EXTRA: Illinois GOP strategy of “Dump Madigan!” seems to fail again

Illinois House Speaker/state Democratic Chairman Michael Madigan is the big winner of Election Night ’18 – and not just because he got re-elected to his Illinois House seat that is the base for all his political operations.

MADIGAN: Prevailed, big time!

Madigan, after all, was running unopposed for his legislative post representing the residents of Chicago who live in the area surrounding Midway Airport.

SO IT’S NOT like there was a chance he’d go off to defeat and political retirement following a career in Illinois government dating back to 1970 when he was one of many delegates who helped craft the current version of Illinois’ state Constitution.

But Madigan’s name has been dragged through the muck by just about every Republican running for just about every single office. The theme being that every Democrat is nothing more than a political hack who takes his (or her) marching orders from the almighty-and-powerful Illinois House speaker.

The leader in recent years of such strategy is soon-to-be former Gov. Bruce Rauner, who went through his campaign repeatedly blaming Madigan for everything that Rauner was unable to accomplish during his four years as governor.

His rhetoric often went so far over the top as to imply Madigan’s actions were criminal and that an indictment would be forthcoming, if only there were a sense of true justice in the world.

PRITZKER: $171.1 million spent for Springfield move

YET THE RAUNER defeat was so apparent that the governor made his concession call to Democrat J.B. Pritzker (who supposedly is Madigan’s hand-puppet and gay marriage spouse) less than an hour after the polls closed in Illinois. Some information sources didn’t even have preliminary vote tallies to report, yet the insider speculation was such that it wasn’t worth waiting in a sense of desperate hope that something would come up.

The man who was banking on the concept of a corrupt Madigan scaring voters away instead became a complete failure based off his strategy – which really is the same one that Republicans also tried using back in 2010 when Republican Bill Brady was defeated by Democrat Pat Quinn.

Who, by the way, told the Chicago Tribune on Tuesday he was anxious to see Rauner be replaced as governor.

RAOUL: Illinois' attorney general-elect

But like I already wrote, other candidates tried tying their opponents to Madigan, with Republican attorney general hopeful Erika Harold going so far as to say she’d never take orders from the speaker – and implied she’d use the post to conduct the investigations against Madigan that Rauner always fantasized about having done.

YET WITH THE early vote tallies in, Democrat Kwame Raoul held a solid lead, taking majorities in five of the six counties that comprise the Chicago metropolitan area. Only McHenry County seemed to prefer Harold – the one-time Miss America who can now add this defeat to her list of failed political aspirations on her part.

Then again, McHenry is also the lone Chicago-area county that liked the idea of “President Donald Trump” back in the 2016 election cycle. While in Cook County proper, Raoul had some 73 percent of the overall vote early on.

It’s going to take a real mighty blow from downstate Illinois to overcome the solid 64/34 percent lead Raoul is holding across the state over Harold Tuesday night.

There’s also candidates such as incumbent Congress members Randy Hultgren and Peter Roskam, who were lagging behind early on to Democrats Lauren Underwood and Sean Casten respectively. And in the area around Champaign/Urbana, Betsy Dirksen Londrigan had a lead over Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Ill.

WHICH, IF THE Dems prevail in all, would add to the total tally of politicos who would serve as counterweights to the ideological nonsense spewed by Donald Trump.

HAROLD: Another defeat, will she try again?

Casten, in particular, faced a campaign strategy of being labeled as being a mere flip side of the same Madigan political coin. Instead, perhaps it seems many saw him as a potential ally to the man who stood up to the Rauner ideological tactics of the past four years and one who could stand up to anything absurd that Trump would try to do during the next two.

I’m not saying that the electorate of Illinois is all that enthralled by Mike Madigan. I’m aware of polls showing many people think he’s just another political hack. Even though he's now one with even more power -- since it seems his Illinois House majority is even larger now and can enable him to override gubernatorial vetoes single-handedly.

But perhaps one of the lessons we learn from Election ’18 is one that truly would benefit us all – candidates are most likely to prevail if they can sway people as to why we should vote for them. Not just why we should despise the opposition.

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Who’s the new AG? How will Raoul be remembered in Illinois history?

Is Kwame Raoul destined to become the 21^st Century’s version of George Sangmeister or Aurelia Pucinski?

RAOUL: Can he win Tuesday night?

Sangmeister and Pucinski were on the 1986 Democratic primary ballot for lieutenant governor and secretary of state, respectively, and both lost – with the common political speculation being that all those rural voters across Illinois didn’t identify with the German or Polish ethnic roots that the two had.

AS A RESULT, the Democrats nominated Mark Fairchild and Janice Hart respectively – with the rural types thinking those names were so-much-more “American” sounding. Even though both were actually ideologically aligned with right-winger Lyndon LaRouche.

Could we get a similar reaction come Tuesday to the campaign of Kwame Raoul for Illinois attorney general?

Raoul is a state senator from the Hyde Park neighborhood who is the son of parents who came to this country from Haiti. Hyde Park is exactly the type of neighborhood that thinks such people are exotic and interesting and likely takes a certain amount of pride in having Kwame representing them in the Legislature for the past 14 years.

But Raoul is being challenged by the one-time Miss America, Erika Harold of Champaign, who has often expressed political ambitions but been unable to win anything. Usually because she has ran for Congress from central Illinois-based districts where the locals were more comfortable with white men representing them.

TRUMP: Could his mentality sway voters?

BUT NOW, HAROLD is running for something statewide. Also, she’s running a campaign that focuses heavily on the theme of her being the lone Republican to hold a political post – serving as sort of a partisan political balance to all the Democrats likely to be in power.

I have no doubt Raoul will take the Chicago vote overwhelmingly. In fact, that may well be enough for him to win the political post outright.

Hart and Fairchild (below), … 

But then again, it may not. Could enough rural Illinoisans who’d rather not have a so-called “foreigner” elected to office cast their votes for Harold? Could that be sufficient for her to win Tuesday’s election.

Could the 2002 Miss Illinois who went on to Atlantic City to win the pageant the following year be able to claim a similar story as Hart and Fairchild – who will forevermore be remembered in Illinois political history as the fluke victories. Ones whose real significance is that they screwed up the political campaign of ’86 for gubernatorial hopeful Adlai Stevenson III?

… will Raoul's monicker go alongside theirs?

IN THIS AGE of Trump that we’re now in, could the anti-immigrant sentiments that some people so clearly feel and base their political decisions off of become a factor?

Maybe even those people who will forevermore remain bitter that somebody named Barack Obama could ever be elected president will be motivated to turn out to vote against Kwame (who, by the way, was Obama’s replacement in the Illinois state Senate in 2004).

All of this is cheap, petty and makes next to no sense. But it certainly wouldn’t be the first time that the electorate based their vote off of something totally stupid!

Could giving Illinois a former Miss America as the chief legal counsel for state government be the consolation prize that Republicans take for themselves to deal with the heavy losses that Bruce Rauner’s presence on the ballot is likely to inflict on the rest of the party’s ticket?

AS FOR RAOUL, he was amongst the Democrats using Barack Obama’s presence at the Sunday rally in Chicago to tout himself – moreso than J.B. Pritzker, whose gubernatorial campaign was the supposed reason for the political gathering.

HAROLD: A trivial image, but may be one many carry in their minds

As Raoul described things, “I’m a proud son of Haitian who did not come from a” expletive-deleted description used by Trump himself. “I am a birthright baby.”

Considering a recent New York Times-published poll saying (amongst other things) that 46 percent of people want Republicans to retain control of Congress and an equal 46 percent want Democrats to gain control of the House of Representatives, it would seem the partisan split isn’t anywhere near as intense as we get in Illinois.

Which could make Harold the ultimate Republican consolation prize coming from Tuesday night’s vote-counting activity. Sorry Kwame!

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“Mayor” Mendoza?

Susana Mendoza got political people all stirred up recently what with the word that she’s already starting up work on campaign advertising spots promoting a spring 2019 campaign for Chicago mayor.

MENDOZA: A political realist

Even though she’s, strictly speaking, a candidate for Illinois comptroller come Tuesday.

THE PARTISANS WHO hate the idea of Mendoza winning anything are trying to claim her behavior is that of a political hypocrite. A selfish person who’s trying to put her grubby little paws all over everything in sight.

Why doesn’t she just make up her mind? The latter thought literally was expressed by my father, who admits he’s inclined to hold the whole affair against her.

Although I can’t help but think the people who are turning this whole situation into an issue are the ones who realize, deep-down, that they got nothin’ on Mendoza, and aren’t about to beat her any other way.

This issue is the work of political desperation. Darlene Senger likely isn’t going to go anywhere following Tuesday’s elections. As for Claire Ball, she’s likely to be as insignificant as every other person who has run under the Libertarian Party political banner.

SO WHAT SHOULD we think of Mendoza? Personally, I’m swayed by the notion there have been many political people throughout the years who have decided to move up to a higher-ranking political post – even though they already have a post in which to serve.

Who's Susana's real opponent -- Senger … 

Mendoza wouldn’t be a “first” if she were to try to run for mayor come the Feb. 26 election cycle (and again in an April run-off election, if one turns out to be necessary).

I also get that circumstances such as having the mayoral post open with no incumbent seeking it does not come up every election cycle. This could be a matter of a politically ambitious person deciding the circumstances are proper right now for a move up.

So it likely will wind up that Senger will complain all she wants about Mendoza, but a majority of the electorate won’t be swayed. That GOP label could become so tarnished by Trump that it drags her down to defeat with a lot of others.

… or Preckwinkle?

ALTHOUGH IN ALL honesty, the Republican label in Illinois is so weak that there are many political posts up for grabs come Tuesday that there are NO Republican challengers.

That’s why it’s hard to get a grasp locally on how strong the support is for President Donald Trump. He’s irrelevant locally.

If it turns out there is a “red tsunami” of voters that benefits backers of the Trumpster, it’s going to mean creation of a governmental structure that will go out of its way to snub Chicago interests.

Of course, Mendoza could turn out to be right about the “bluenami” that will benefit the political interests of those people wishing to undermine Trump for the next two years.

TO THAT END, Mendoza appears to have interests in becoming mayor (which is a more prominent post than that of Illinois comptroller, which many people stumble over when trying to pronounce).

TRUMP: How much of a factor is he, really?

I’m inclined to believe her when she says her political operatives shot some stray rough footage touting her for mayor, while also doing the work on comptroller campaign ads. She’s being real in admitting that she’d have to make a sudden shift in focus, IF she decides to make the move up.

So anybody who expects her to make a solid decision now and commit to one post is not being realistic. If anything, they’re showing their support for a political opponent who isn’t capable of running a credible opposition campaign.

And as for the idea of “Mayor” Mendoza, the real issue is whether voters think she’s too young (she’s 46) now, or whether they think other candidates (including Toni Preckwinkle, who’s 71) are a batch of old fuddy-duddies?

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Millionaire Rauner thinks it wrong his political opponent is outspending him

Listening to Gov. Bruce Rauner complain about how he’s being outspent by Democratic challenger J.B. Pritzker’s desires to replace him come Tuesday’s elections strikes me as being the whines of a political crybaby.

RAUNER: Being beaten at own game?

Rauner is seriously trying to get people – at least those of us who live in Illinois outside the Chicago metro area – all worked up over the notion that Pritzker is trying to use his personal wealth to buy the governor’s post for himself.

AS THOUGH RAUNER is the pauper who just can’t compete in such a political environment.

Even though I personally find it appalling to have to pick from so many excessively-wealthy people amongst our candidates, I can’t find any sympathy for our incumbent governor – and not just because I think Illinois will be much better off the moment we send Bruce packing.

For Rauner is very much the reason this trend of needing millionaire candidates with little interest in traditional campaign fundraising has come to Illinois.

Let’s not forget the 2014 election for governor; the one in which a record was set -- $127.3 million was raised and spent by the two major party candidates.

WITH RAUNER ACCOUNTING for some 70 percent of that spending. Rauner IS the ultimate rich guy who bought himself a political office to appease his ego and make him feel like his life is contributing to our society.

PRITZKER: Makes Rauner look like pauper

Of course, Rauner’s personal background (a venture capitalist who buys struggling businesses and bleeds them dry of any assets they have) mean he’s inclined to be sympathetic towards interests that the bulk of us living here are not.

If anything, this election cycle was expected to be more of the same. Remember back over a year ago when it was reported Rauner had already come up with some $50 million for his re-election campaign.

Along with money to support Republican allies in the General Assembly and other state government posts? This was supposed to be yet another year in which a Rauner version of the Republican Party would buy dominance over us all.

QUINN: Treated in '14 like Rauner is now

EXCEPT THAT DEMOCRATS managed to come up with a candidate in Pritzker who could produce his own funds to be competitive with Rauner.

Heck, Pritzker has already spent enough money on his campaign that he alone crushes the 2014 record. When you add in the Rauner bucks, we may wind up at just over $200 million for this election cycle in Illinois.

Is what really bothers Rauner is that his record of ’14 is already crushed into oblivion? Is Illinois Democratic Chairman Michael Madigan’s real political “sin” that he took the Rauner game plan and played it better than Rauner did himself?

It’s why I honestly hear nothing more than “Wah, wah, wah!!!” when Rauner tells a campaign rally in Quincy that Pritzker, “is outspending us by $100 million. Good grief, he’s trying to buy the election.”

HAROLD: Will she be Rauner legacy?

IT TRANSLATES INTO blunt-speak English as, “he’s trying to buy my election away from me!” Or perhaps more like a line from the 1980 film "Cheech &Chong's Next Movie" in which Cheech Marin’s character is upset that someone stole from him the thing he stole earlier that day.

“Somebody just ripped off the thing I ripped off,” Marin said. A sentiment that Rauner may very well sympathize with these days.

Does Rauner identify these days with Cheech?

Because as things now stand, all the money Rauner has pumped into himself and other Republicans to try to rebuild the one-time Party of Lincoln in his own image may have all been for naught. It may wind up that the only Republican who prevails Tuesday is Erika Harold’s state attorney general bid (it’s possible that some voters will be backward enough to reject Democrat Kwame Raoul’s campaign just because of a funny name).

Then again, carrying the taint of taking Rauner’s campaign money may be enough to drag her down, and make this Rauner era of Illinois government a complete and utter failure.

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EXTRA: Obama will be beloved in Chicago space that rejected Trump

Barack Obama will be in Chicago Sunday, using the UI-Chicago Pavilion to hold a rally by which he tries to spread his beloved status amongst Democratic Party faithful to other candidates running for office in Tuesday’s elections.

This Near West Side-space will host an Obama political rally Sunday … 

I happened to be at the Pavilion Thursday night, and it got me to thinking of how Obama will literally be using the same space that so vehemently rejected the very idea of Donald Trump as president.

REMEMBER BACK TO March 11, 2016? That was the night that then-candidate Trump was in Chicago, and was going to use the Pavilion to try to stir up the masses in favor of his candidacy.

But thousands of people jammed the streets around the Pavilion, along with the hundreds of Trump critics who managed to get inside for the rally itself. Trump wound up having to cancel the event, rather than face a critical crowd that could easily have become a mob!

I’m sure those who approve of this Age of Trump in which we now live view the Pavilion as some sort of horrid place. How dare they be critical of The Donald! The fact that Obama will now be able to come in and get cheers and applause will be the ultimate repudiation of Trump-ism by us Chicagoans.

As to whether all that applause will translate into votes come Tuesday remains to be seen. Because it’s not unheard of that people who were compelled to show up for a rally on Sunday could easily find themselves too lazy to turn out to the polling place on Election Day.

THE SAME COULD be said for the rally to be held earlier Sunday in Gary, Ind., where I understand the tickets that allow people inside the Genesis Convention Center for the political event were snapped up quickly on Thursday and people are being told to stay away from downtown Gary unless they actually have a ticket to the event.

… as will this one in Gary, Ind.

Anyway, we’re bound to see a pair of public spectacles this weekend in which people will be urged to vote against political officials whose presence would provide aid and comfort to “President Trump.”

With this year’s election cycle serving as a prelude to 2020, when we get the chance to “Dump Trump!” himself from elective office. With Trump allies counting on general apathy from the people so as to allow Trump to have another term in office – should he decide that’s what he wants to do!

Would I be in a better mood if the ballgame had had a better ending? Photos by Gregory Tejeda

All of which were thoughts running through my mind while sitting inside the Pavilion, where my alma mater Illinois Wesleyan Titans managed to start off their basketball season by getting their clock cleaned, so to speak, by the UI-C Flames.

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World Series ratings on decline reminds us of Cubbie-blue ratings jolt of 2016

The World Series came to an end this week, and reportage repeatedly told of one fact – the Boston Red Sox/Los Angeles Dodgers matchup was a television ratings bust. Although most World Series of recent years have been disappointing – with one exception.

That was 2016, when on the night of two years ago Friday, the Chicago Cubs managed to prevail over the Cleveland Indians to win Chicago’s second baseball championship of this century – and their first in 108 seasons.

IN FACT, THE final game of that World Series had an average of 40 million viewers, with some 115 million people supposedly watching the series matchup at some point during the seven games.

Cubbie fans, of course, want to view this as some sort of sense of their superiority – as though the whole world was waiting for their victory. Which strikes me as being as ridiculous as that Super Bowl claim that people all over the world really care about the NFL championship game.

For the record, that 2016 World Series had an average of 12.9 percent of households watching the game, with 22 percent of television sets tuned in. By comparison, this year’s World Series had figures of 8.3 percent of households and 17 percent of households.

Of course, we could also compare it to 2005, when the White Sox managed to prevail in winning Chicago’s first World Series of the 21^st Century. The one that Cubbie fans always like to downgrade as insignificant, if not meaningless and irrelevant.

IT HAD SOME 11.1 percent of households, and 19 percent of televisions tuned in on average for its games. Not that much of a difference from the ’16 experience, which had its broadcast ratings boosted by being a seven-game series, compared to the ’05 four-game sweep for the Sox.

Not that any of these numbers really matter. Because to the fans of the teams, they’re watching regardless, and the memory of that final out made them forget suburban Northbrook native Jason Kipnis' big home run for the Indians that could have been the knockout punch. Fans could care less what the fair-weather types think.

Just as I’m sure Boston fans this week are thinking the rest of the nation doesn’t know what they missed by not tuning in -- although we know they're crazed for throwing beer cans at the World Series trophy.

The World Series is over. Meaning that baseball for 2018 is finished. We’ll have to wait ‘til springtime. Which is when we’ll see for ourselves if the Las Vegas oddsmakers have any clue what they’re talking about.

FOR THE CUBS, they’re being given 10/1 odds of winning the 2019 World Series, while the White Sox are at 65/1 odds. Which actually puts them ahead of all the other teams in their division except for Cleveland (12/1 odds).

.

And one final thought. A comparison of statistics involving Chicago's two 21st Century World Series experiences. The Cubs' victory celebration of '16 supposedly attracted some 5 million fans, compared to 1.5 million for the White Sox' celebration of '05. None of whom felt compelled to throw anything at the World Series trophy, like they did in Boston.

Anybody who seriously believes either of those figures probably thinks the all-Chicago World Series will occur next season. A fantasy we in Chicago have waited more than a century to see for real.

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Everybody freaking out during the final days of 2018 election cycle

I suppose it’s only natural; after devoting more than a full year of one’s life to trying to get elected to political office, the final days of the election cycle are going to bring out those last-minute jitters.

OBAMA: Returning home, or doing Dem duty?

Resulting in acts of desperation meant to ensure that nothing gets overlooked. After all, coming up a loser on Tuesday would merely mean the past year of a politico’s life amounts to nothing more than wasted time.

I COULDN’T HELP but interpret the actions of Bruce Rauner in such a manner when I saw his campaign try to make an issue of the fact that former President Barack Obama is going to be in the Chicago metro area on Sunday.

He’ll be in the city proper for an 3 p.m. event at the University of Illinois at Chicago (the same place where protesters once turned away Donald Trump himself). It will be a large-scale political rally where Obama will go out of his way to urge people to vote for Democrats come Tuesday.

He’ll be doing the same thing that same day in Gary, Ind., during a noon-hour rally at the Genesis Convention Center in the city's downtown.

Only there, instead of touting J.B. Pritzker for governor, he’ll be singing the praises of Joe Donnelly for re-election to the U.S. Senate.

BECAUSE IF DEMOCRATS are to have a chance of taking control of the Senate, keeping the seat from Indiana in their column is just as important as any of the places currently represented by Republicans that they dream of swiping.

PRITZKER: Getting Obama jolt prior to Tuesday

If anything, it may be more likely that Pritzker will put the Illinois governor post in the Democratic Party column than it will be that Donnelly will be able to prevent Hoosier ideologues from booting him from office in exchange for Republican Mike Braun.

Which is why Rauner is trying to make an issue of this. Why else, Bruce asks, would Obama feel compelled to visit Chicago unless Dems seriously feared a Rauner re-election.

Pure nonsense talk, if you think about it logically. But then again, political operatives of all persuasions rarely do – particularly when it gets to this point in the election season.

BUT THEN AGAIN, for Donnelly, an Obama visit may be a bigger deal – largely because the ideologues of Indiana always thought Joe got the Senate victory in 2012 largely on a fluke. Hence, they’re going all out to kick him out of office, and Donnelly may well feel the need to use all the weapons possible to get the Gary vote (one of the few parts of Indiana where Democrats prevail) to turn out to the max.

DONNELLY: Needs Obama jolt to win

Which then allows for Obama to be so close to his spiritual home (even if he now is a suburban D.C. guy, more than anything) that he can also make the two-days-before-Election Day appearance on behalf of Pritzker.

But it’s not just the Pritzker and Donnelly campaigns, along with that of Rauner, desperately looking to gain themselves attention.

For there’s also Toni Preckwinkle, whose campaign for Chicago mayor has until Feb. 26 to sway voters. Yet she’s trying to make people think it’s all important to turn out to vote on Tuesday to show support for her three months from now!

FOR PRECKWINKLE SAYS that a strong voter turnout for politically-progressive candidates on Tuesday will scare the opposition. “It’ll signal to our opponents that they need to spend as much money as possible to slow our movement down. We can’t let that happen,” she said.

PRECKWINKLE: She wants campaign cash!

Of course, Preckwinkle’s “solution” to this “problem?” Donate more money to her campaign, so she can fight back in next year’s election cycle. That’s literally the theme of her latest fundraising appeal.

Not that she’d be upset with having a larger campaign fund, since it seems some of her mayoral challengers (particularly William Daley, who already has come up with $1 million-plus for his political aspirations next year) have developed a large gap between her and the amount of cash she hopes to have on hand.

The jitters are fluttering about for political people. We literally don’t get a break between this election cycle, and the upcoming one.

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