After spending all that money, we got the predictable electoral outcome

The people of Illinois have voted and their votes are being tallied.

J.B. couldn't win a majority of Dems

And what’s the outcome of the 2018 primary election cycle, one in which some $120 million was spent on campaign tactics meant to besmirch the opposition?

WE’RE GOING TO get some seven more months of pricey, hostile tactics!

For it seems that the Illinois gubernatorial campaign that will come to a head on Nov. 6 will wind up being a battle of the rich guys.

Bruce Rauner and J.B. Pritzker, both of whom are independently wealthy enough that they can afford to finance their own campaigns for political office, appear to have won their political parties’ respective primary elections.

Both of these guys are in desperate need of a hobby. Instead, they have chosen to satisfy their need to do something worthwhile with their lives by running for political office.

IN THIS CASE, both want to be governor of Illinois.

Rauner already has had four years in office, and he wants four more. Only this time, he wants to not have to deal with the Democratic Party officials led by Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago – whom some can say earned his money the past four years by being the force that prevented Rauner from implementing what he wants to think of as “reform” but really are nothing more than union-busting tactics.

Rauner barely won a majority of GOPers

Pritzker, who for many years has been the rich guy whom Democrats turn to for financial donations in order to raise the money they need to pay for their political campaigns, has decided he’d like to be a political person in his own right.

Perhaps he saw the ego boost his sister, Penny, got from being a government official in her own right (she was U.S. Commerce secretary during the Barack Obama presidency) and thought it would be fun.

OR MAYBE HE just doesn’t want to be outdone politically by his sister? Who’s to say what made J.B. decide he’d like to be a politico.

Can J.B. top his sister, Penny, politically?

It certainly isn’t the money. For the just under $180,000 salary Illinois provides to its governor would be mere pocket change for Pritzker – whose family has an immense fortune that originated from the Hyatt Hotels chain.

Then again, money isn’t what entices Rauner.

This is the guy who’s paying to run a re-election bid AND also to fund several candidates for the General Assembly so that he might have a majority that would actually support him.

Ives sets her political legacy

IT’S NOT WRONG to say that Rauner has practically become the Republican Party in Illinois. A thought that offends the sensibilities of many of those individuals to whom ideology and social issue stances is their motivation for politics.

For Rauner is now a guy who took a significant financial advantage against a primary election opponent who borders on being a right-wing nutcase and barely won his primary by the skin of his teeth.

Jeanne Ives of Wheaton will be remembered for her whacked out stances on issues ranging from abortion to guns to gays and how she nearly won. Which already has many electoral observers saying Rauner ought to be ashamed politically and perhaps ought to begin preparing himself now for the big move out of the Statehouse Scene.

Then again, Pritzker is the guy whose overwhelming victory on Tuesday was less than a majority. Challengers Daniel Biss and Chris Kennedy combined were a majority. Most people who voted in a Democratic primary (myself included) wanted somebody other than J.B. to take on Rauner.

RAUNER’S GREATEST ASSET politically is that sense of apathy – if it lasts, the Democratic challenger will lag behind, while also getting smacked about with all the politically partisan attacks Rauner can come up with.

DAIBER: Couldn't even beat Tio Hardiman

For he has many millions more to spend as this election cycle likely tops 2010 in California as the most expensive gubernatorial campaign ever.

One final thought; I wonder what’s going through Bob Daiber’s mind right now. He’s the one-time Madison County regional schools superintendent who tried being the lone downstate Illinois candidate for governor and thought rural Illinois would turn out for him.

Instead, his 1.2 percent of the vote put him behind Tio Hardiman’s 1.7 percent. Talk about accomplishing nothing!

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A Kennedy for Illinois? At the very least, it would bring Joy to the state

I’m sure some political operatives are going to say I threw my vote away. They may argue I cost the Democratic Party in Illinois any chance the party had of deposing Bruce Rauner as governor.

Will Kennedy need more family help to win?

But I’m not going to regret that I went to an Early Voting Center on Monday and cast a Democratic ballot for the gubernatorial campaign of Chris Kennedy and his lieutenant governor running mate, Ra Joy.

I DIDN’T RULE out the possibility of backing the officially preferred candidate of the Democratic Party establishment, J.B. Pritzker, until the last minute. In fact, about the only Dem who I gave no consideration to is that of Robert Marshall – the perpetual fringe candidate who always finds something to run for.

All you’d have to do is get him an “Uncle Sam” suit and he could be Lar Daly – the perpetual candidate of the Chicago past who always ran for something so he could spout off his isolationist “America First” ideology.

But back to my choice of a gubernatorial candidate who will take on the winner of the Republican primary to be held March 20. Whether it be Rauner or Jeanne Ives, the state senator from Wheaton, my preference would be for a part of the Kennedy clan (the son of Bobby) to take a shot at living in the Executive Mansion in Springfield (which Rauner and first lady Diana have spent so much of recent years having remodeled).

It’s not that I’m enamored with the Kennedy “aura,” or that I feel some need for our political scene to become a part of the Kennedy legacy (there are several legislators and Congress members of the family who hold office in other parts of the country – along with the big three of JFK, RFK and Teddy).

Is Marshall the modern-day equivalent?

BUT MY ATTITUDE is the fact that a large part of why I never thought much of the prospect of Bruce Rauner as governor is that he is one of the “big money” interests to whom the political establishment turned to provide the campaign donations that enable people to run for office.

Much of what Rauner had in mind when he ran for governor in 2014 (taking advantage of a weak Republican primary with no real front runner) was that he was eliminating the middle-man, running for office himself so he could attempt to just bark out orders and impose policies that would benefit business interests.

PRITZKER: Too similar to Rauner?

In that sense, I see Pritzker as being the equivalent – even if his ideological leanings on social issues is such that he generally prefers Democratic candidates. I'm not swayed by the J.B. advertising spots showing people flashing "five" fingers (as in the number of tuition increases at the University of Illinois system that Kennedy was a part of approving).

I don’t know that I believe the “solution” to the “Rauner Years” in Illinois is to come up with a Dem version of Bruce.

LOOKING AT THE other candidates, I see in Daniel Biss, Bob Daiber and Tio Hardiman specific knowledge in a single area (Hardiman is most serious on issues related to urban violence), but not enough knowledge overall that I would think they could oversee all of state government.

Which leaves Kennedy, who has appropriate stands on the social issues for all except those deluded enough to think Ives is what Illinois is all about.

A 3-1 GOP ratio

I do see one potential problem – yes, I saw the Chicago Sun-Times’ front page Monday morning. The big story about “Illinois’ Big Spenders” who provide more than one-quarter of all the cash available to all candidates seeking political office.

Those four include Rauner and Pritzker themselves. With the other two being Illinois’ wealthiest resident, Ken Griffin, who will be a solid Rauner backer, and Richard Uihlein – who has had a political falling out with Rauner and is now focusing his attention on finding a conservative ideological replacement.

Can his son do the same for Illinois?

WHICH MEANS THAT a Kennedy campaign, if it were to prevail beyond the March 20 primary, likely would have all the big money going against it. He’d probably have to turn to Kennedy money in order to remain competitive – and I can already hear the “carpetbagger” allegations that will be tossed out against him (even though he has lived and worked in Illinois for more than three decades).

Since I doubt a defeated Pritzker would suddenly turn into an enthusiastic Kennedy backer willing to help fund him. And even if J.B. tried speaking out in favor of Kennedy, I can already hear the “hypocrite” allegations that would be used against him.

But as some have speculated, this may be an election cycle in which the incumbent is so deep in doo doo (because the ideological right is so rigid in its own attitudes) that this may be an election where Rauner’s financial edge (the roughly $50 million of his own money he’s promised to pledge) might not be enough to ensure his victory.

If that is the case, then perhaps a Rauner vs. Kennedy brawl for Illinois governor come the Nov. 6 general election will give the “Land of Lincoln” a real choice – rather than just a pick between two rich guys trying to buy a political post to assuage their egos.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: The Chicago Argus "management," which in reality is little more than me, myself and I, is under no delusion that this "endorsement," so to speak, will sway anyone's vote. It's more about explaining my own political leanings and biases so that one can place other commentary published here in a proper context. Although I doubt I'm alone in Chicago or Illinois in being wary of the thought of a Rauner/Pritzker political brawl.

Honesty during political debates? Or just more of the 2018 silly season!

First, a bit of disclosure – I didn’t actually watch the debate held Tuesday night between the various candidates seeking the Democratic nomination to challenge Gov. Bruce Rauner come November.

KENNEDY: Can't say something nice

So I’m relying on assorted news reports of the event that seem to focus on candidate Chris Kennedy’s moment of rudeness (or is it honesty?) when he couldn’t come up with anything nice to say about the front-running challenger, J.B. Pritzker.

ONE ACCOUNT I read literally noted the number of seconds of silence from Kennedy before he admitted he couldn’t say anything positive.

It has many political observers feeling like he violated one of the great unwritten rules of political debate – not to make the personal attacks such as the Kennedy comment that “J.B. emerges as the poster child of all that is wrong with the corrupt system in our state.”

I understand that after the debate, Kennedy felt compelled to apologize to Pritzker and even touted Pritzker’s “incredible record around providing early childhood education.” On some level, Kennedy had a talking point burned into his brain that he could easily have tossed out to answer the question.

So is Kennedy worthy of our hostility for not playing nice, or by the rules, so to speak?

PRITZKER: Feelings hurt? Or campaign bolstered

OR IS KENNEDY being truthful when he told reporter-type people that his political weakness is “my honesty.”

Now as a reporter-type myself who has covered many political debates throughout the years, I’m fully aware that this question about “saying something nice” about your opponents is a common one.

It always seems to be asked by TV-types who think that it somehow brings a humanizing moment about – one whose sound-bite they will make sure to use prominently in their broadcast reports.

Personally, I always ignored the question and any responses because I always felt they were trivial, and downright phony.

BISS: Says HE was the big winner

SOME PEOPLE CRITICIZING Kennedy these days are pointing out how even Hillary Clinton managed to say something nice about Donald Trump during their 2016 campaign for president against each other.

Specifically, that Hillary had respect for Trump’s family members. Which as far as I’m concerned is about as irrelevant as one can get.

The real news would have been if she had somehow attacked those people who happen to share genetics with Trump – and she likely would have been worthy of all the derision she would have received from people for taking personal cheap shots at people who aren’t on the ballot themselves.

As for Kennedy, perhaps we got a taste of the personal distaste the son of RFK and nephew of JFK feels for his opponent. Which I’m sure will translate into feels of incompetence in that he wonders how could he possibly be losing to this guy.

ALTHOUGH WE HAVEN’T had much in the way of extensive polling in this particular campaign, so whose to say who’s really getting their behind kicked. Except that now, we can claim it’s Chris (or should we call him CGK – it’s George) who’s getting his butt whomped because he didn’t think quickly enough on his feet Tuesday night.

DAIBER: Was he really big benefactor?

Which has already given another opponent, the little-known state senator from Evanston, Daniel Biss, the motivation to claim this campaign has become one between Pritzker and himself.

While I have heard some people claim they’re now going to pay attention to Bob Daiber, the regional school superintendent from the part of Illinois near St. Louis who also is the lone non-Chicago-area person seeking to challenge Rauner for governor.

All of which makes me think my time was better spent Tuesday doing work that helped to earn a living, rather than watching the latest episode of the silly season that other political geeks got worked up over.

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Should Chicago focus guv attention on St. Louis suburbs, Southern Illinois?

In a certain sense, there’s a logic to the notion that the rural third of Illinois will decide the Democratic primary for governor in next year’s election cycle – even though the bulk of votes in that primary will be cast in the urban Chicago-area majority of the state.

Gubernatorial hopeful J.B. Pritzker meets with St. Louis-area Dems who now endorse his political bid.. Photograph provided by Pritzker

When our Chicago politicos get all wrapped up in petty infighting, it can very well be the less urbane elements of Illinois that wind up deciding who gets to call themselves “da Winnah” on Election Night!

SO IT’S NOT absurd that J.B. Pritzker, the billionaire whose family fortune originates from the Hyatt Hotels chain, is making a big deal of the fact that he got the political support this week of the Democratic Party organization of St. Clair County.

For those of you Chicagoans who don’t know of anything beyond your own ward or suburban township (and may not even know what ward number or township name you reside in), St. Clair is one of two counties on the Mississippi River that are part of the St. Louis metropolitan area.

It is an area, along with neighboring Madison County, that can lean Democrat, and could be significant in turning out a significant number of votes. Unlike many other Southern Illinois counties where there are so few people living there that the number of ballots cast aren’t enough to boost the vote total – even if you win!

Which is the problem with the line of thinking of those who prefer candidate Chris Kennedy. They were claiming on various Internet sites that some 20 Southern Illinois Democratic organizations prefer the “Son of Bobby” to J.B. – but many of those counties in recent elections have shown a willingness to back Republicans and may wind up being in the Rauner camp come November 2018.

DAIBER: Wishing he had St. Clair support

PRITZKER WANTS US to think he’s the guy who can dominate the rural vote, while also taking a portion of the urban Illinois vote, to be the successful candidate next year. The sooner he can be perceived as the winner, the quicker he can began focusing on ripping Rauner, rather than bashing fellow Democrats – whose support he’s going to need once the primary election is over.

There is some history in the not-distant past indicating that people in places like Peoria and East St. Louis can determine the outcome.

There was the 1998 election cycle in which three Chicago-based candidates slugged it out for the city vote, while former Congressman Glenn Poshard of Southern Illinois managed to win by dominating the rural vote. Of course, that produced a whole lot of bitter urban voters who either sat out the general election – or actually cast votes for Republican George Ryan (who actually won the north lakefront wards of Chicago that year).

POSHARD: Won primary w/ rural strategy

Then there was 2002, the cycle that saw Rod Blagojevich rise from an anonymous member of Congress to the state’s governor.

BLAGOJEVICH ACTUALLY FINISHED third in Cook County in the Democratic primary behind former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas and former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris, but won so many rural counties by such large margins (where people were voting against whomever they perceived was the Chicago favorite) that he won.

He then went on to defeat Jim Ryan in the general election that year because of the perception that 26 years of Republicans as governor was long enough.

Could Pritzker be having similar thoughts in hoping that voters next November come to believe four years is long enough for Bruce Rauner and they vote against his re-election – no matter how many millions of HIS own dollars he pumps into his GOP campaign?

There is one bit of significance in that Pritzker’s move may be meant to discourage those people who prefer the idea of Bob Daiber (“Who??!?”) as the Democratic nominee for governor.

DAIBER IS THE regional superintendent of schools for Madison County, and he’s hoping that as the lone non-Chicago-area resident running for governor, he can appeal to the non-urban population. He wants to win the Democratic primary via the Glenn Poshard route.

KENNEDY: Some still think he's in the running

What is the significance that the largest county Democratic organization for Southern Illinois is backing Pritzker rather than Daiber? Could it be that the St. Clair Dems are showing a lack of support for Daiber because they think he’s just too unfunded compared to the millions that Pritzker could put into his own campaign to take seriously.

Voting for the “hometown boy” (or in this case, the guy from the neighboring county) only goes so far. Those people who are suffering from the political infighting now taking place within Illinois state government are most concerned with wanting to win.

Supporting the local favorite doesn't feel good if it results on Election Day of 2019 with your preferred candidate sitting in an anonymous seat buried in the middle of political spectators – rather than taking the oath of office and preparing to dance that night with his spouse at the Inaugural ball!

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Pritzker gets into mix, but do we really want a ‘rich guy’ battle for governor?

The field of candidates who will ask us to consider making them our state’s governor for the next four years is shaping up.

Pritzker's going for gov...

Just a few days after being the guy who merely tagged along with Bolingbrook mayoral hopeful Jackie Traynere when she campaigned for votes, J.B. Pritzker went ahead and formally declared himself to be one of several who want to be the Democrat who challenges Gov. Bruce Rauner come next year’s election cycle.

THE ILLINOIS REPUBLICAN Party immediately went on the attack; proclaiming that Pritzker is Illinois House Speaker Michael “Madigan’s billionaire” (after Pritzker called Rauner President Donald J. "Trump's local partner") and the guy who has gathered in those cliché-laden smoke filled rooms with political hacks to concoct tax hikes that will hit us all in our wallets!

“Like a true machine politician, J.B. Pritzker mirrored the Madigan tax hike plan behind closed doors, before even announcing his campaign,” GOP state spokesman Steven Yaffe said. “It’s clear that Pritzker’s loyalty belongs to … Madigan and his plan for higher taxes with no real reform.”

Ignoring, of course, the fact that many people in Illinois view Rauner’s version of “reform” as nothing more than a politically-partisan hang-up with regards to organized labor and unions. There’s a reason Rauner’s approval rating stinks (not quite one-third) and isn’t much better than the Madigan approval ratings.

But the real key to comprehending this campaign is the response of another candidate, Daniel Biss, the state senator from Evanston, who cited the fact that some people think is Pritzker’s big advantage – the fact that his family is ridiculously wealthy and he could match the kind of money Rauner plans to put into his own political futures.

... unless Kennedy can thwart his path

RAUNER, AFTER ALL, is the guy who began this year by stating his intentions to spend some $50 million of his own fortune on his campaign and those of others to try to create a state Legislature that would be sympathetic to his anti-union desires.

As Biss told the Capitol Fax newsletter, “do we try to out-Rauner Bruce Rauner or offer a truly Democratic alternative that empowers ordinary Illinoisans.”

I’m sure in his own mind, Biss thinks people will pick him as the alternative, allowing him to overcome the difference in campaign funding that he just won't have.

Just as I’m sure 47^th Ward Alderman Ameya Pawar (who on Thursday called Pritzker, “an accomplished investor and philanthropist” and welcomed him to the campaign) has visions of becoming the gubernatorial nominee every time he goes about making illusions to the “New Deal” of Democratic demigod Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Will Dem winner be up to brawl w/ Rauner?

ALTHOUGH THE GUY who may wind up playing well with the Democratic Party public is the one who’s related to another of the Dem demigods – as in Christopher Kennedy, the son of Bobby and nephew to both Jack and Teddy.

If you need the subtitled translation, that’s the son of a former attorney general and presidential candidate, and nephew to a president AND a long-time U.S. senator.

There are those who think this Democratic primary will wind up being a battle between Pritzker and Kennedy, with the latter letting it be known this week that during the past six weeks he has been a candidate, he has raised over $1 million in contributions from some 3,000 individuals.

PAWAR: Too gentlemanly for fight?

That’s not insignificant! Particularly if the powers-that-be within Democratic Party interests start kicking in their own money. Kennedy could be the one who can take on the guy whose family wealth includes the Hyatt Hotels chain.

COULD THIS WIND up being the Kennedy/Pritzker brawl, seeing these two bloody each other up leading into a knock-down, dragged out, all-out brawl (got to overdo the clichés here) against Bruce Rauner?

Or could one of the lesser candidates manage to catch the public eye? Something of which I’m skeptical, particularly in the case of Bob Daiber, the superintendent of schools in Madison County (across the Mississippi River from St. Louis) – who seems to think he’s the 21^st Century answer to Glenn Poshard.

Remember his 1998 campaign where he won the Democratic primary by dominating the rural Illinois vote? Only to get his behind kicked in the general election by Republican George Ryan – a fate likely to recur in 2018 if Daiber was really nominated.

KELLY: Who?!?

Then, there’s William J. Kelly, the guy who’d like to challenge Rauner for the Republican nomination and who knew just enough about television and media to gain himself public attention (but hardly any votes) for his failed mayoral campaign of 2015. And whom I’m sure someone will contact me on his behalf to rant and rage about the fact that his political fantasies were relegated to the final paragraph of this particular commentary!

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