Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Barack Obama and U.S. Senator Dick Durbin attracted a crowd of more than 1,000 people Sunday at Hopkins Park in DeKalb.

DeKalb County Board member Steve Slack said the Democrats’ rally was the largest they’ve ever had in the county.

"This county voted for Dick Durbin in the last election," Slack said. "Barack Obama got 70 percent of the vote in the primary here. Folks here have pretty independent thinking, and they no longer say, ‘Well, it’s a Republican county.’"

"I’m really proud of that, and I think we are going to have a tremendous election this fall," Slack said.

Obama spoke of his recent popularity and thanked the crowd and organizers for their support.

"The working assumption was that if it was a black candidate, whites wouldn’t vote for him; if it was a city candidate, suburbanites wouldn’t vote for him; or if it was a metropolitan-area candidate, downstate wouldn’t vote for him," Obama said. "What we did was we confounded the conventional wisdom. I say ‘we’ because it wasn’t me that did it. It was you that did it. There was a group of us that rose up in Illinois and said, ‘That’s not how we think.’"

DeKalb’s 3rd Ward Alderman Steve Kapitan said Obama has captured the imagination of the county.

"I know the Democratic Party is growing in DeKalb, but I also suspect that there [were] a few curious Republicans here interested in hearing more from Barack Obama."

Obama brought the crowd at the bandshell to its feet on several occasions and received heavy applause when he suggested that a new system of funding public schools is needed.

Obama said he has approached November "not campaigning against someone, but for issues."

Obama is the only candidate in the U.S. Senate race at this point, with Republicans expected to announce their candidate today.

Obama, an Illinois senator representing Chicago’s South Side, delivered the keynote address to the Democratic National Convention less than a week ago in Boston and was propelled into the national spotlight.

"If anyone heard his speech at the convention, I think they know why he is a good candidate," said Eileen Dubin, DeKalb Democratic Party chairwoman. "He has passion; he cares about people, and I think he will do a terrific job."

Obama and Durbin are visiting 39 communities in Illinois over the next five days. After leaving DeKalb, the campaign’s motor home headed for Rockford, where candidates spoke to a crowd of about 600 people.

Antonio Davis-Fairman, NIU football fullback from 1985 to ‘87, was in DeKalb Saturday to raise money for his Republican campaign to be the 7th District’s state senator. The 7th District is in Cook County.

"I am not only a candidate who is running for young people, but I have some initiatives that will help them," Davis-Fairman said.

His campaign tag line is "Building Gateways to the Future."

Davis-Fairman said he will promote youth empowerment, faith-based and community initiatives, Social Security reform and tax reform.

"We can effectively promote economic growth, health care and new opportunities for all with vision and action," Davis-Fairman said.

His goals are outlined in 10 proposals for the legislature.

Joe Wiegand, a DeKalb County Board member and executive director of the Family Taxpayers Network, said he is excited about Davis-Fairman’s candidacy.

Davis-Fairman is a talented man who has many gifts, Wiegand said.

"He is electrifying people with his message and with his background," Wiegand said. "It is long overdue that we have a man like Antonio campaigning in communities that previously the Republican party has not seen hope for competitive elections."

Davis-Fairman said he is running for Congress because the district deserves effective representation and common-sense leadership.

"For too long, our incumbent congressman [Danny Davis] has ignored many in our district," he said. "I am excited to work hard and smart for you and your family. Together, we can make the 7th Congressional District and America better."

Davis-Fairman will be returning to NIU on different occasions and will make himself available for questions, he said.

If the DeKalb City Council passes a resolution on second reading Aug. 9, the $50,000 DeKalb Convention and Visitors Bureau will open in early September, said bureau coordinator Kim Kubiak.

According to its mission statement, the bureau aims to "actively participate in tourism activities throughout the community." To enhance the bureau, the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce also plans to build a Web site and start a telephone hotline for visitors.

The bureau will hire a full-time employee for $25,000 per year. That employee will work from a desk within the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce and market the town to individuals, groups and organizations, Kubiak said.

The full-time employee also will assist the chamber’s bookkeeper and help the executive director oversee tourism finances, which will include funding for pamphlets.

Kubiak said the program will be on a one-year contract with the city. The chamber initially proposed a three-year plan, but the city council reduced its tentative contract to one year at its July 26 meeting.

"It’s a whole market that we’ve been unable to tap into," Kubiak said. "We used to have only $20,000 to promote everything DeKalb has to everywhere. We needed a whole staff member devoted to bringing conventions and events to the city."

The NIU Convocation Center will not channel money directly to the bureau, but one Convocation Center representative will sit on the bureau’s administrative board. Representatives from University Plaza, the Holmes Student Center and the Community Development Office also will serve on the board.

The arena’s marketing manager Kevin Selover said they have not yet chosen a representative. Selover also said organizing the bureau is a good move for the community.

"The university is continuing to grow, and it seems like we're bringing in more and more events. This is just a step in the right direction," Selover said.

Portillo’s hot dogs will be sold in the chain’s newest restaurant near Menards in Sycamore by November, owner Dick Portillo said.

The Portillo Restaurant Group, with 41 restaurants and 3,000 employees in the Midwest, is moving to DeKalb Avenue just north of the dividing line between DeKalb and Sycamore to meet growing demand, Portillo said.

"I have gotten lots of e-mails, and there were also supervisors who live in the area who had told us of the necessity of a store in the area," Portillo said.

Sycamore Mayor John Swedberg said he is excited about a Portillo’s coming to the area.

"They picked a prime corner in Sycamore," Swedberg said. "Where they will be sitting, they should be very profitable. They are going to help Menards. It’s on a nice, anchored corner. Other sites on that property will be developed as well."

NIU’s students, many drawn from suburbs where Portillo’s has gained fame for its hot dogs and Italian beef sandwiches, helped him decide to bring a restaurant here, Portillo said.

The new store in Sycamore will employ 120 to 130 people - about the average for the company, Portillo said.

While he does not expect the DeKalb County location to be top dog in sales, Portillo said he does expect to at least fill demand and make a profit.

The first Portillo’s, known as "The Dog House" opened in 1963 on North Avenue in Villa Park.

Portillo said he invested $1,100 in a 6-by-12 foot trailer without a restroom or running water. He said to get the water he needed, he ran a 250-foot hose from an adjacent building.

By 1967, "The Dog House" was a success and was ready for a new look.

After remodeling, it was renamed "Portillo’s" and has since grown to 29 restaurants.

Portillo’s has remained a family-owned business through its history. Portillo attributes much of his success to his hard-working employees and his many satisfied customers.

The stores’ decor reflect Portillo’s love of history. From a Colorado mine shaft he visited to a Chicago street scene reminiscent of his old neighborhood, each restaurant has a distinctive atmosphere that is very personal to him, according to the company’s Web site.

Decor for the Sycamore location has not been announced.

Portillo’s is also expanding into Shorewood and Skokie and is exploring future expansion to Indiana, he said.

The DeKalb school board revealed a tentative balanced budget for fiscal year 2005 at its meeting Monday at Brooks Elementary School.

MeriAnn Besonen, assistant superintendent of business and finance, presented a budget that balanced at $6,177,441.

The district decided to leave $200,000 untouched and labeled as contingency money.

"There are things we can potentially do with $200,000, but there is a risk while trying to manage $200,000 successfully in the small time frame we have," Turner Construction representative John Doherty said.

Turner Construction has been in charge of construction at district schools.

Board members disagreed on what to do with the money. Some said saving the money would be wise, while others were in favor of spending it on construction while the work was in progress.

Besonen reviewed the budget and said total revenue and expenditure were balanced to within $600. Considering the more than $6 million budget the board is working with, "balancing the budget is something to be proud of," she said.

One of the biggest cuts made to balance the budget was the 25 percent reduction of expenditures for supplies and equipment.

Also at the meeting, Randy Carls of RBR Properties gave a presentation touting housing development in Cortland.

After his presentation, School Board President Tom Teresinski opened the floor to comment, and the audience responded.

Cortland residents argued that the district does not have the resources to teach students that more housing in the rapidly expanding town would bring.

Board member and secretary Holly Wallace sided with the outspoken Cortland residents and said the community as a whole would suffer from further expansion at this time.

School Board Vice President Suzanne Lambrecht said that if a new referendum could be sold to voters, the outlook for future growth would be brighter.

At the meeting, the board also welcomed the new assistant principal of Clinton Rosette Middle School, Mike Moan.

The board also discussed the approval of Gordon Flesch Company for copiers and various improvements at Wright Elementary School.

The next school board meeting is scheduled for Aug. 23.