* On Saturday, Bill Brady’s campaign invited a few bloggers to discuss the issues for 15 minutes. Among other things, he was asked this question by the Illinois Review…

Do you have a couple of wedge-type issues to appeal to Cook County? One of the issues has been that you’re not well known in Cook County, and there’s been some kind of pessimism about you being able to reach into some of the minority communities.

Brady’s response…

…The school choice thing appeals to people. The term limits thing appeals to people. When you reach into the minority communities, which we have been horrible at.

Last general election for governor, we got 14 percent of the black and Latino vote. That’s 25 percent of the vote, by the way. We cannot ignore it. When we asked why, we blatantly found out that it’s not because of issues. Those communities are with us on the family issues. They’re with us on the school issues. The problem is, we’ve been AWOL. The Democrats have been propagating those communities, if not monthly, weekly, then daily. Our message has got to be inviting. We simply haven’t invited. The school voucher is helping us. The big box issue is helping us. Fresh food, jobs, affordable food, a say in your child’s education.

Those are some valid points, but some of his numbers are off. According to the exit polling, blacks and Latinos made up 20 percent of the 2006 gubernatorial vote, not 26. Judy Baar Topinka got 16 percent of the African-American vote and 12 percent of the Latino vote, so that is 14 percent on average.

Historically, though, when Republican candidates talk about winning minority votes, it’s mostly about appearing to be open-minded to more moderate white folks, not really an all-out push for black votes (the Latino vote was kinda up for grabs a while back, but national GOP immigration policies pretty much spoiled those chances).

That’s not a bad thing at all, of course. Having a Republican candidate talking about issues impacting minority areas is a positive thing. But this isn’t about winning that vote. It’s about winning.

* Chicago Public Radio is the only media outlet that appeared to even remotely connect the dots today between Republican Mark Kirk’s call on Alexi Giannoulias to release his tax returns and Democrat Pat Quinn’s demand that Republican Bill Brady release his returns.

I point this out because it’s an interesting little battle we have going on here right now at the top of the ticket. It’s not an exact comparison, since Giannoulias filed for an extension (although he did provide WBEZ with his paperwork) and Brady is just flat-out saying “No” when asked about his returns. The advantage, then, goes to Quinn, who might conceivably use Kirk’s demands against Brady, but hasn’t. That’s partly because Quinn has no real campaign organization in place. Here’s part of what Kirk said…

“I worry the coming implosion of his family bank may have tax implications for him, and therefore he’s not willing to release his taxes,” Kirk said.

Brady has previously admitted that his family businesses are suffering mightily during the Great Recession. So, the connection is there.

* Related…

* Huntley: State should embrace Meeks’ voucher bill

* Kirk: Federal money needed for corruption probes

* Senate candidate Kirk blasts rival Giannoulias for not releasing income tax returns

* Herald & Review: Secretive actions reveal a problem

* Gabel sworn in as 18th District state representative

* Halvorson holds money lead in 11th District race

* Third candidate to run in 56th House District race