jakobsson of Urbana and former U.S. Rep. Phil Hare of Rock Island.
Longshot contenders Willie Wilson and Larry Cohen, both of Chicago, and San Diego businessman Roque De La Fuente also filed for the presidential preference portion of the Democratic ballot but did not field any delegate candidates.
Unlike Republican presidential candidates, the issue of Democratic contenders filing less than a full slate of delegates is an impediment, though not necessarily fatal to their chances in Illinois.
Democratic delegates are awarded based on the votes they and their choice for president receives, with a minimum of 15 percent of the vote of the presidential contender in a congressional district needed to qualify. If a presidential candidate does better than 15 percent in a congressional district but has too few or no delegate contenders, the state Democratic Party will appoint delegates for them.
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