Is most obnoxious tactic also the most effective when it comes to protest?

It has not yet been a full month since that day when Rev. Michael Pfleger led a band of protesters to march for a mile-and-a-half right on the Dan Ryan Expressway – with the stunt meant to call attention to problems of urban violence.

HARDIMAN: Wants to 'redistribute' pain

Now, another activist group (this one including political dreamer Tio Hardiman) wants to do a similar stunt – although for what it’s worth, they have said they resent anyone who tries comparing their event to that of Father Pfleger.

THIS GROUP WANTS to march in the middle of Lake Shore Drive, and not just any old portion of the road.

They want to cause traffic congestion from Diversey to Belmont avenues, then walk over to Wrigley Field. Which on the day they plan to do their event is one in which the Chicago Cubs will be playing, and it also is the first day of the Lollapalooza music festival.

Meaning it’s likely there will be many white people out trying to enjoy their lives but will find their recreational plans interfered with by these activists – who by the way are also claiming they want to see Rahm Emanuel resign his mayoral post in shame.

Who’d have thought that Michael Pfleger, with his decades of history of outlandish tactics, would come across as the calm, rational guy.

PFLEGER: Tried drawing attention to So. Side

NOW I DON’T mean to try to undermine the problems Chicago has with regards to urban violence. There are parts of this city where it is risky to venture into. For the people who, by circumstance, wind up having to live their lives in those communities, life can be fairly miserable.

And for the rest of us, it is shallow to think we can ignore those people and those communities just because we don’t live there.

So in that sense, I comprehend the intent of what Hardiman and his allies are trying to accomplish. We, the masses, do need to be made more aware of what is happening. And perhaps we do, occasionally, need to have our noses rubbed in reality because we don’t pay sufficient attention.

But I can’t help but think this proposed event could turn out much worse.

Will these kinds of people want to bother with problem/

BECAUSE WHAT WAS key to the event that Pfleger staged was that he focused on a stretch of the Dan Ryan Expressway right in the heart of one of the neighborhoods where the urban violence is at its worse.

A segment where many people merely pass by as they drive along the Dan Ryan and never even think of stopping for anything. Their attention, however briefly, was forced to focus on the South Side.

Whereas this proposed protest is such that it is focusing on a portion of the North Side where it is possible for people to think that talk of a violent Chicago is just another one of those lies spewed by President Donald Trump to appease the whack jobs who still think highly of the man. They, after all, will believe anything – no matter how absurd it sounds!

As the Chicago Tribune points out, the police district for that area has one of the lowest totals (11) of people being shot this year, with 36 shootings all of last year. And some of those were people who were shot by police for causing trouble.

THE IDEA OF activists come next Thursday is to get in the way – to make sure that some concern-goers get there late and perhaps some of the Cubs fans be massively inconvenienced.

EMANUEL: He's not going anywhere anytime soon

In fact, some of the activists organizing this event say they think Pfleger’s event was flawed because it did nothing to “redistribute the pain” they say is felt by black Chicago residents.

Personally, I thought Pfleger’s event succeeded because it managed to tie up traffic without anyone getting killed by a motorist trying to get through. It made its point without getting distracted by fatalities.

I could easily see this one failing because someone driving along (and not on) LSD strikes a protester – and the masses of Chicago will think that protester got what he (or she) deserved for trying to walk in the middle of a major thoroughfare!

  -30-

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!

  -30-

Does Tio Hardiman think everybody should drop out of governor’s primary?

Now we’re moving into the segment of the primary election cycle in which everybody starts talking stupid.

KENNEDY: Wants Pritzker out

Perhaps it’s the fact that the nearly year-long time period during which they’ve been campaigning is making them feel touched in the head. They’re spewing silliness.

HOW ELSE TO explain Chris Kennedy’s rant Thursday that he thinks J.B. Pritzker, whom various polls have shown to be the front-runner, of sorts, for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination should withdraw from the race.

To which Daniel Biss, the state senator from Evanston who’d like to think he can play politics with the big boys, says Kennedy has no business making such a demand. He thinks both Kennedy and Pritzker ought to step aside to allow him to have the gubernatorial nomination.

I found one anonymous commenter on the Internet who says that Pritzker missed the perfect chance to complete the circle by issuing a statement calling for Biss to back away.

Although my reaction is to wonder if Tio Hardiman, the gun control activist who has a primary interest in the level of urban violence we’re confronted with in society, thinks everybody ought to get out of the race so that he might have a chance to win.

HARDIMAN IS THE guy whom the same gubernatorial polls show with about 1 percent support. That is, on the occasions when they even bother acknowledging his existence on the political scene.

PRITZKER: Trying to stay above fray

I did think of making a joke about Robert Marshall being the candidate who wanted everybody else to clear a path to victory for himself. But even that thought was just a tad too ridiculous.

I suspect if Marshall were to become the Democratic nominee for governor, that would drive swarms of people over to an effort to create a third political party, something along the lines of the 1986 election cycle when Adlai Stevenson III had to run a third-party campaign to try to fulfill his gubernatorial dreams.

Because Marshall just ain’t a Democrat, no matter what papers he filed in order to run in the primary.

BISS: Wants Kennedy/Pritzker out

I TAKE SUCH a light-hearted view on this issue, because I don’t expect anybody would seriously consider dropping out of the race for the benefit of someone whom they’ve been bad-mouthing for several months now as being totally unfit to serve.

But the fact that anybody would spew such rhetoric in any way other than as a tacky joke meant to be heard only by their hard-core supporters means, to me, that the wear-and-tear of the election cycle is getting to them.

Not that I can’t sympathize. As a reporter-type person, I have covered the day-to-day grind of a political campaign. I’ve been watching this election cycle from a distance, but it is still tiring.

Personally, I can’t wait for Tuesday night to come and go, and the unofficial election results to become public. I’ll be grateful for a time when I don’t even have to contemplate Marshall’s existence, at least until his next token campaign for office in 2020.

HARDIMAN: Could he win if everybody dropped out?

AND FOR A time when two out of the three of Biss, Kennedy and Pritzker will become ancient history. I’m sure the candidates are awaiting a rest period once the primary cycle is complete.

So what should we think of Kennedy saying, “If (Pritzker) believed in public service and sacrifice, he would sacrifice his own political career in service to the Democratic Party of Illinois and, frankly, to the people of Illinois by dropping out of the race.”

Or Biss saying, “Chris Kennedy and J.B. Pritzker are two sides of the same gold coin.”

If Kennedy and Pritzker are “gold coins,” does that make Biss a Lincoln-head penny of the sort that I have far too many of in my pants pocket’s spare change?

  -30-

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.

  -30-

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.

Does downstate Illinois really love Quinn now? Or just afraid of unknown?

The Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University came out with its own poll recently for the upcoming primary elections, and there’s little surprising about its conclusion that Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democratic challenger J.B. Pritzker are the favorites for victory come March 20.

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.

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.

... 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.

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.

  -30-

Who will we get to pick for Illinois governor – the all- nobody campaign?

A part of me wants to believe that Gov. Bruce Rauner has dug himself so deep into a partisan hole that there’s no way he can possibly prevail come the Nov. 6 general election, and that if the Republicans could have come up with a more rational candidate he probably couldn’t even win the March 20 GOP primary.

Which of these mediocrities ...

But then I look at the assortment of mediocrities that have cropped up on the Democratic Party side of the electoral equation and I honestly can’t help but think the 2018 election for Illinois governor is truly going to be a question of which candidate offends us the least.

IT’S ALMOST AS though Rauner hand-picked his opposition to provide as weak a challenger as he could face.

That was the reaction I had to learning of the We Ask America poll that asked people who amongst the six Democrats running in the primary would they vote for.

It truly was a choice of “None of the Above,” as “undecided” was the leading choice. Some 37.95 percent of those questioned said they hadn’t made up their mind yet. Amongst the actual choices, the so-called frontrunner, J.B. Pritzker, was in the lead with 29.79 percent support.

But considering that he’s the candidate with the personal fortune that he has shown a willingness to spend in order to campaign, you’d think he’d be the one so far ahead of the pack that the other candidates would be legitimately having thoughts of dropping out.

... actually stands a chance ...

NOT QUITE. IT seems that Pritzker’s millions haven’t been enough to sew up the primary election for him before serious campaigning began.

Which was supposedly the reason that Democratic Party leadership touted the Pritzker campaign to begin with – his money was supposed to make him unbeatable.

But it seems he can’t even dominate a political party fight. Which almost makes me wonder if it is time for Pritzker to give second thoughts to dropping out, on the grounds that he could save a lot of personal wealth from being expended on an ultimately unsuccessful electoral cause.

... of taking the oath of office ...

Now I know state Sen. Daniel Biss of Evanston has been crowing about this poll because it shows him in second place (third actually, behind Undecided and Pritzker). His 17.43 percent allows him to move ahead of Chris Kennedy, with 11.5 percent.

... to become Illinois' next governor?

NOT EXACTLY A high point for the Kennedy name, which I’m sure he got into this campaign thinking it alone would carry him to a Democratic primary victory. He could then step up the serious campaigning come the general election against Rauner.

Except that Rauner, during his limited appearances against GOP opponent, and state Sen. Jeanne Ives of Wheaton, has shown himself to be of limited ability.

IVES: Can she compete in GOP primary?

It’s as though he thinks he can get by with the same campaigning skills that allowed him to defeat Gov. Pat Quinn back in 2014. Quinn, of course, had enough people within his own political party willing to see him get knocked about that they didn’t care much if he lost.

He even had some rural Illinois counties with so much unrest that the ’14 primary challenge of Tio Hardiman managed to get some local victories. That’s the same Hardiman whose political dreams this year get him only a 1.73 percent level of support for governor.

YES, I'LL COME out and state at this time I won’t be surprised if – in the end – the primary winners turn out to be Rauner and Pritzker, and the 2018 gubernatorial election does turn out to be a battle of two rich guys willing to spend their own money to appease their egos with a government post. With Biss already pointing out that Pritzker is spending more on himself than Donald Trump spent of his own money to win the presidential election in 2016.

HARDIMAN: Can he do encore of '14?

But we’re definitely not in for any electoral cycle where the candidates will motivate us with rhetoric for the ages that will inspire us to want to reward them with our votes.

It’s more likely to turn out to be a campaign where we eagerly away the morning of Nov. 7, 2018 – the “Day After” Election Day so we can say to ourselves “Thank God It’s Over!”

Then, we can do the countdown to the 2019 brawl for Mayor of Chicago.

  -30-

Is there enough “Tio love” for Hardiman to avoid embarrassing himself in ’16 campaign?

The lesson that most people got from the primary election cycle of 2014 was that then-Gov. Pat Quinn had some serious problems in getting voter support outside of Chicago and the inner suburbs.

He won the Democratic primary for the right to try to get re-elected, and he won it handily.

QUINN TOOK SOME 71.9 percent of the votes cast in the Democratic gubernatorial primary. But he managed to lose the vote in 30 of Illinois’ 102 counties.

Particularly in places south of Interstate 70 where the locals get their television news out of Paducah, Ky., and Cape Girardeau, Mo., and where Memphis is regarded as the nearest “big” city.

It would seem that Southern Illinois wanted nothing to do with Quinn. Not in the primary, and certainly not in the general election when Quinn ultimately lost to current Gov. Bruce Rauner.

Now why is remembering this fact at all notable on this day following Tax Day – when some of us might be plotting how to spend our income tax refunds while others (including myself) are decrying how strapped for cash we are now that we have squared away what we owe to Uncle Sam?

IT’S THAT IT seems not everybody got the proper lesson. Especially not Tio Hardiman, who was the one person willing to put his name on the Democratic Party ballot and try to challenge Quinn in the primary!

It seems that Hardiman, a suburban Hillside resident and former director of the CeaseFire group that tries to reduce urban violence, thinks people in some 30 counties wanted him, and that he has something significant in the way of support for a political career.

The Capitol Fax newsletter reported how Hardiman considered challenging Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., in next year’s election. Of course, that campaign will have several significant Democrats challenging the incumbent senator from Illinois.

It will have many well-funded operations, and will be something distinctly nasty to have to endure.

SO PERHAPS IT is a good thing that Hardiman was talked out of running for that office. Particularly since his campaign finances for that race likely would be about as pathetic as the few hundred bucks that at times was his campaign fund for governor in 2014.

But Hardiman seems determined to do his Sally Field “You really like me” impersonation on the political scene.

For it seems that the man who has never held political office wants to run for Congress – specifically for the seat held for more than two decades by Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill.

Does Hardiman think he gained some sort of experience with his non-campaign against Quinn that saw him take 28.1 percent of the vote statewide because there were that many Democrats determined not to vote for Quinn?

I REALLY WONDER how appalled many of those Southern Illinois voters who cast ballots for Hardiman because it was an anti-Quinn vote, only to learn that many of his own ideas about firearms and urban violence were counter to their own.

At least if he’s merely running in the Illinois First Congressional (South Side and surrounding suburbs), he’s more likely to be running for support of voters who bear a resemblance to himself.

Then again, Quinn whomped Hardiman’s butt in Cook County. Even Rauner and Kirk Dillard, both Republicans, got more votes in Chicago and the inner suburbs than did Hardiman in the 2014 primary elections that they all ran in.

Would it take another resounding defeat to Bobby Rush to teach Tio that he’s probably not candidate material? Or is he destined to become the urban version of “Spanky the Clown” with perennial political bids for higher office?

  -30-

EXTRA: Rauner wins – does this mean the Cubs will narrowly lose in ’14?

I made the wisecrack recently that the people who expected Kirk Dillard to do a political comeback and win the Republican primary for governor are the same kind who expect the Chicago Cubs to win the National League pennant in the near future.

Would Bruce Rauner actually move into the Executive Mansion in Springfield? It's not like the Winnetka resident with a Chicago high-rise condo and seven other residences across the country needs another place to live.

So does the close campaign we appear to have got this election cycle mean that the Cubs will not be quite so awful, and may actually finish a close second place?

CUBS FANS MAY well be satisfied with that. But for those who detest the concept of venture capitalist Bruce Rauner as governor, his apparent victory over all his GOP challengers is still bound to sting.

With about 10 percent of precincts still to be counted late Tuesday, it seems that Rauner got 40.8 percent of the vote, compared to 37.2 percent for the state senator from Hinsdale who in conceding defeat showed he could duplicate former Gov. Jim Edgar’s deadly-dull monotone-style of speaking.

Other candidates William Brady (14.8 percent) and Dan Rutherford (7.3 percent – and conceding defeat even while some polls in Chicago were kept open late because of morning delays in getting them open) also ran.

I really suspect that Rauner, with his personal ties to Mayor Rahm Emanuel, will be a turn-off in the rural parts of the state, where there are those who want a governor who will put a leash on Chicago’s desires, and not cuddle up to the current version of Hizzoner.

ALTHOUGH IN CHICAGO, Rauner had a 52.43 percent majority among those city dwellers who chose to cast a GOP ballot. And no, hearing Rauner’s lieutenant governor running mate mix a little Spanish into her introduction Tuesday night isn’t going to sway many people to change their vote.

What about the incumbent?

Gov. Pat Quinn seems to have a 71.9 percent share of the vote, compared to 28.1 percent for the soon-to-be forgotten Tio Hardiman.

In Chicago, Quinn got 79.07 percent of the vote, and the Cook County suburbs gave the guv a 79.62 percent share. In short, Quinn did better than that poll that said Hardiman would get a miraculous 36 percent share of the vote.

WHAT ELSE WAS notable about the results that are still straggling in from this Election Day?

Will Guzzardi seems to have succeeded in dumping state Rep. Toni Berrios, D-Chicago, from her Northwest Side legislative district. Some see this as taking a political post from a Latina and life-long Chicagoan, and find some offense in the fact that it was taken by an alleged “hipster’ who has only lived in Chicago a few years.

Personally, I’m more inclined to think this was a vote against her father – Cook County Assessor and county Democratic Chairman Joe Berrios and his policies of putting assorted relatives on government payrolls.

Not that those people have ever been capable of beating Joe at the polling place. So they took it out on his daughter. Not exactly something to boast about!

I HAVE MORE respect for the electoral victory Tuesday of Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka, who ran unopposed in the Republican primary and is now boasting of her “Soviet-style victory” that got her the 100 percent vote tally.

There’s also the fact that the Republican Party already is blasting Gov. Pat Quinn for the campaign ads he aired Tuesday night while votes were being counted that remind us of Rauner’s weaselly ways when it comes to the minimum wage.

Personally, I thought Quinn’s initial attack could have been harsher. It certainly wasn’t as critical as the remarks that newly-nominated U.S. Senate candidate James Oberweis made against incumbent Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., Tuesday night.

Which makes me wonder if this year’s gubernatorial campaign is going to be between a wimp and a whiner?

  -30-

Who you gonna vote for? Do you or I really have much of a candidate choice?

It’s that time of year again. People can start casting their ballots Monday through Early Voting Centers for the March 18 primary elections.

I can't envision lines like this one from decades ago gathering at polling places this year across the state.

 

The public will get their say as to who should run the state government (and represent us at the federal level) come that date. And it’s likely that I will cast my own ballot sometime this week (allowing me to spend Election Day proper being a reporter-type person).

IN ACCORDANCE WITH my past policies, the Chicago Argus will make its endorsements (which are really nothing more than who I will vote for). I’ll take a Democratic Party ballot, which means I’ll be voting for Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., to have a fourth term in the U.S. Senate.

There also will be ballots cast for the pairing of Gov. Pat Quinn and Paul Vallas to be his lieutenant governor running mate, along with state Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Secretary of State Jesse White, state Treasurer nominee Michael Freirichs and state Comptroller nominee Sheila Simon.

Which is about as unsurprising as things can get.

Because aside of the fact that Quinn is being challenged on paper by Tio Hardiman of suburban Hillside, none of these people have a challenger.
 

QUINN: Won't coast to win!

TAKING A DEMOCRATIC primary ballot this time around doesn’t really amount to having much of a choice. It largely is a sign of showing that we have less faith in the Republican ranters to do anything positive about state government than we do with the Democratic establishment that got us in our current state of affairs.

Although if we’re honest about things, the people who decide to pull a Republican Party ballot in the primary don’t have much more of a choice. Their Attorney General nominee (Paul Schimpf), Secretary of State pick (Michael Webster) and Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka are unopposed.

One-time Illinois House Minority Leader Tom Cross (who wants to be state treasurer) has a challenge from Bob Grogan, while would-be U.S. Sen. James Oberweis must get past Douglast Truax. Neither Grogan nor Truax appear capable of putting up much of a challenge.
 

RAUNER: Probably thinks he will!

And when it comes to governor, it really is a pick between two past losers (in William Brady and Kirk Dillard), a no-name candidate with no money (which is why the only thing we know about Dan Rutherford is that he’s facing a sexual harassment allegation) and a no-name candidate (Bruce Rauner) with so much money that he can buy an image. The Illinois Federation of Teachers' backing of Dillard is more a matter of him being the lesser of evils -- from their perspective.

WHETHER THAT IMAGE will stand through the Nov. 4 general election so as to get Rauner elected as governor, or whether the experienced politicos on the Democratic Party side can shatter it to pieces is really about the only real question to be decided in this year’s election cycle.

That, and whether Hardiman or Truax will suffer the bigger defeat from the March 18 primary.

My point is that the results of the upcoming primary seem to be fairly straight-forward. We might as well be focusing now on the general election cycle – and I’m sure there are certain individuals who wish we could just get the whole thing over and done with on March 18 – rather than having to endure nearly eight full months of more campaigning between the two parties.

We’ve got enough headaches just from the electioneering that has taken place between the GOP governor types to last us this campaign cycle. Rauner, in particular, seems to be about nothing more than voting against the incumbent – rather than anything he would try to achieve as governor.

WHICH IS TO say that anybody who thinks they’re going to mock me for picking a Democratic Party ballot this time around ought to be looking at the lackluster choices the other party offers up.

I usually am quick to criticize people who don’t bother to vote. I argue that casting a ballot is the price one must pay for the right to complain about their government.

Although with this particularly uninspiring field of candidates, this time I may have to admonish myself a time or two before I set foot in the voting booth.

  -30-

If most people only pay attention to the final month of a campaign cycle, what has been the point of the past year?

The reality of an election cycle – one that is astounding to politically-motivated people – is that real people only begin to pay attention during the final weeks leading up to Election Day.

I can't remember voting booths w/ curtains

With us being exactly four weeks away from the day we cast our ballots, that would be about now.

WHICH MAKES ME wonder if the candidates, on some level, wonder if they feel like they have wasted the past year or so that they have been out there trying to catch the attention of the public.

What is the point of making some suffer from their rancid campaign rhetoric if most of us haven’t been paying attention?

Obviously, they want to be up for any advantage they can get. So as to be able to say they’re the front-runner when people really start paying attention.

Which would make Bruce Rauner the most successful type of candidate possible. He started out as a complete no-name. I doubt anybody could have told you who he is.

THEY STILL CAN’T, really. But they would say he’s “running for governor.” They don’t know anything else about him. But that’s all he really cares about – particularly since his opposition consists of a couple of previous gubernatorial losers – and a guy in a lower office whom most people still don’t know much about.

My own theory is that outside of the sitting president, governor and mayor, nobody really knows who any of their elected officials are. Before anybody tosses out the name “Michael Madigan” to me, I’d argue that most people probably have some sense of the name, but don’t know what exactly it is he does.

So all of these elections are nothing more than a massive popularity contest. Think junior high school “Student Council” with grown-ups, and you just about have the right idea.

So with 28 days remaining before we vote (although I probably will use one of the Early Voting Centers that county Clerk David Orr’s office will maintain in the near future, and I suspect several others will, as well), what should we be thinking about Election ’14 – which truly ought to be thought of as the chance to avoid saying something stupid!

THAT SEEMS TO be the common theme of the Democratic primary for governor – where incumbent Pat Quinn is getting a challenge from activist Tio Hardiman, whose campaign is going nowhere on so many levels.

So much so that Quinn is refusing to even participate in a debate with his opponent. Not that it’s a new tactic. Candidates of Hardiman’s stature rarely get a chance to be perceived as being the equal of their incumbents on any level.

The fact that Rauner – who a year ago was just as unknown to the public as Hardiman was, and remains now – gets to be in the debates on the Republican side is because of all that campaign cash he was able to generate himself.

Money tends to buy political respect, although it is “respect” of a kind that is fleeting.

THIS REALLY IS a deadly dull election cycle, when you think about it. Rauner may be able to buy a primary, although it’s really going to test his wealth to see if he can continue to match up with the campaign cash that Quinn has accumulated – and not had to spend on his no-name primary opponent.

As for the Republican primary for U.S. Senate from Illinois, state Sen. James Oberweis of Sugar Grove may have a victory because he has an opponent as equally unknown as Hardiman.

And all the rest of the candidates for statewide office in Illinois, they’re running unopposed on March 18. Are we really supposed to get excited about speculation on the chances that Sheila Simon (the lieutenant governor who wants to be state comptroller) will be finished in electoral politics after this year?

It makes me wonder if this election cycle is going to be the one that proves the legitimacy of the old cliché; “People get the kind of government they deserve.”

  -30-

EDITOR'S NOTE: It may be 28 days until Election Day. But time is just about up for one to make sure they are properly registered to cast a ballot in the upcoming primary elections. Tuesday is the deadline. If you're not registered, you'll have to wait until the Nov. 4 general election to actually express yourself with a computer touchscreen.