Now we can see why the Dems wanted Pritzker so badly to run for governor

Whodathunkit! The big-bucks governor … 

How different would things be these days if Christopher Kennedy or Daniel Biss had somehow managed to win the Democratic primary for governor back in March?

I wonder that because the party’s establishment always made it clear they wanted J.B. Pritzker to be the nominee who challenged Gov. Bruce Rauner’s desire for re-election to a second term as Illinois governor.

… is being outspent. For now!

AFTER LOOKING AT the latest campaign disclosure reports, it becomes blatantly apparent why J.B. was the favorite of da Dems. His wallet.

The Chicago Sun-Times went so far as to break down the totals showing that Pritzker was capable of spending $207,000 per day during the three months ending June 30. By comparison, Rauner was a virtual pauper at a “mere” $83,000 per day on his campaign.

The bulk of that money went to all those annoying campaign ads we’ve been seeing on television taking pot shots at both of the major party candidates. How many more times do we need to see a Pritzker parody taking the sledge hammer to his toilet – so as to cheat the government out of property tax monies he allegedly should have paid.

For the record, the Pritzker campaign spent some $20.1 million during the past three months and had some $18.3 million in its bank accounts as of June 30.

MEANING PRITZKER WAS anxious to try to bury Rauner in so much campaign dung that he’d never be capable of crawling out of the heap. Similar to the 1994 election cycle when Gov. Jim Edgar managed to bury Democratic challenger Dawn Clark Netsch in so much sludge related to her alleged desire for tax hikes that she never was able to gain ground when the campaign cycle peaked in autumn.

Of course, the Rauner campaign isn’t exactly struggling financially.

Some $7.8 million was spent by the Rauner camp trying to make J.B. out to be the ultimate con artist cheating Chicago out of property tax revenues by making his second home technically uninhabitable (no functioning toilets). I’ve seen those campaign ad spots so often, particularly the one with a J.B. lookalike that looks nothing like him.

But Rauner is trying to pace himself, it would seem.

FOR THE SAME campaign reports showed Rauner with $31.8 million in bank accounts on June 30.

Either Pritzker is going to have to cough up significant amounts of more cash for himself or go on a political fundraising spree to match Rauner. Or else accept the fact that he’s going to be significantly out-spent by Bruce, who’s bound to have more sleaze to fling J.B.’s way between now and the Nov. 6 elections.

This is kind of odd, to me at least. Because I’m used to political circumstances where Republican candidates are the ones who have access to the real big money. After all, the very rich want political people in office who are sympathetic to their needs.

Times have changed since days of Jim Edgar

They are capable of outspending the special interest groups that raise money, then donate it to political people they think will sympathize with their causes.

RAUNER WAS DIFFERENT because he showed back in 2014 that he WAS one of those very rich people, only he got tired of giving his money to other people to look out for his interests. Instead, he’s running for office himself.

It seems the Democrats, this time around, trotted out the guy THEY usually turned to for financial support for their candidates. It seems Pritzker already has coughed up some $100 million of his own money to fund his campaign.

Which puts to shame the “mere” $50 million that Rauner donated last year to the fund paying for his campaign and those of assorted Republicans running for General Assembly posts that Bruce wants to win so he can have political allies.

The point being both of these guys are quite a bit different from the days of, say Jim Edgar, who actually had to live off the roughly $150,000 annual salary Illinois paid him to be governor. Between Rauner and Pritzker, one of these guys is in for a serious emotional shock when he realizes how much of his own money he blew on a failed ego trip by running, and losing, for governor.

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