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| Gubernatorial candidate J.B. Pritzker's late mother, Sue, is featured in his latest campaign advertising spot now airing on television. Does this make him appear more human? Photograph by Gregory Tejeda |
YET
JUST WHAT could Pritzker be spending so much money on?
Perhaps
it is those campaign ads that began appearing on television this week – the one
where Pritzker doesn’t talk about the state of the state or how sleazy his
gubernatorial challengers (or incumbent Bruce Rauner) are. Instead, we get to
hear a first-hand story of how wonderful his mother, Sue, was.
He
talks about how after his father, Donald, died when J.B. was merely a
7-year-old, his mother struggled to support he and his siblings. Her efforts
were made all the more difficult by the fact that she was an alcoholic.
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| PRITZKER: Most empathetic? |
She
could easily have been overwhelmed by becoming a widow. Instead, she managed to
raise all her children to adulthood where they succeeded in life, and J.B. says
he gained “a kind of empathy and understanding” about people who struggle.
HE
CLAIMS THAT empathy will be put to use if he becomes governor. He’ll sympathize
with all of us.
Which
usually I’d be inclined to dismiss as a whole lot of schmaltz.
But
this particular statement is something off-beat and usual. I’ve never really
seen a political campaign try to put forth such a statement. Usually, something
personal would be more likely to have Pritzker allies (although not J.B.
himself) telling us what a despicable excuse for a human being Rauner is.
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| BISS: J.B. nothing but money? |
Turn
this into a battle of the two candidates likely to try to self-fund their way
to the Executive Mansion in Springfield following the Nov. 6, 2018 elections.
BUT
IT IS because this statement is so much like something just about anyone would
say about their mother. I could easily come up with a similar accounting of how
strong my late mother became following her divorce from my father – all because
she wanted me and my brother to not suffer due to the split some four decades
ago.
In
fact, my quarrel would be to say that my mother was just as special as his
mother. Something I’m sure just about every voter would argue.
That
touch of humanity, and not just another political geek looking to ram his
ideological leanings down all of our throats, is what Pritzker seems to want us
to think – and what he’s trying to buy with the dollars that the Biss campaign
would like us to think are merely evidence of another rich guy trying to buy
himself a government office so as to appease his ego.
Of
course, that could also be evidence that the Biss campaign’s momentum is
withering away on account of the smudge on his political image after having to
pick a new lieutenant governor running mate.
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| RAUNER: Not just a GOP version of J.B.? |
HE’S
NOT RAISING money for his own campaigning at the same rate he was early on.
Although in this particular campaign, the J.B. Pritzker campaign was always
going to be the one that grossly outspent everybody else on the Democratic
side.
With
incumbent Rauner’s personal wealth and the roughly $50 million he claims he’ll
come up with to support his own re-election and that of sympathetic legislators
for the General Assembly likely to dwarf his own spending.
Which
is why Illinois House Speaker and state Democratic Chairman Michael Madigan has
long been a Pritzker backer – his money could compete with the Rauner money.
Which
also is why the Illinois Democratic County Chairs Association (Democrats in the
rural parts of Illinois) are likely to do their own endorsement of Pritzker –
even though the Republicans claim the association is “taking orders from
Madigan” and nothing more. Maybe the GOP can’t think of something nice to say
about their own candidate?
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