EXTRA: People still voting when Quinn refused to concede defeat

I didn’t know it at the time late Tuesday, but there were people still waiting to cast ballots for the state, federal and county government elections at the very moment that Pat Quinn refused to concede defeat to likely Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner.

Quinn made what I’m sure he thinks is a high-minded statement about how he wants every single vote counted before he makes any statement about his political future.

I’M ALSO SURE that Rauner backers are already starting up the cheap rhetoric of Quinn being a “sore loser” because he won’t admit defeat. Even though I’m sure that cocky statement Rauner made late Tuesday to declare victory was written months in advance with no option possible if a few more city votes had been cast to put Quinn over the top.

There were polling places where problems arose early in the day, causing judges to order them to remain open late. For most, 7:30 p.m. was the closing time, although some were open as late as 9 p.m.

And that merely means somebody had to be in line by the time the polling place closed.

The Chicago Tribune reported about some city polling places where officials weren’t capable of working through the backlog of would-be voters until about 3 a.m. Wednesday.

THERE LITERALLY WERE people casting their votes about 8 hours after the polls were officially supposed to be closed. Or about three-and-a-half hours after Rauner said he was DA WINNER!!!

Of course, because the voters were given the option of registering on Tuesday to vote Tuesday, there will be many of those late votes that will be regarded as “provisional.”

Which means some sort of investigation will take place in coming days to ensure that the voters are legitimate and that their ballots should be included.

Which also means that some of the votes yet to be counted will wind up being excluded from the final vote tally – which will not be known until the Illinois State Board of Elections certifies the results on Dec. 5.

I’M REALISTIC ENOUGH to know it is not likely that Quinn can make up enough of his vote-deficit to win himself a second term in office.

But I’m also not going to get too worked up over Quinn’s lack of a concession statement last night. Because the only people who lose out are those ideologues whose victory isn’t complete unless they get the sight of someone groveling before them!

We all need to move on, and those people need to figure out  how to govern without offending the sensibilities of the true masses of our society.

  -30-

Time to vote, unless you already have

It’s Election Day; and it’s time for everybody to do their civic duty and get off our collective duff to decide who will head our governments for the next four years.

Admittedly, things have changed in recent years so that many people already have cast their ballots – early voting and vote-by-mail and all. Cook County officials said Monday that pre-election voting was 53 percent higher than the 2010 election cycle -- with 12 percent of the registered voters and 23.5 percent of the number who bothered to vote overall the last time "governor" was on the ballot having already cast ballots.

SO MUCH FOR the goal that Republican gubernatorial nominee Bruce Rauner was hoping for that Chicago-area people wouldn’t care as much about this election, so that his rest-of-the-state opposition to Chicago would be sufficient for him to win the election.

He may still do so. Because other counties with interests in doing harm to Gov. Pat Quinn's re-election dreams also are showing high early voting rates.


But it's going to be very tough for Rauner to overcome the fact that Quinn does appear to have convinced many, many Chicago and inner-suburban voters of his campaign theme that Rauner is an uncaring rich guy who wants to have a government that favors the wealthy.

Which all too often is what is truly meant when people say government needs to be “pro-business” and they persist in pushing for measures meant to weaken the ability of organized labor to look out for people who truly work for a living.

ALTHOUGH I’M NOT going to trash the people who vote for those kinds of political people. They are, after all, expressing their viewpoint in the most American of ways – at the polling place.

If they can actually get enough people to cast ballots to elect their preferred candidates, then they deserve to have their people in charge for the next four years.

My gripe is with the people who can’t be bothered – either to have turned out to an early voting center during the past two weeks or to show up at their neighborhood polling place to express their views of whom they want in office.

I know some people will claim that none of the candidates represent their views. Some will claim they’re making a political statement by voting for nobody. Some were probably more interested in Nik Wallenda's walk over the Chicago River on Sunday than they are in anything that happens Tuesday.

IN REALITY, THEY’RE ignoring the reality that somebody is going to have to assume the political positions come January (for state and federal officials) and December (for Cook County people).

The idea of “None of the Above” somehow symbolically winning is nonsense. Either Quinn or Rauner – or by some miracle, Libertarian Chad Grimm – is going to be the new governor. That person is going to face great financial challenges that will only be made worse by officials engaging in partisan politics the way our Congress has done for the past four years.

I’d like to think that anybody who can’t be bothered to vote forfeits their right to complain about government at least until the 2018 election cycle when these government posts are up for grabs again.

If anything, I took the time to show up at an early voting center so I could gripe all I want – particularly in the space provided by this weblog.

SO IT IS with that in mind that I got a kick out of the last-minute e-mail pitches I received to remind me to be sure to vote.

Vice President Joe Biden and aides to Quinn sent me such appeals, with the latter reading more like a tacky chain letter – it literally told me to pass along the message to at least five people I know. Yes, I “broke” the chain by not sending it to anybody.

I even got a message from actor Scarlett Johannson. Sponsored by the Democratic national Committee, her message warned how a Republican majority in Congress would send us, “on the fast track back in time on women’s rights.”

Whether you agree with that sentiment or not, you have to admit that she’s more legitimate than Madonna, who a couple of decades ago told us, “If you don’t vote, you’re going to get a spanking.” Ouch!

  -30-

… 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 – Just one more day until we're at Election Day Ignition!

I’m not about to try to pick who’s going to win the elections come Tuesday.

Illinois ought to keep by its leanings toward having a Democratic Party-leaning government, although the Republicans will make every effort to try to claim they have made inroads toward reducing that – no matter what really happens.

FOR THE REALITY is that we in Illinois are more urban-leaning than the states where there is the possibility of seats in the U.S. Senate shifting from Democratic representation to Republican.

So we’re not going to share in the sentiment that will occur in other parts of the country that could literally give the conservative ideologues of our society complete control of Congress – which Republican officials would then use to make the final two years of Barack Obama’s presidency a living hell for his supporters.

As for Illinois, we’re likely to keep our member of the Senate as Richard Durbin. The national question is more a matter of will we be a part of the new majority, or a part of a minority that ideologues will go out of their way to ignore.

Then, there’s the matter of our governor. By all rights, Gov. Pat Quinn ought to be kicking the stuffing out of Bruce Rauner – or any other official who tried challenging him as a Republican.

OUR STATE’S GOP structure is so weak that Republicans couldn’t even find token challengers to run against Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle or any other county government officers.

To the degree that there is any Illinois Republican Party these days, it is because Rauner has pumped in so many millions of his own money to make it appear that the one-time “Party of Lincoln” isn’t extinct.

So can Rauner actually win the governor’s post – which Republicans would try to claim means they have retaken control of state government, rather than just one executive branch post that will have to contend with a hostile Democrat-led Legislature.

If I had to predict, I’d say that Quinn takes 49 percent of the vote, with Rauner finishing with 48 percent and Libertarian Chad Grimm snapping up the remainder.

BUT BEFORE ANYONE thinks I’m saying Grimm will cost Rauner the election, what I actually believe is that most of those 3 percent for Grimm would be people who otherwise would decide that neither major party candidate is worth their vote. They would have sat it out.

I do realize that I’m merely guessing, and that anything is possible come Tuesday. We’re going to have to see who actually bothers to show up to vote.

Will Rauner succeed in persuading a significant number of African-American voters to sit this election out – rather than giving the Democrat the usual 90-percent level of support?

Or are those poll results published last week by the Chicago Sun-Times possibly correct that Rauner’s attempts to make himself appear less conservative on issues such as increasing the minimum wage and legitimizing gay marriage could backfire because they are ticking off the rural residents who WANT a conservative ideologue as governor on those issues?

WILL THE DESIRE to dump Quinn be tampered by the fact that Rauner claims not to have a social agenda – when the very voters he is counting on to back him want exactly that? Will Quinn survive because of ideologue apathy?

Who doesn’t vote is ultimately going to decide this particular election cycle.

It is why I’m reluctant to say who will be the winner Tuesday night – other than to say that Preckwinkle WILL be chosen to serve another four-year term in the Cook County Board.

Now as to whether she’ll keep the post, or give it up to run for Chicago mayor come 2015 – probably not. But I’m not about to put any bet down on that issue.

  -30-

Do celebrity backings mean much to pols? Or just to their wallets?

Long-time women’s activist Gloria Steinem plans to be in Chicago on Friday to throw her backing to Gov. Pat Quinn in his bid to get one more term in elective office.

Which might seem to be a bigger deal, except that Quinn has been going hog-wild in recent days on the appearances by celebrity pols and activists to try to draw attention to his campaign.

WE GOT TO see President Barack Obama earlier this week in town for Quinn, although the president seemed to have got more attention for the incident at an early polling place when some guy told him to keep his hands off his girlfriend – who happened to be in the voting booth right next to the president.

Both former President Bill Clinton and possible future president Hillary R. Clinton have been in town to tell us we should vote for Pat come Nov. 4.

Vice President Joe Biden (who deep down has to be miffed that he’s NOT regarded as the automatic front-runner for president come the 2016 election cycle) was in Chicago to be seen with the “Mighty” Quinn.

And now Steinem, who according to the Chicago Sun-Times will be hosting a rally to sway female voters and a fundraiser to collect campaign cash for Quinn.

ALTHOUGH I’M WONDERING if she’s going to get more attention for the fact if she actually shows up for this event.

Let’s not forget that she was supposed to be in Chicago in late September to tout Pat Quinn – only it turned out to be the same day of the incident at the FAA facility in suburban Aurora that knocked both O’Hare International and Midway airports out of commission.

If Gloria Steinem can’t get a flight to Chicago on Friday for some yet-to-be-known reason, should we take it as a sign from the heavens above that she is not meant to be as a backer of the Quinn campaign?

That’s a lot of heavy-duty names to show up in Chicago in such a short time span. Perhaps actor Martin Sheen should have held off a bit longer so he could have been squeezed into this week.

JUST THINK OF how much of a hissy fit Republican gubernatorial challenger Bruce Rauner could have if all those people had touted Pat Quinn during a seven-day span of time? Then again, he’s managed to throw enough hissy fits about Quinn just the way things are.

Perhaps Rauner wishes he could get his share of “names” to come out and say how wonderful he is. Unless he’s satisfied that newspaper publishers, a usually GOP-leaning group, are all uniting in support of him. Ho-hum!

What has me wondering about these appearances is that I question how much they really work? And I don’t mean just these particular individuals. Do any “celebrity” offerings really make much of an impression on the electorate?

I’ll be the first to admit that they enable the candidates to justify charging ridiculous sums of money for people to attend the fund-raising events that all of these stunts were.

WHICH MEANS THEY have helped Pat Quinn come up with the kind of cash that almost lets him keep up with the tens of millions of dollars of his own financial wealth that Rauner has been able to spend on his attempt to gain a political office.

Be honest. Do you know anyone who seriously would pay the thousands of dollars per plate to attend one of these events? Insofar as the average voter is concerned, what matters is the television footage of the candidate with the so-called “name.”

It creates a trivial impression that perhaps these people really have some contacts with each other. Even though I have found in my own contact with political people that they usually detest each other privately and will say some of the most mean-spirited things about each other when they think no one else is listening!

  -30-

Dozen more days of anti-Quinn rhetoric

You know we’re coming close to an Election Day when the hostile rhetoric gets stepped up; I was swamped in all the cheap talk being spewed these days to make Gov. Pat Quinn into the most corrupt of political individuals imaginable.

I lost track of the number of e-mail messages I got before noon Wednesday taking pot shots at Quinn and trying to make it appear as though Republican challenger Bruce Rauner is our state’s savior.

NOW THE FACTUAL basis that inspired most of this trash talk is that U.S. Magistrate judge Sidney Schenkier issued an order that provides for a monitor to oversee the Illinois Department of Transportation.

Political partisans are claiming that the hiring process for that state agency has been politically motivated by the opposition – as in people getting jobs there because they’re owed a political favor, rather than being actually qualified for whatever position they’re applying for.

The judge’s order provides for someone who will study the hiring practices and who eventually will determine whether there’s any legitimacy to the claim, while also imposing any changes that might be required if problems are found.

That conclusion won’t come until well after the Nov. 4 date for Election Day. But for political purposes, it doesn’t matter – not that there’s no hard fact, nor that it may be concluded that nothing inappropriate is taking place.

PERSONALLY, I RECEIVED two e-mail messages from the Rauner campaign – one giving a statement from the candidate to be quoted in news copy. That line about, “A federal judge just confirmed what we’ve known all along – Pat Quinn is corrupt …” and so on.

Then, when the Chicago Tribune managed to quickly piece together a news story Wednesday morning for their web site about the Schenkier ruling (which included Rauner’s ‘response’ at the very end), the Rauner campaign made sure to send a statement pointing out the news story.


Which I had already read on my own. I read the newspapers myself, rather than let others read them for me.

There also was the Illinois Republican Party-issued statement meant to make sure that reporter-type people found out about this particular news happening, and perceived it in the GOP way of the world. Even the Republican Governor's Association felt compelled to e-mail me to make sure I "knew" what was happening.

THAT WAS ON top of the other state Republican statement I got Wednesday morning, letting me know that Quinn would not be present at a Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., campaign event that will highlight Vice President Joe Biden.

Under the headline Brad Schneider to Pat Quinn, Stay Away!, it is meant to give us the impression that nobody wants to be seen in the incumbent governor’s

presence. Just like national Republicans want to believe that Barack Obama is the perennial pariah who takes down everything he touches.

Now I don’t doubt that some people really do feel that way. But whether they’re a majority of the electorate remains to be seen. Let’s not forget that Obama handily won two election cycles for president, despite some of the most hostile rhetoric any candidate has ever faced.

I’m also aware that it is naïve to presume there hasn’t been any political influence in the hiring practices that relate to the state Transportation Department. It probably is to our benefit that we will have a monitor.

BUT I AM influenced by the fact that governments routinely get lawsuits filed against them, are constantly the butt of complaints and have legal entities doing investigations of sorts on any number of issues.

It doesn’t mean they’re all legitimate. In fact, many number of them are politically motivated in-and-of themselves to stir up reactions that people can use to their own advantage.

Truth is usually the last thing that anybody really cares about in these instances – particularly when the claims are being made just 12 days prior to Election Day.

  -30-

Will anyone care Sun-Times may have dumped all over its statehouse reporter to appease a political candidate?

There isn’t much that surprises me about the story of how the Bruce Rauner gubernatorial campaign may have tried to intimidate the Chicago Sun-Times into cracking down on their primary state government reporter for stories perceived as negative.

The notion that some political people are touchy enough to pick up the telephone and scream at an editor about how their reporter is out of control?! Rauner isn’t the first, nor will he be the last. The real issue is more that the paper was willing to consider giving in!

THE IDEA THAT it isn’t the primary concern of the electorate that a reporter may be treated badly while on the job? Some people probably think that’s the way it should be, and the Springfield-based Capitol Fax newsletter points out that this story doesn’t seem to be catching on amongst the public.

And the concept that other news organizations seem to be reluctant to pick up on this story to make sure people become aware of it? That would require work. Particularly from weekend crews consisting of lesser-experienced reporter-type people.

It was just easier to put together a straight-forward factual story that said the Sun-Times was one of several newspapers across Illinois (dailies in Belleville, Peoria and Springfield, to name a few) that added on to the list of publications that are officially telling us to vote for Rauner over Gov. Pat Quinn come the Nov. 4 election cycle – of which early voting began Monday.

As for the fact that one of those endorsements has a questionable backstory? I’m sure some weekend editor types view inclusion of that angle as somehow editorializing or expressing a personal opinion.

BESIDES, GETTING INTO the inner workings of the news business is usually one of the issnes that news organizations do very badly. The fact that Crain’s Chicago Business actually put together a detailed account of how Sun-Times statehouse correspondent Dave McKinney hired his own investigator to look into the circumstances by which the Sun-Times reacted to complaints about his reporting on Rauner makes them the exception.

That story is gaining traction amongst government geeks who take every blow of the electoral process seriously. The rest of the population probably won’t find out much about this issue. It certainly didn't come up during the Monday night debate between the two candidates -- except for Rauner to briefly rant about unfair news media reports without going into specifics.

As for me, I read that Crain’s account. It just seemed way too predictable that the Rauner campaign would react badly to a story that made him look arrogant.

If anything, it is because of this reaction that I have problems with candidates of business backgrounds who think they can run for a top political post and go about telling people how they will run government like a business.

IT CAN’T BE done. Government is NOT a business. And a political person can’t just have someone “fired” for their impudence. Which is how Rauner’s behavior in this whole matter plays out.

The real way a political person can gain favor with a reporter-type is to show that they realize good and bad press is natural, and that becoming all temperamental at a “bad” story is wasted time and energy. Sadly, Rauner isn’t unique in this way!

Reading the Crain’s account about Rauner reminded me of a passage from “Boss,” the biography by then-Chicago Daily News columnist Mike Royko who summarized Mayor Richard J. Daley’s attitude towards the news media.

“He dislikes reporters and writers, but gets on well with editors and publishers… If he feels that he has been criticized unfairly, and he considers most criticism unfair, he doesn’t hesitate to pick up a phone and complain to an editor,” Royko wrote. “In general, he views the papers as his enemy. The reporters, specifically.

“THEY WANT TO know things that are none of their business, because they are little men. Editors, at least, have power, but he doesn’t understand why they let reporters exercise it,” Royko wrote.

Be honest. If Royko were alive today, he could have recycled that passage in reference to Rauner’s behavior. Perhaps with an explanation about how some things in electoral politics just don’t change.

And if people don’t pay attention, then perhaps the ballots they wind up casting will be nothing but their own fault.

  -30-

EXTRA: Gubernatorial, el finito

Call me among the pathetic – insofar as the masses are concerned. I turned off my television and chose not to watch “Dancing with the Stars,” instead turning to WLS-TV’s web site to see the final gubernatorial debate live held Monday night.

Those who had no computer access had to wait for the delayed broadcast (at 10:30 p.m., following the late-night news). It reminds me of 1981 – when I listened to the Chicago Sting win the North American Soccer League championship that year on radio because no one would carry the NASL “Soccer Bowl” live on television.

SO WHAT DID we, the people (at least those of us with an interest in voting for governor), gain from this final face-to-face confrontation between Gov. Pat Quinn and his Republican challenger, Bruce Rauner?

There’s the ongoing problem of shortfalls in the amount of money needed to fund state-monitored pension programs. Quinn signed a reform measure into law, but the courts have not been favorable to it – and some people expect the courts will eventually strike down that measure.

Leaving Illinois with nothing in place.

Rauner wants to think that Quinn himself is to blame for this mess. “Pension issues are one of the biggest issues we face,” he said. “Quinn failed, then dumped into the Legislature’s hands this issue. It’s the governor’s obligation.”

HE ALSO SAID that Quinn has been eager to point out social issues, “because he can’t run on financial issues.”

Although I know first-hand from dealing with the General Assembly that any governor who thinks he can strong-arm the Legislature is going to find himself thoroughly beaten. Just look at what became of Rod Blagojevich – a Legislature that was more than eager to impeach when the feds began probing his administration.

So Quinn may have a point when he says, “I know how to work with legislators. My opponent demonizes legislators.” He also said, "I have a lot of power, and I have used it wisely," while downplaying the many moments when Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, has treated Quinn as though he ranks lower than a legislative page.

There’s also the notion that the General Assembly may consider a permanent boost in the state income tax – the increase that was supposed to be temporary and wither away after this year. But which Quinn says is now necessary just to maintain government.

QUINN HAS CONSTANTLY said he’s going to push this issue in the veto session come November (after the Nov. 4 elections), and twice reiterated that notion on Monday. “He (Rauner) doesn’t want the income tax, he wants the Bruce Rauner tax,” which Quinn defines as, “fees charged on services that apply to regular people.”

Although Rauner tried again (just as in the debate last week) to pressure Quinn to say he would NOT back the increase and would let the state funding wither away. Which came across more as Rauner getting overly preachy with his rhetoric. Move on, already!

One tidbit of interest – it has been reported that city Treasurer Stephanie Neely does not plan to seek another term in office come the 2015 municipal elections. Rauner on Monday said he plans to hire her to be a part of his gubernatorial administration and said Quinn “threw her off the ticket” when he chose former Chicago schools CEO Paul Vallas instead of Neely to be his lieutenant governor running mate.

If Rauner manages to win come Nov. 4, that is. Otherwise, Neely could wind up governmentally unemployed.

I ALSO GOT my kick from hearing Rauner refer to himself as a “nobody.”

As in, “I’m Nobody that Nobody sent.” As a reference to political science professor Milton Rakove’s famed book about Chicago politics during the Richard J. Daley era – which referred to what he was told when he, as a University of Chicago student, tried to volunteer his services to work for the local ward organization.

Somehow, I don’t think that a venture capitalist was the type of person who qualified as a “nobody” in Rakove’s mind!

Although I wonder if Rauner was trying to compare himself to the Roosevelt and Kennedy families when he pointed out their personal wealth. “You don’t judge a person by the size of their wallet,” he said.

  -30-

Do they think everybody’s rushing to the newsstand to buy a Sun-Times?

I’ve gone about mocking the Chicago Sun-Times for its policy of non-endorsement editorials – particularly since everybody else is still persisting in taking official stances on how people should vote.

Now, it seems I’ll have to go back and mock the Sun-Times for taking lame-brained editorial stances. Because the newspaper put a notice on their website Friday night telling us there will be an official endorsement in the Sunday newspaper – the one whose early editions are for sale Saturday morning – governor.

CONSIDERING THAT THE newspaper published an editorial earlier this week that said Rauner is the preferred candidate for Illinois governor because of the financial problems the state faces – and that no other concerns are relevant – it would be extremely difficult to think there’s a way the paper would officially back Gov. Pat Quinn’s bid for re-election.

Unless they’re really willing to open themselves up to ridicule!

Now I don’t have first-hand knowledge about the goings on of the Sun-Times editorial board. I know what I read in the paper.

Although a part of me wonders if the current Sun-Times ownership saw all the fun being had by all the other newspapers who in recent weeks have written editorials saying people should vote for Rauner.

THEY WANT TO “play” too. What’s the point of owning a major metro news-oriented publication and any Internet-based venues that go along with it if one can’t throw their muscle around and pretend that the political people are actually swayed by such thoughts?

I’ll give the newspaper the benefit of the doubt when it says it’s not being influenced to back Rauner because of the owners’ ties to the man – he was once a minority partner in the company that currently runs the newspaper, although he sold it off when he started thinking of running for government office.

Which makes me wonder if Rauner is a guy who once had dreams of being a media mogul, but decided instead to be a governor instead? What next; will he want to be a fire chief?

Or maybe he’ll start wearing a cape and go running around Chicago pretending he’s some sort of superhero – saving the souls of Chicago from evil super villains who would wreck havoc upon the Second City.

JUST AS A side thought – what kind of evil villain character could be created out of Pat Quinn’s persona?

But back to the Sun-Times editorial policy – which seems like it will be limited to governor come the Nov. 4 election cycle. Although the newspaper wrote Friday that they would make endorsements for the February and April election cycle for municipal office.

Will the Sun-Times throw its support to a mayoral challenger? Or will they convince us that the Dynamic Duo of Emanuel and Rauner is the key to running city and state governments in a way that will bring about the most in reform?

That is a thought that I’m sure would offend many Chicagoans these days. If the Sun-Times’ intent is merely to back people of means whose world view would be oriented to certain upper-crust individuals, they may wind up doing themselves harm in terms of alienating their readership.

THE IDEA OF a Sun-Times editorial endorsement that says Quinn needs to go because none of the business objections brought up by the governor are relevant just seems too similar to the endorsement the Chicago Tribune already gave to Rauner.

But I wonder if some people are going to speculate more about the “Dynamic Duo” concept I threw out there earlier – if Rauner is “Robin,” how ridiculous would he look in those green shorts and yellow cape that actor Burt Ward made ever so popular a half-century ago?

  -30-

EXTRA: “You are the worst governor in America,” so Rauner says to Quinn

That was Republican gubernatorial hopeful Bruce Rauner trying to excoriate Gov. Pat Quinn, who seemed (to me, at least) to be holding back the urge to laugh in Rauner’s face at the ludicrosity of that statement.

It came toward the end of the Tuesday night debate sponsored by the Chicago Urban League, and was the event in which Rauner tried to make a direct appeal to African-American voters to dump the Dems and not hold it against him that he’s a Republican.

ALTHOUGH WHAT LITTLE public reaction there was during the debate at the DuSable Museum seemed to be more sympathetic toward Quinn than toward anything Rauner had to say.

By and large, the candidates seemed to use the typical rhetoric of this campaign cycle. Having followed the process of multiple campaign events and statements, there wasn’t anything that was said Tuesday that I hadn’t heard before.

So excuse me if I don’t think either candidate did an exceptional job of grabbing the mood of the electorate and gaining its support for themselves.

The talk about the minimum wage did delve into comic relief, as both tried to claim to be the one who would seek to get higher wages for the lowest-paid of our state’s citizens.

RAUNER SAYS HE’D back a minimum wage hike if there were at least three pro-business measures enacted into law. While Quinn reminded us of Rauner’s past opposition to the idea, and claimed he’s the only candidate who’s not about to put conditions on the idea of bolstering the minimum wage from its already-exceeding the level of the federal minimum wage.

Which is why countless people living in Northwest Indiana communities along the Illinois/Indiana border commute to work in Illinois – they’ll get paid better.

Then again, Rauner is a business-oriented person who’s more concerned about the management, rather than the working stiffs.

And as far as Rauner’s attempt to lambast Quinn, I’m sure he thinks video of that moment will somehow become viral – being played over and over and over again on YouTube.

BUT THERE’S FAR too many goofs in government across the country for Quinn to be notable in that way. It just made Rauner look like a blowhard (although, to be honest, Quinn has more than his share of moments during his political life when he has been just as full of himself).

So what does the debate mean? It probably did little more than bolster WBBM-TV’s ratings by attracting government geeks to watch Channel 2 rather than reruns of M*A*S*H during the 6 o’clock hour.

And it probably proves that Quinn was correct when, earlier in the day Tuesday, he said, “”You can’t presume anything until the day of election.”

  -30-

Whole lotta hyperbole goin’ on!

I expect nonsense to be spewed during the weeks leading up to an election, and usually know enough to disregard anything said by a candidate of any political persuasion.

They want, after all, to get themselves elected. They’re counting on the fact that few people will ever bother to check reality.

BUT AS I write this commentary, I’m getting slammed with some nonsense that just needs to be called out.

It was Sunday night while watching television that I stumbled across Republican gubernatorial nominee Bruce Rauner and his latest broadcast campaign spot – one that talks of Gov. Pat Quinn planning to slip a tax increase past us in secret the moment the Nov. 4 election has passed.

There’s just one problem – there’s nothing secretive about Quinn’s intentions. Anybody who didn’t realize what could happen come the General Assembly’s fall veto session next month is incredibly absent-minded.

For we’re talking about that increase in the state income tax that was approved a few years ago as a measure that would expire at the end of this year.

QUINN TRIED DURING the Legislature’s spring session to get them to approve a permanent extension of the increase; but legislators of both major political persuasions were hesitant to do anything.

It is why the General Assembly wound up approving a budget for state government that only has enough money to get Illinois through about January or February. It has always been known that the Legislature either was going to have to give in to Quinn’s extension preference, or else be prepared to make severe spending cuts throughout state government that will leave people even more ticked off than any income tax extension would have.

Quinn hasn’t been secretive about anything along this line. Heck, he told the Arlington Heights-based Daily Herald about this when he appeared before them for an endorsement session – which the newspaper wound up giving to Rauner (no surprise there)!

So to hear (and read the following morning in an e-mail message from the Rauner campaign) about secrecy and “a massive tax hike right after the election” just makes me ill.

IF ANYTHING, STUFF like this is inclined to make me think less of Rauner. Probably about as little as the Democratic Party-leaning operatives who sent me another e-mail message; one that suggests that the Ebola scare and the threat it poses to the public health of this nation is somehow a Republican Party plot.

The Agenda Project Action Fund is proud of the fact that it has its own advertising spots laying blame on the GOP for Ebola, contending that cuts in federal funds for health care initiatives have made us more vulnerable to a disease that some once wanted to think was limited exclusively to nations in west Africa.

“Republican Cuts Kill” is what this newest advertising campaign is called.

“Like rabid dogs in a butcher shop, Republicans have indiscriminately shredded everything in their path, including critical programs that could have dealt with the Ebola crisis before it reached our country,” the group wrote.

THERE’S NOTHING SUBTLE about that.

While I don’t doubt there is a way of twisting facts to make the problem so simplistic, the idea that either political party is to blame for the death that has occurred already – and the nurse who has turned ill despite wearing protective gear – is just nonsensical.

It’s got to the point where I dread television or e-mail – which the campaigns seem to like to use to send me their campaign ads, just in case I miss them on television.

Although I did find it amusing to get an e-mail Sunday from “Robert Redford,” telling me how I should support Sen. Tom Udall’s re-election bid in New Mexico – as though we’re all just the best of buds.

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22 days and counting down

With just over three weeks prior to Election Day, I’m wondering how much the early voting centers are going to give us a clue as to how the campaign for governor will turn out.

As has been written here before, I’m convinced that a strong Chicago and inner-suburban voter turnout means we get “Four more years” of Gov. Pat Quinn.

IF THE URBAN portion of Illinois turns out to be apathetic, then we’ll get venture capitalist Bruce Rauner achieving a new hobby – being governor. I say it would be a hobby for him because he’s gone about saying he won’t take a salary or any retirement benefits for his government service.

I suspect that this is merely something he’d like to do in his fantasies, in the same way there are those of us who dreamed of being an outfielder for the Chicago Cubs.

I found the Chicago Sun-Times report on Sunday to be particularly interesting – the one about the We Ask America poll that contends Chicago-area people are more accepting of people with political backgrounds running for office, while those who live in the rest of Illinois actually like the idea of someone with a business background being in charge of state government.

I’m not sure people are really giving one’s business orientation all that much thought. It’s probably more the fact that Quinn is the Chicago-area candidate, while Rauner is the person whom people vote for if they hate the idea of someone with a Chicago orientation being in charge of state government.

WHICH IS PARTICULARLY ironic, because Rauner himself is of the Chicago suburbs but actually chooses to keep a residence in the city proper, and even famously tried to send his kid to school in Chicago.

A concept that I’m sure many non-Chicago-oriented Illinoisans find completely inconceivable.

Let’s not forget that a majority of those who voted in the Republican primary back in March picked someone other than Rauner. What this election truly is about is a “yes” or “no” for Pat Quinn. I don’t think many people truly care about Bruce.

So all these polls of recent weeks that show the campaign getting closer and closer probably are merely telling us that Chicago voters (along with those of the inner suburbs) are taking this election cycle more seriously than Rauner wanted them to.

IT IS THE reason why Quinn himself made countless campaign appearances on Saturday throughout south suburban Cook and Will counties, being seen with many area state legislators and Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Ill., who want to create the image of being capable of bringing projects and grants back to their home communities.

Those are the suburbs that have become Democratic Party strongholds and could add to the potential of 80 percent of Chicago proper voters turning out for Quinn over Rauner. They would certainly ensure that the Republican patches of western and north suburban Cook County would be overcome come Nov. 4.

It’s all going to be about turnout. There probably won’t be any major gaffes that occur in the debates – at least if they’re anything like the first debate held last week in Peoria.

Just like I don’t expect the endorsement portion of the campaign cycle from newspapers is going to change anybody’s minds.

THE REALITY IS that newspapers are business interests. The idea of a “liberal media” is a myth – it’s more trivial than anything else at times.

Rauner is going to virtually sweep the cycle of every news media endorsement – particularly since the only newspaper that historically might have been inclined to back Quinn has made a big production out of saying it won’t back anybody. That goes for the many suburban news properties owned by the Chicago Sun-Times.

So Rauner being backed by the Chicago Tribune, Crain’s Chicago Business, the Daily Herald of Arlington Heights, and the joint endorsement published by the Joliet Herald News, the Kane County Chronicle and the Northwest Herald of Woodstock?

It’s nothing more than the source material for a future campaign ad by the Rauner people that brags about its significance, while the masses are more likely to follow the lead of their respective community in deciding whom they want to back.

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A DAY IN THE LIFE (of Chicago): Suburbanizing the city? Political heavyweights? Or twin mediocrity?

I remember once being in the now-former Borders Books store at Diversey, Clark and Broadway when I overheard what appeared to be a rural couple approach a sales clerk and ask if there was a Wal-mart store anywhere nearby.

 

That clerk explained to the couple that Wal-mart wasn’t exactly the kind of business that located in such a community as the Lakeview neighborhood. The tone of his voice made it clear he held the couple in some sort of contempt for even thinking of shopping at a Wal-mart.

 

I COULDN’T HELP but think of that clerk (whom I don’t believe I have ever seen or heard from since that moment) when I stumbled across the press release Gov. Pat Quinn put out on Monday – one that boasted of something that Quinn wants to think is a major business accomplishment during his administration.

 

Chicago, the city proper, is getting its first Olive Garden restaurant!

 

Officials say the restaurant on Addison Street will employ 170 people in all. Those new jobs are among 13,800 new private sector jobs created across all of Illinois during the month of August.

 

What would that clerk think of the concept of an Olive Garden – mass produced Italian food for those people who claim they like Italian, except for the garlic – being located within the city limits?

 

THIS COMMENTARY IS not about to turn into a rant about generic businesses being located in Chicago. I’m not about to claim the city is a bastion of sophistication.

 

I’m sure there are many city residents who would patronize an Olive Garden if it was located near their homes. It’s not the kind of place they’re going to make a lengthy trip for.

 

Yet the idea of boasting about this particular business accomplishment. It makes me wonder what’s next – will Quinn get all worked up at the thought of a Steak ‘n’ Shake being located within the city? Or maybe an International House of Pancakes winding up in Chicago?

 

Small businesses might well be an important part of our local and regional economy. But it takes a lot of them to create benefits that are noticeable to the masses.

 

POLITICAL REINFORCEMENTS: Gov. Pat Quinn is going to get the reinforcements to bolster his campaign during the next week-and-a-half.

 

Both President Barack and first lady Michelle Obama will be in Chicago at events on his behalf. And one-time suburban Park Ridge native Hillary Rodham Clinton will be in Chicago to tell people why they should get off their keisters and cast ballots for Quinn.

 

That’s some pretty heavy-duty political power to be able to wield. When combined with the fact that Republican opponent Bruce Rauner isn’t the kind of guy who inspires people to vote for him (GOP backers are voting against Quinn, by and large, the incumbent governor is looking like he’d better win come Nov. 4.

 

For if he can’t turn out the vote in Illinois, particularly the urban parts of the state, in strong enough numbers, he’s got no one to blame really but himself.

 

73-89 SQUARED: The professional baseball season is over in Chicago. Both the White Sox and Cubs finished with identical won-loss records that say they improved from being absolutely dreadful last year (99 White Sox losses compared to 96 for the Cubs) to being mediocre in ’14.

 

It has some wondering if the improvement will continue to the point where we might have dual pennant races within a couple of years. I’m not rushing to any judgment. Serious contention is a big leap from the mediocrity we saw this past season.

 

So while I joke about that upcoming all-Chicago World Series, I realize there is much development (and many quirks that must break just so) for that to become a reality – and it may never occur.

 

So now we count down to 2015, and the possibility of Jose Abreu improving on his 36-home run performance – more home runs than any other White Sox rookie (and good enough for third best in the American League).

 

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