Campaign tactics meant to gain whatever edge candidates can get

We’re at that stage of the mayoral election cycle in which candidates are desperately trying to game the process in ways they desperately hope will give them an edge on Election Day.

The four mayoral hopefuls …

Even though many of the things they’re now going are really trivial and superficial and not likely to make one bit of difference in terms of turning out votes.

THIS IS THE election cycle in which there are no incumbents seeking a return as mayor, meaning every political dreamer with delusions of grandeur is putting themselves in the running.

Monday was the first day in which candidates could file nominating petitions, and it should be noted that aides to four people showed up at City Hall to make their claim to a ballot spot.

Jerry Joyce (a long-time Daley family friend, is he really running against William?), Toni Preckwinkle, Paul Vallas and Willie Wilson were those people, and they’re now likely to go about making claims they’re the only candidates who deserve to be taken seriously. After all, they’re dedicated enough to file early – which may give them the chance of having their names listed at the top of the list of candidates on the Feb. 26 ballot.

With the political theory being that some people are clueless and confused enough that when they cast their ballots, they vote for whoever’s name is atop the list.

… with dreams of getting … 

PRECKWINKLE, THE FORMER alderman from Hyde Park turned Cook County Board president, herself claims getting that top spot on the ballot could account for a percent or two of the vote – which in this year’s electoral mess could be enough to prevail.

Kind of scary, if you think about it.

The municipal election cycle’s most prominent post being resolved by the ballots cast by people who didn’t put any thought into WHO they were voting for – but merely cast a vote for a ballot slot!

You may have noticed that many more names have tossed themselves out for mayoral contemplation beyond the four individuals who filed early Monday morning.

… the number one mayoral spot … 

OF COURSE, THERE’S the fact that the deadline for filing is the end of business next Monday. And yes, there will be those people eager to have their names listed last on the ballot.

Because names are put on the ballot in the order that candidates file their petitions, there are bound to be a few candidates who will want to show up just before 5 p.m. so they can be absolutely last. A Dec. 5 lottery will break any ties that develop.

With the line of logic being that having one’s name at the end of a lengthy list of political dreamers is better than being stuck in the middle of the pack. Just think being seventh on a list of 13 or so candidates for mayor?

Geez, you might as well wear a millstone around your neck. Because you’re actually going to have to campaign completely on the issues and the merits of what kind of candidate you would make. And yes, that line is meant to reek heavily of sarcasm.

THERE ALWAYS IS the chance someone will show up late Thursday, only to have someone else manage to slip in just behind them. Or the risk of having someone show up at City Hall at 5:02 p.m., just a moment or so too late to file the nominating petitions you struggled to put together.

… on the Feb. 26 Election Day ballot

Which brings your political aspirations for Election ’19 coming to a crashing halt not because you were defeated at the polling place, but because your campaign dreams became irrelevant to the process.

All of which makes the activity of Monday morning running trough next Monday night an intriguing part of the process for politically geeky observers.

Because a lot of people are engaging in actions now that will seem downright trivial and irrelevant come May when one of these people takes the oath of office promising not to totally embarrass themselves as mayor – and everybody else will have their heads filled with fantasies about how much better qualified they would have been IF ONLY the voters had come to their senses.

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From who do we get to pick Nov. 4?

I found it amusing to learn of the lottery held this week by the Cook County clerk’s office to determine top ballot position for the Nov. 4 general election to be held in Illinois.

ORR: Fodder for conspiracy theorists?

The Democrats came out on top, meaning that for every position up for grabs, the Democratic Party nominee will be listed. Then the Republican. Then, any candidates of alternative political parties – assuming any are able to make it through the political process that is heavily stacked against them.

SO WHEN IT comes to governor, it will be Pat Quinn, followed by Bruce Rauner, followed by whoever is able to file enough nominating petitions that even a rigged process can’t justify jettisoning them.

Cook County Clerk David Orr’s office felt so compelled to show they didn’t rig this lottery that they put a video of the process out on You Tube. You can watch it yourself – although I’m sure those amongst you who want to believe the worst won’t believe what you see.

Just like those people who think the moon landing was rigged, as well.

Orr’s office says we won’t know who the third party candidates will be until some time around August. That’s when the final ballot will be certified.

ALTHOUGH THERE ARE those amongst us who don’t pay any attention to those names anyway.

 

Green Party nominee Scott Summers? Libertarian Chad Grimm? Constitutional Party candidate Michael Oberline (who likes to use photographs of himself in his Marine Corps uniform to tout his political bid)?

Maybe they’ll each get a percent of the vote. Or maybe they’ll combine to take 1 percent.

QUINN: He wins, for now

Personally, I got to meet recently Ilona Gersh, an activist and factory worker in suburban Dolton who says she’s running for governor on the Socialist Workers Party.

SHE SAYS THERE’S so little difference between Democrats and Republicans when it comes to issues that really matter that people shouldn’t think of the campaign as Quinn versus Rauner. They ought to be looking toward the rest of the ballot.

Then again, she talks openly of her admiration for the 1959 revolution that saw Fidel Castro take control of Cuba and for how Malcolm X is a seriously-misunderstood figure in our society.

Points that could be debated, if people wanted to spend time pondering the issues. Although I suspect most will write her off, along with the other third party candidates. Because engaging in deep thought is headache-inducing.

RAUNER: Will he overcome Cook lottery?

Then again, these may be some of the same people who actually do just vote for whichever name comes out on top of the ballot for each political post. There just doesn’t seem to be any third-party candidate as of yet who is grabbing our attention away from Monsieurs Quinn and/or Rauner.

WHICH MEANS THAT Cook County putting Quinn on top (along with Richard Durbin for U.S. Senate and every other Dem for state and countywide office) may be one of those stupid little factors that boosts the incumbent governor’s vote tally by a percent or two.

Which could be just enough to help him prevail overall.

Because while some people look at the maps and see one tiny little blotch of a county in the far northeast corner of Illinois, that county does account for about 45 percent of the state’s overall population.

And one that can be heavily motivated to turn out the vote, compared to the mass of small counties across the rest of the state that must combine their mass in order to keep up with the support Cook County can give to Quinn – if it chooses to do so.

Third party candidates for Nov. 4 are ...

WHICH IS WHY the Rauner campaign’s strategy really seems like one meant to induce apathy toward the upcoming activities of Nov. 4.

Get enough people to decide it doesn’t matter (or to think like the socialist that there’s no real difference between the two major party candidates) and not to vote, and maybe he can just depress the vote totals enough to prevail.

I’m not about to guess on May 9 what will happen on Nov. 4. We have nearly six full months, and who’s to say what will crop up that will capture the hearts and minds of the electorate.

But wouldn’t it be the ultimate joke if one of the determining factors was a lottery by David Orr held on the day that was Indiana’s primary election day?

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