There's no doubt that Republican voters are much more motivated this year than Democrats and the turnout at Tuesday's Illinois primaries is the latest proof of that. Latest tallies show 885,268 Democrats voted in their primary compared to 736,137 Republicans. That's surprising since, even though voters do not register by party in Illinois, estimates from both sides say Democrats far outnumber Republicans.

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By comparison, in 2004 which was the last time there were competitive Senate primaries on both sides, Democratic voters outnumbered Republicans by a nearly two-to-one margin (1,242,996 to 661,804). (source)

Many credit the recent Republican victories in New Jersey, Virginia and Massachusetts for motivating Republicans in other blue states such as Illinois. But that doesn't really explain the lack of motivation among Democrats. If anything, those upsets should have gotten more true-blue Democrats fired up on behalf of their ideological side. So why was Democratic turnout so much lower this time around?

One reason could be the anti-incumbent sentiment that's sweeping across the country. Democrats hold all statewide offices in Illinois and the majorities in both chambers of the State Legislature so if any constituecy knows what single party rule by Democrats feels like, it's the people of Illinois.

Another reason could be dissatisfaction with the performance of Washington Democrats since they took control of Congress in 2006 and the White House in 2008. Despite obscene amounts of government spendling, the Illinois unemployment rate is 11.1%; even higher than the national rate of 10%. (source)

Perhaps Illinois turnout was affected by from former Governor and Democrat Rod Blagojevich's removal from office in the midst of a federal corruption probe (his trial is set to begin in June). Having the the state's highest elected official in the national spotlight for all the wrong reasons could have caused plenty of his fellow Democrats to become disillusioned with ther party.

And then there's the "Obama Factor". In 2004 the young, charismatic candidate for the Democratic nomination to the United States Senate energized Illinois Democrats and he won both their nomination and the subsequent general election by wide margins. Mr. Obama is no longer that unknown entity offering great promise and hope. His promises turned out to be empty and his hope turned out to be false as he has presided over a year of bad decisions, legislative failures and desperate attempts to blame others. The president's job performance could be what's eating away at the Democrats' enthusiasm the most. It's certainly helping to motivate Republicans as the primary season begins.