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| Has downstate forgiven Pat Quinn? |
But
I did find one aspect amusing – the portion that relates to the Illinois
attorney general’s office.
ON
THE SURFACE, it would indicate that Kwame Raoul, a state senator from the Hyde
Park neighborhood, and Erika Harold, of Champaign, would be the favorites –
although not by much. In a sense, a University of Chicago vs. University of
Illinois election.
On
the Republican side, it seems that nearly two-thirds of would-be GOP voters don’t
have a clue who either Harold or challenger Gary Grasso are.
For
the Democrats, there are eight candidates, but only two of them have any sizable
following. As in Raoul and none other than Pat Quinn, our state’s former
governor, who’s hoping to use the attorney general post as a way of achieving a
political comeback.
According
to the poll, Raoul has 22 percent support, compared to 18 percent for Quinn –
with none of the others above 10 percent, and some 39 percent undecided.
BUT
WHAT INTRIGUES me is the part that tried showing the regional breakdowns –
where Raoul has 25 percent support in Chicago and 24 percent support in the
suburbs. But Quinn is the leader in downstate Illinois.
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| Will it wind up being a Raoul vs. ... |
The
Mighty Quinn has some 25 percent support of downstate voters who will cast
ballots in the Democratic primary, compared to 10 percent for Raoul.
“So
what!,” you may ask. It might seem obvious that a lowly state legislator with
little-to-no name recognition outside of his specific Senate district on the
South Side would lag behind a guy who has been a part of the political scene
for nearly as long as Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago,
himself.
Which
is true, since Quinn served on the staff of then-Gov. Dan Walker back in the early
1970s, before going on to other roles – including the “cut back” action that
reduced the Illinois House by one-third in the early 1980s.
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| ... Harold brawl following the March 20 primary? |
BUT
IF ONE remembers back to 2014, the reason that Quinn lost to Rauner is
supposedly because he was weak in downstate Illinois.
Actually,
despised is more the word that was used to describe why rural voters were
willing to back a rich guy from the North Shore suburbs over Quinn. The only
county out of Illinois’ 102 that Quinn won was Cook. The rest of the state map
from November 2014 was a solid shade of red.
Even
in the primary election held in March of that year, there was evidence that
Quinn was not the preferred candidate outside of Chicago.
Quinn
actually managed to lose the vote in a few counties of Southern Illinois, where
the distaste for Quinn was such that they voted for opponent Tio Hardiman –
even though I suspect they knew nothing about him, and when they eventually
learned of his views on gun control (he’s heavily concerned about urban
violence – head of the CeaseFire Illinois group), they wished they could vote for
nobody.
HARDIMAN
IS ACTUALLY trying again to run for governor this time, and the Simon Institute
poll shows him running last out of the six candidates with zero percent in
downstate Illinois. Even perpetual fringe candidate Robert Marshall manages
with 1 percent support.
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| How many of Tio's '14 backers still support him for gov? |
So
what does it say that many of the people eager to dump Quinn back in ’14 now
seem to be supporting him? Should we regard that election cycle as a fluke? Or is
the fluke the election cycle occurring now?
Is
Quinn being forgiven for the misdeeds people constantly accused him of four
years ago. Or perhaps it is the sight of what we replaced Quinn with for the
past few years that makes some people think perhaps he ought to be given
another chance.
Regardless,
it will be interesting to see how this eight-way electoral fight manages to
turn out, since it will be possible for someone with only about 25 percent
support to win the Democratic nomination. Which could wind up being Raoul –
although I’ll admit the thought of a Quinn/Harold debate come October is one I’d find
amusing.
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