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| HARDIMAN: Still in the running |
Nobody
takes seriously Tio Hardiman’s bid for the Democratic Party nomination for
governor.
HARDIMAN
IS THE former director of CeaseFire Illinois, a group that is concerned about
the level of violence in urban areas. He also is a product of public housing in
Chicago – which gives him a perspective on life that we rarely see amongst our
public officials.
But
it also is one that many people prefer to ignore, which is why would-be voters
aren’t taking seriously the notion of Hardiman even though he technically is
the only challenge that Gov. Pat Quinn faces now in his bid for re-election.
It
is now considered a given that Quinn will be the Democratic Party candidate for
governor in 2014 – although some are feeling desperate enough to want to talk
people such as Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle or former Illinois
Treasurer Alexi Giannoulis into considering a bid. Some people think that the
departure of William Daley from the primary scene is to Quinn’s advantage.
He
can now focus on being governor and roaming around the state doing
gubernatorial things while the four guys in the running for the Republican
nomination are beating up on each other.
THE
GOP “WINNER” will be bloodied and bruised, while Quinn will be fresh and will
have had the chance to use the coming months to build himself up a campaign
fund of sufficient size that he can go on the attack the day after primary
election day.
Of
course, there also are those who want to think that all the public attention will
now be paid to the Republican candidates. They will be beating up on each
other, while no one will be paying the least bit of attention to Quinn.
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| QUINN: The presumptive nominee |
He’ll
become a political nobody; as in not all that liked by his alleged Democratic
Party allies and in the dreams of all GOP operatives who have the taste of
blood in their minds.
Personally,
I think that’s a bit over the top; primarily because there are the advantages
of incumbency that Quinn will have as he tries to get himself a second full
term as Illinois governor.
QUINN
MAY NOT have high approval ratings these days. Then again, Quinn himself has
never been well-liked by his “colleagues” in electoral politics. Quinn is the
equivalent of the high school classroom nerd whom people wish they could
completely ignore – but somehow manages to do things that forces himself into
public attention.
 |
| BRADY: Giving it another go |
I’m
not saying that I believe Quinn is a shoo-in for re-election. He’s going to
have a challenge. People, by and large, are dissatisfied with the performance
these days of Illinois government. They will be looking for someone whose head
they symbolically can put on a pike when they cast their votes in the primary
and general elections next year.
I’m
just not convinced that the Republican candidates are any more liked than Quinn
these days. In fact, I wonder how much the ideological nonsense taking place in
Washington these days will wind up reflecting badly amongst people back here.
Some
may approve, but others won’t. And let’s not forget that Quinn got himself
elected in 2010 largely because of a sense amongst an urban majority that the
Republican gubernatorial candidate would be openly hostile toward their
interests because he came from the “other third” of Illinois – as in not city
or suburbs.
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| RAUNER: Wishing he could be rural |
EVERY
TIDBIT I have heard coming from the GOP primary candidates makes it seem as
though they are interested in focusing their campaigns on the rural part of the
state – which could make them equally unattractive to Chicago-area voters in
2014.
It’s
going to be confusing. It’s going to be chaotic. It’s going to be a mess. Who
knows at this point who’s going to be governor?
Except
that it won’t be Hardiman; even though he probably should be taken seriously
because he at least talks passionately on his pet issues.
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