SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is getting some campaign help from a leading Illinois Republican, and other Republicans aren’t too happy about it.

State Sen. Kirk Dillard worked with Obama in the Legislature and has often talked about how much he respects Obama. Now he’s saying it in a new campaign commercial running in Iowa.

Dillard says Republican lawmakers respected Obama for handling complex issues in a bipartisan manner. “His negotiating skills and an ability to understand both sides would serve the country very well,” he says in the ad.

The Illinois Republican chairman said Tuesday he was disappointed by Dillard. Another party activist called it “an embarrassing disgrace.”

In an interview with The Associated Press, Dillard said he’s not endorsing Obama. He supports Republican John McCain. But he argued that the country should hear from someone of a different party and different race who has worked closely with Obama.

“Whether he wins or loses, our country is better off for the fact that he ran,” Dillard said.

Dillard isn’t just any Republican.

He has served on the GOP’s Illinois central committee. Until this spring, he was party chairman in DuPage County, the keystone for the Illinois Republican Party. And he is a minority whip in the state Senate.

He and Obama cooperated on legislation to strengthen state ethics laws, overhaul the death penalty system and study racial profiling in traffic stops.

He doesn’t say so in the campaign ad, but Dillard has often criticized Obama as too liberal. During the 2004 Senate race, he called Obama “to the left of even his own party” and “soft on crime and borderline socialist on health care.”

Andy McKenna, the Illinois Republican Party chairman, criticized Dillard for helping Obama.

“We’re disappointed, particularly since there are a host of Republican candidates that are more experienced and better qualified to be president,” McKenna said.

When asked whether he’ll now be less likely to turn to Dillard for political advice and party leadership, McKenna paused before saying he didn’t have an answer.

Doug Ibendahl was more fierce in his criticism.

“I think it’s an embarrassing disgrace,” said Ibendahl, chairman of the Republican Young Professionals and a frequent critic of the party’s moderate leaders. “I think Senator Dillard should … do the honest thing and join the other side officially.”

Dillard’s replacement as DuPage County GOP chairman, Sen. Dan Cronin, wasn’t nearly as upset. He said there’s nothing wrong with acknowledging a Democratic candidate’s good traits, although Dillard may have gone too far by appearing in the ad.

“Does it please me? No,” Cronin said. “But at the end of the day, I know where Kirk Dillard is going to be. Kirk Dillard is a Republican. Kirk Dillard will be raising money, knocking on doors and working hard for Republican candidates.”

McCain’s campaign wouldn’t comment except to note that Dillard is supporting McCain.

Obama, at an event Monday night, told reporters that Dillard’s appearance in the ad “sends a message about the work that I’ve done here in Illinois that a lot of people aren’t familiar with.”

Dillard said he thought about whether it was appropriate for him to appear in the ad but decided to go forward since he no longer holds any official position in the Republican Party.

Dillard also said he isn’t endorsing Obama “at this juncture,” but he has not decided what he will do if McCain loses the Republican nomination and Obama ends up winning the Democratic race.