IL-Gov. 2018 Megathread

[Blair]

Apparently Chris Kennedy has begun getting a staff together to mull a run

[Blair]

What's the likelyhood that Biss, or Chris Kennedy drop out of the race?

[Blair]

Rahm's mayoral challenger Chuy Garcia endorses Kennedy.

http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/chuy-garcia-endorse-chris-kennedy-illinois-governor-448477373.html

Kennedy's campaign has always been based around trying to run against the 'machine' (Irony never dies) ever since they ditched him; but if he can combine that with the running and picking up support from the Progressive left it at least gives him a chance.

Question: Does anyone more clued up with IL politics know what positions they wanted him to run for before? I always see it mentioned they've been trying to get him to run for years.

[Blair]

Pawar is out. Dems will now choose between three white guys from the north shore to take on the white guy from winnetka

How come he didn't take off in this race? I'd heard him being talked about by a lot of people on the progressive left for a while.

It's certainly a pretty hilarious choice; and funny to think that out three remaining candidates Pritzker is the only one who hasn't shot himself in the foot (yet)

[Blair]

Those numbers are awful for Kennedy, and shows that he'll have to pray that name ID gets him 2nd place.

[Blair]

Kennedy's CoH is below $750k. Biss is fairly clearly the main opponent to Pritzker now

And that's only after he wrote himself a check (and got another Kennedy to do so)

He really should drop out

[Blair]

Ohh the inner campaign staffer in me takes pure joy in that; both in obtaining the wiretap audio and in the number of ing views it's got on youtube for a political ad.

This article raises an interesting point. Pritzker wasn't doing anything illegal, and it's not a career ending piece of opposition research.

The big question with stuff like this is does is change a view of the candidate? People knew that Pritzker is a rich, sleazy and generally questionable businessman, who has close ties to a long list of Democratic politicians. Will it change the outcome of the Democrat Primary? Probably not.

[Blair]

Very interesting.

Pritzker wouldn't be wasting money/energy if he was say 40 points ahead in the poll however... his strategy at least muddies the waters enough to stop Biss being able to run to his left. If enough voters pause because of Biss's stance on pensions/charter schools then it works for Priztker

[Blair]

This is starting to resemble a slow moving car crash.

To Illinois/Chicago people with more knowledge; has Pritzker always been the crown prince? It seems strange that in a state full of Democrats, the top three worse people seem to be running for Governor?

[Blair]

Interesting Politico Article on the Race

You must be logged in to read this quote.

It's beyond clear that Kennedy should have dropped out and endorsed Biss if he wants to stop Pritzker; although I do wonder if a lot of the Kennedy vote is from his name ID

You must be logged in to read this quote.

This sums up the CK campaign.

[Blair]

If CK was a plant he would have to try and not be so obviously useless

[Blair]

The poll is already posted in the polling thread but thought I'd put the whole article here

Rauner and Pritzker both lead in primary polls

I have a strange love of awful, cringe worthy candidates/campaigns collapsing.  

You must be logged in to read this quote.

There's like 5-6 lines of quote from a campaign spokesperson and they can't say one good thing about their own candidate.

His campaign put up this new ad . Tbh the only thing left is to milk the goodwill of the Kennedy name

[Blair]

The poll is already posted in the polling thread but thought I'd put the whole article here

Rauner and Pritzker both lead in primary polls

I have a strange love of awful, cringe worthy candidates/campaigns collapsing. 

You must be logged in to read this quote.

There's like 5-6 lines of quote from a campaign spokesperson and they can't say one good thing about their own candidate

“Chris Kennedy is a Kennedy, and therefore related to the good Kennedys. Maybe Chris Kennedy is a good Kennedy. Maybe he isn’t. You won’t know unless you vote for him.

Vote for ^chris KENNEDY

If you were running for Governor he'd vote for you

[Blair]

I admit this may sound ignorant but what's Rauner been like as a Governor, and what theoretically would Pritzker do/not do in comparison to Rauner?

At first I wasn't too fussed about Pritzker winning (I saw him as being a creature of Illinois Democrat Politics aka a scumbag) but the barrage of stories is making me wonder if I would actually be that upset if he somehow lost in 2018?

Like I assume there's much worse Governor races for Democrats to lose?

[Blair]

IMO Biss is a typical politician (oppotunstic, shameless, backstabbing) whilst Pritzker seems like a crooked politician. There’s a distinction.

[Blair]

God if Kennedy wins it will be hilarious to see him not just stumble through the general, but then watch him have to try and be Governor for the next 4 years.

I know Pritzker is spending millions, but I feel it could partly be because he's never held state office (or even any office), and his major selling point has been 'I'm rich, everyone in the state endorsed me''. I feel even if the stuff about  Blagojevich didn't come out he'd still be struggling because he really doesn't have anything to sell.

FWIW both Biss and Kennedy have gained troubling niches in the race- Kennedy seems to have done some work reaching out to the African-American community, and the anti-Rahm groups (A 2015 mayor v 2018 primary map would be interesting) and Biss has got the progressive groups around him. If there's a high turnout from newly engaged/political folks I feel they'd move to Biss.

Also I've always wondered how many old info 60+ primary voters who will vote for Kennedy based on being Bobby's son alone.

[Blair]

Complete hunch (and one I've had for the last couple of days based on no actual facts) but I think Pritzker will lose.

I feel I've become obsessed with Illinois State Politics, but I'd really find it hilarious to see how Governor Biss would sqaure off with Madigan.

[Blair]

I feel bad for Blago and his family.  It's ridiculous that someone so harmless can be locked up for this long while repeat gun offenders walk the streets.  He's already been barred from holding IL office for life.  What he did is small potatoes compared to what most Chicago politicians do every day - let him go.

It's absolutely true that many have gone free while doing much worse than Blago and I do agree that the length of the prison sentence seems excessive, but I really have no problem with him sitting in prison if it helps deter others from corruption. This feeling is emphasized by how much of a joke he has always treated the ordeal - I've never really seen any sort of regret or realization of wrongdoing from him.

I'm not defending Blago, but what's the justification for McDonnell and Menendez going free, while Blago doesn't? Admittedly, I'm not tuned into the nuances of the cases, but they all seem fairly clear-cut corruption cases to me.

I think the Blago case was him saying 'I've got a Senate Seat, bidding starts now' where as the other two just involved gifts being giving to politicians with the expectation that they'd get something back in return