Peickert points to a recent outcropping of Democratic wins in DuPage, starting with U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's 64 percent victory countywide. Last year, a majority of DuPage residents sided with Secretary of State Jesse White, State Comptroller Dan Hynes and Attorney General Lisa Madigan - who landed a solid 65 percent of the vote.

Four years earlier, White had been the only statewide elected official to carry the county.

And every Democratic candidate in DuPage received at least 37 percent of the vote last year, exceeding by two points the most successful Democratic candidate in 1998. That candidate was Susan Hynes, who garnered 35 percent of the votes in her race for the 13th U.S. Congressional District.

"You had all kinds of people doing extremely well in DuPage County as Democrats, and I think it's showing Democrats are on the move," said Gene Tenner, communications director for the DuPage County Democratic Party. "We had so many people within a few percentage points of winning their elections so now's the time."

At least in terms of voter registration, Democrats do seem to be inching up while Republicans have seen something of a fall back over the last 10 years.

In 1997, 39 percent of voters were registered as Republicans and 14 percent were registered as Democrats. After the February primary this year, the breakdown was 33 percent registered Republicans and 17 percent Democrats.

Analysts agree that those numbers and the recent Democratic victories reflect the national souring of attitudes against the Bush administration and Republicans by extension. But advancement of Democrats in DuPage may be more than just a temporary shift, they say.