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| RAUNER: Emptying his wallet |
Because
the reality is that there are always those candidates who have sufficient funds
on their own who won’t have to worry about exceeding the limits. It’s the
people who don’t have a lot of funds who want the limits – so as to keep
everybody down on their financial level.
THEY’RE
THE ONES who see a problem. Yes, money can be an issue. But it isn’t something
that really can be controlled in a campaign situation.
This
became evident in the Republican primary for governor in next year’s election
cycle.
Because
Bruce Rauner, the Rahm Emanuel friend with money of his own, went ahead and
gave his campaign a $500,000 infusion of his own funds – bolstering the total
to $749,000 that he has spent on himself so far.
The
Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times both pointed out the significance of this particular contribution –
pointing out that the Republican candidates had an agreement amongst themselves
that they would not put more than $250,000 of their own money into campaigns.
AS
THOUGH THEY’D be willing to rely on the money that they received in private
contributions from supporters who were making donations supposedly out of the
goodness of their hearts and a desire to see a particular individual prevail in
both March and November of 2014.
With
Rauner exceeding the limit, all the other campaigns seeking the chance to
challenge Pat Quinn a year from now can now forget all about any self-imposed
limits on using any wealth they have on their own to try to “buy” the primary
election.
The
Tribune also reported that the Rauner campaign is about to start a new wave of
broadcast spots that will appear on television stations all over the state. The
other campaigns are going to be compelled to keep up.
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| Some in both parties fear an Emanuel/Rauner alliance |
If
they can!
WHAT
MAY HAPPEN (which I’m sure is what Rauner hopes happens) is that he will have
so much money in his campaign coffers that the other campaigns won’t be able to
keep up.
Because
the reality is that it is still early in the election cycle. Campaigns haven’t
officially even secured their spots on the March primary ballot.
Rauner
is hoping that a blast of ads touting his name every time someone views television
– to the point where everyone will know the “Bruce Rauner” name. Even if they
don’t know anything about him, they’ll know the name to the point where it may
just trigger a response and they cast ballots for him, just because!
There
are some people who cast votes for such knee-jerk reasons. In a four-way race
just like this GOP primary is promising to be, that could be just enough votes
for him to win.
RAUNER
WANTS SUCH a large lead early on, before most people pay any serious attention
to the candidates, that he will become the favorite.
It
doesn’t always work. Blair Hull tried to use his money in a similar strategy in
the 2004 election cycle for a U.S. Senate seat, only to have sordid details
concerning his divorce blow him away.
I
don’t know that Rauner has anything comparable in his background. But he’s
going to try to use his sudden infusion of campaign cash to try to put himself
into the lead so that it would take something equally devastating to knock him
out of the running.
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| QUINN: Facing a financial challenge? |
Because
Rauner is still the guy whose political aspirations arouse suspicions amongst
many Republican rank-and-file members because of his ties to Emanuel.
THEY
PROBABLY FEAR things will get a little too cozy with him as governor and
Emanuel as mayor. Some of these people are the ones who want a governor who
will stand up to the desires of City Hall.
Of
course, if those people pick someone too strident as the Republican nominee it
would arouse the anger of the urban vote – which could well decide to turn out
in such force that we would get a return of Pat Quinn as governor – and Dean
Vallas as the crazed political brother who makes Billy Carter seem subdued by
comparison.
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