60 Comments - Bruno Behrend - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 6:07 am: So the Robert Dold likes the Tea Party and is endorsed by IRTL. Bonus! It merely reminds this year’s more active voters that he’s worth supporting. ___ On the stump, He’s very careful to explain that he’s anti-partial birth, anti-government funding of abortion, and pro-parental notification. All are above 50% issues, even in the supposedly limousine liberal 10th. When asked, he supports a woman’s right to choose. (an issue I disagree with him on) As for the Tea Party part of the ad, its right up there with idiotic “Pelosi Fright Wig” nonsense run by brain dead Republican Consultants. Who’s the silent guy at the end, a depressed AFSCME/SEIU dues drone? American 30 second political ads are the one industry that keeps really dumb people employed. - Bruno Behrend - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 6:18 am: Hultgren’s support of the Fair Tax is probably more problematic because it’s so easy to demonize bold policy changes. The ad will probably work to some extent because you can’t respond in 30 seconds. While the “Fair Tax” ideas needs work, anyone who supports the current system is far more wrong than right on Federal Taxes. All one needs to do is look at the revenue crashes in California and the US in 2000 and 2008. Reliance on income taxes is stupid policy, and the cheap class war rhetoric/ideology that supports it has produced one of the worst tax systems in the OECD. A 4-5 year transition to a 100% consumption tax system is a good idea. Here’s how to do it. http://chicagoboyz.net/archives/14564.html - wordslinger - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 6:47 am: Quinn is one of those public speakers who doesn’t have any consideration for his audience. If you invite people to hear you speak, tighten it up and be clear, concise and done. The rambling, stream-of-consciousness stuff is just inconsiderate, if not rude. - Gregor - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 7:24 am: I’m pretty sure that Quinn and Jay should hate each other; Nobody was a bigger Blago supporter and water-carrier than Hoffman was. The flinching looks like it is because the sun was pretty intense. That said, Quinn is filling for time too much these days. He used to cap off speeches with an axiom of “Be good, Be Brief, and be Gone”. He should offload some of the MC duties to others so he can streamline the pitch. - South Side Mike - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 7:26 am: Hoffman is just hilarious. I can just just imagine him thinking “shut-up, shut-up, shut-up, shut-up” as Quinn drones on like a single-prop plane. Can Quinn at least start drafting a simple outline of what he wants to say? For those who don’t have the patience to hear all the random synapse firings going through Pat Quinn’s brain, here are the topics he discussed: Planes Jobs Expand runway Jobs (OK so far, but wheels are wobbly) Construction jobs Hundreds and hundreds of jobs (And he’s off!) Businesses should come here This is a great location #1 General aviation airport in IL Parks College is 1st aviation college in country It has CAA Certificate #1 Let’s honor those who learn how to fly We want to be safe in IL and MO- invest in important things Country lost 8 million jobs, but we’re Americans So we work together and do important things In Great Depression, people didn’t give up Planes! - VanillaMan - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 8:04 am: These Dems ads are showing how weak their accomplishments are. Why aren’t they bragging about what they did? They aren’t telling us. Instead they are making claims about what their opponents might do. They are trying to make their opponents out to be wackos. Does anyone think this works? The GOP ads tell listeners what their opponents actually did. They tell us they supported their chosen Speaker and the agenda they supported. What does this say about Washington’s accomplishments over the past two yeats? The incumbents are hiding from the facts their terms in office created. They do not explain the positions they took. They are giving voters no reason to vote FOR them. They are the incumbents. They are being judged here. Their ads are showing us a Blagojevich defense. “You think I suck? Did you hear who sent money to my opponents?” Weak and extremely lame. They all deserve to lose. - shore - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 8:16 am: for a guy who has been planning to run for congress his entire life dold’s campaign has been very lackluster. kirk gave him a great formula to win and he’s botched it with a very incompetent campaign. - Living in Oklahoma - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 8:21 am: “It has CAA Certificate number 1″ I like to pole vault and I had a cat run off one time, it was a long time ago. - siriusly - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 8:30 am: I like the DCCC ads, those seem well done. But on the flipside - it seems a bit risky and really foolish for AFF to run nearly identical ads against two Dem candidates in nearly the same media markets. I don’t want to give voters too much credit, but they do sometimes see through things like cookie cutter ads. - Sue - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 8:32 am: Quinn could have helped his candidacy had he left the state and went into hiding for the duration- what a nitwit- the only bad thing about Quinn taking a dive is that we are getting Brady who so far hasn’t demonstrated he is up to the job - A.B. - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 8:48 am: Why would Bean debate Walsh? His campaign has been floundering since the day after the primary, there is no upside for her to debate him, he isn’t a threat. - Ghost of John Brown - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 8:55 am: The DCCC ad on Hultgren is pretty misleading. It makes it sound like there is an ADDITIONAL 23% tax. What the ad doesn’t reflect is that the FairTax would REPLACE the income tax. We could get all “wonky” about it, but it is pretty close to revenue neutral and there is a “prebate” to lower income people, so it is not burdensome to the lower incomes as the ad tries to reflect. - Pat Robertson - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 8:57 am: “Planes are very, very important to all of us . . . ” . . . and it is very, very important that once they are in the air, we give them a place to land. Thanks to this new runway, hundreds and perhaps thousands of planes that would otherwise have crashed on this site will instead land safely, saving millions of dollars and the lives of men and women who will vote for me. - WOW - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 9:00 am: Rich can you send the DCCC a picture of the Capitol. I don’t think Randy served with Lincoln. - CircularFiringSquad - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 9:08 am: Wow NoTaxBill looks a little washed out in the downtown debate….no ideas..fails to explain his anti worker agenda of cutting min wage, freezing educator salaries, right to work, cut capital projects and today give up on the sale of Thomson! - Samwise - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 9:13 am: The governor’s state of the state address this year will go down as one of the best oratory moments in all of Illinois history. “My nickname is Soyboy” will ring throughout the halls of the statehouse for years to come. - Lake Watcher - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 9:16 am: Hoffman: (at 2:00 mark) “On look a birdie!!” - Cosmic Charlie - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 9:23 am: Seriously one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a long time. - Honest Abe - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 9:25 am: Agree with WOW on the hit ad on Hultgren, seems as if the folks who produced that commercial were unaware of the fact that Illinois has replaced its former state capitol building. Dan Seals has a business background? Who knew that? I have downright puzzled as to how this Obama wannabe supported himself between campaigns. He has been running for Congress for six years or more. The fill in the blank ads attacking Halvorson and Foster were cheaply made on an assembly line, but if the latest polling is correct (Americans dislike Pelosi by a 4-1 margin) linking these incumbents with Pelosi may score a few points. Quinn is positively weird and this rambling speech made me uncomfortable. State Representative Hoffman’s body language said it all. Shut up already. Joe Walsh is an unctuous opportunist dating back to his first campaigns. He really ought to become an actor and move to Hollyweird. This message would have scored points if it was produced on behalf of any other Bean opponent other than the troubled Walsh. Walsh cannot win on his own merits and will need a Republican landslide to carry him to victory. If the polls hold true, however, he may get a respectable vote total despite his baggage. - Miriam Says Belly Up - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 9:32 am: Joel Pollak now has a tv ad. - Ghost - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 9:35 am: Word to me it is just lazy. Quinn cannot be bothered to spend time putting together some a structured speech. he is to lazy to take time to work on his remarks, and it shows. Quinn wants my vote, but he cant be bothered to campagn for it or put together a few talking points. - Anonymous - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 9:41 am: Cheeze and rice, I half expected that plane to crash and burn on talk off after that speech and silly stunt with the walkie talkie by Quinn. - Adam Smith - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 9:43 am: It is both strategically smart and ethically repugnant that the entire Dem game plan, as has been clearly articulated in the national media, is to find anything remotely unpopular about a GOP challenger and launch a carpet bombing attack with no regard to accuracy. The implication that Dold is pro-life is dishonest and (as the Dems well know) can’t be disproven. The Trib noted in an editorial that Seals’ attack on social security was essentially a lie, but if Dold, Hultgren and Kinzinger have to spend a ton of money to refute outlandish accusations that are intended only to scare voters, the Dems’ strategy has worked. Where are all the self-righteous Dems who whined that the GOP was trying to scare voters about terrorism? They are doing the exact same thing. Halvorson, Foster and Seals can’t run on the Pelosi agenda because the voters hate it. They have to destroy their opponents with the most incendiary and outlandish charges they can muster and the media has neither the staff nor the inclination to look at these ads and call them what they are. - CousinEddie - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 9:53 am: Hoffman, standing there, saying to Clayborne: “If he only knew his own guys ain’t passing his literature when they pass mine!” Jobs, jobs, jobs! - wordslinger - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 9:54 am: Ghost, then that’s a guy who did not learn from his grievous mistake of the State of the State speech. He belittled his Constitutional duty, insulted the GA and citizens who bothered to watch and generally made a fool of himself on the biggest stage of his career. Based on when I knew him a bit way back when, the younger Pat Quinn would have been sharp enough to realize he’d stepped up in class and adjusted. - Wondering... - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 9:56 am: Quinn is pathetic. All I can say after watching that is OMG. Wow… and this guy is our Govornor. Wow. - jenny craig - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 9:56 am: Jay Hoffiman, I can help you. Let’s start by cutting the carbs! - ric831 - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 10:00 am: So now the DCCC has ads running against Hultgren and Dold and reserved time for Hare. And yet they’ve still not run anything for Halvorson… looks like she is on the wrong side of the triage. - KnuckleHead - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 10:03 am: After the Governor’s speech Jay Hoffman was last seen getting on the plane and jumping out without a parachute! - soccermom - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 10:10 am: Quinn is not lazy. Far from it. He’s overbooked and insistent on doing things himself — a holdover from his years in Catholic school when it was cheating to have someone else do his homework. His style at the stump was “honed” during the years of Sunday afternoon news conferences when the tv cameras would trickle in for the first 10 or 15 minutes of the event. If he had done the “be brief, be gone” style of remarks, the thing would have been over before all the cameras were set up. So his discursive style was smart. Trouble is, he doesn’t understand that now he’s the governor, he doesn’t have to worry that the cameras won’t show up. So he can be brief and to the point. And it’s not cheating to ask a speechwriter to pull some thoughts together on paper while he’s busy trying to get the state back on track. - the Patriot - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 10:10 am: I have advocated that Quinn pull the plug on his campaign and just spend the next four months trying to leave office with dignity and try and salvage some respect for the office. After seeing that, I guess we are all probably safer if Pat Quinn does as little work as possible in the next 4 monts. Is it too late for a ballot prop to give Pat Quinn the last 3 months off with pay? I don’t care what you think of Bill Brady. No reasonable person can look at Pat Quinn’s body of work for the past 8 years right through that press conference and think he is remotely qualified to be Governor. - Ghost - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 10:11 am: Knucklehead I was actually thinking of the movie Airplane, where the passengers keep committing suicide everytime the main charcaters sit down to monologue their life story to them… - Behind The Scenes - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 10:19 am: Perhaps Quinn should get a couple of those Tele-Prompters like Obama leans so heavily on. He’d better hurry or there will be very little ROI. - Plutocrat03 - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 10:20 am: Airplanes are berry important to me, except when it is on the Chicago lakefront and my patron’s wifey doesn’t like the noise - Windy City Mama - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 10:20 am: I might be mistaken. But I really doubt it. Wasn’t Hoffmann part of Blago’s intimate inner circle ? - Anonymous - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 10:21 am: soccermom…you ramble like quinn. Pat is that really you? - Phineas J. Whoopee - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 10:27 am: I wish I had a buck for every time I read Quinn is toast on this blog in the primary election. All you know-it-alls out there ought to try public speaking-it isn’t so easy. Especially, when you have to make 15 speaches a day. So nit-pic all you want. Brady’s polls have been at 10 points for over a month which means he’s topped out. I would look for Quinn to start closing the gap when voters start paying attention. And BTW, this election will be vetted. - South Side Mike - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 10:42 am: Phineas, This video was made and uploaded by Quinn’s staff. These videos are what his team feels are his highlights. These videos aren’t exactly opposition team postings of youtube slip-ups or mistakes. Yes, occasional misstatements and ramblings can be forgiven. But Quinn lacks the discipline and focus to draft a speech and stick to it, and that is a leadership skill. His State of the State address is Exhibit A. All of these other videos simply rebut the argument that the SOS speech was an aberration. - soccermom - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 10:52 am: Anonymous — sorry, I get paid by the word. - Taylor - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 10:57 am: The political climate and anti-incumbency trend in the electorate make it virtually impossible for Quinn to rebound. The next 33 days will be painful for Quinn and his ever decreasing band of followers. - soccermom - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 10:58 am: Phineas — The point we “know-it-alls” have been making is that he shouldn’t be making 15 speeches a day. Just one, or two with the same message. We want him to win. And it’s easier to win if you have a clear, memorable message. - Cincinnatus - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 10:59 am: Phineas, Keep hoping. In a multiple candidate race, Brady is polling at 46% to Quinn’s 36%. While Brady hasn’t broken through the 50% barrier, he is probably near/at/past the “50%-equivalent” mark given the number of candidates. Even if all of the undecideds broke to Quinn, instead of some traditional breakdown along party lines, he still does not exceed Brady’s 46%. Barring any major event (Brady found naked with 4 hookers), Quinn is toast. And for those that think that Brady’s support will slip when the “voters find out about the REAL Bill Brady” that is just wishful thinking for two reasons: 1.) Quinn spent months talking about Brady’s abortion stance, puppy killing and other such charges to little or no effect. If these attacks had any effect, it would be reflected in current polling. Assume for a second they were effective and drove down Brady’s numbers already - Brady would be above 50%. 2.) Social issues are going to have little effect with the electorate this cycle. Spending/Jobs/Taxes - that’s the top priorities, and perhaps only priority of the average voter. As a matter of fact, the economic issues have motivated the conservative and independent voter in a larger amount than any issue is motivating the liberal. Whether or not Quinn is to blame for the $18B state hole, he is the face of it. Brady need do nothing more than he is doing or saying, “I ain’t Pat.” That’s good enough for the average voter. Bottom line: Quinn = Bread exposed to infrared radiation. - Responsa - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 11:00 am: The first comment posted this morning by Wordslinger helped provide absolute clarity on the Quinn rambling problem. Yes. It is insulting and inconsiderate to audiences and rude of Quinn to participants to waste so much of their valuable time saying so little. Voters immediately recognize this trait in other people who annoy them, and can project how this flaw must play out inside the governor’s office as well. It’s akin to the oblivious person who *always* seems to come late to dinner parties. While the rest of the hungry guests steam—and the host frets as the carefully prepared food dries out in the oven— the latecomer breezes in unapologetic and clueless to the fact they’ve inconvenienced everybody. After a few of these episodes the “guest” is not invited back. - Vote Quimby! - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 11:07 am: Quinn showed up in southern Illinois? I thought “nobody lived there”? I would still rather hear Quinn ramble than wait for the 1-2 hours Blago was late. Is Brady punctual? - dupage dan - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 11:22 am: PJW, PQ has had a lifetime of honing the public speaking skills and this is the result? We know that Richie Daley is not the best of public speakers but he has a tight grip on so many other aspects of his administration that the gaffs in public are not that big a deal. PQ’s speaking style matches his style as a the chief executive of the state. It shows, it is obvious. The public has no confidence in him. Case closed. - dupage dan - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 11:28 am: soccormom, While you may be correct in describing how PQ came to this style of speaking, it no longer matters. His inability to adjust, or his unwillingness to do so, results in a perception on the part of the voting public that he is not a competent candidate. At this late date, that deficiency can not be addressed. Case closed. - Louis G. Atsaves - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 11:36 am: Adam Smith, great comments. I agree. - Bill F. - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 11:59 am: Yes, Adam and Louis. You’re both right. Fortunately, the GOP takes the high road and NEVER, EVER stretches the truth, manipulates statements, or outright lies. Never. Cough [b——t] cough. - Cincinnatus - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 12:05 pm: Bill F., True statement on its face. I look at the negativity of an ad or campaign as a barometer of the desperation of a candidate. The more unrelenting the attack, the more desperate, especially weighed against the the opponent’s campaign tacticts. - Secret Square - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 12:14 pm: “Social issues are going to have little effect with the electorate this cycle.” In general, that’s true. However, I suspect that the subset of voters who DO place high priority on social issues (abortion, gay marriage, etc.) tend to be conservatives anyway, so whatever social issue effect there is will probably work to the advantage of conservative/GOP candidates. The national Dems seem not to realize this at all — their ads rapping Brady and Dold for being anti abortion/pro life, for example, probably gained those candidates at least as many votes as they lost. - Bill F. - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 12:17 pm: “The more unrelenting the attack, the more desperate, especially weighed against the the opponent’s campaign tacticts.” I won’t argue stridently against the point, because it is certainly sometimes true. But it’s rarely that simple. - Cincinnatus - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 2:00 pm: red, That depends on one’s point of view! I think he should keep it up… - Responsa - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 2:01 pm: I watched the first of the three Phil Hare “conversations”. He’s a bit of a Quinn-style rambler, too, isn’t he? - wordslinger - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 2:49 pm: –”The more unrelenting the attack, the more desperate, especially weighed against the the opponent’s campaign tacticts.”– Not at all. You’re relentless with the attack that works. Advertising isn’t a science, believe me, but when something connects there are ways to find out. And when it works, you run with it. - Pot calling kettle - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 3:06 pm: The video ended with the perfect metaphor for the Quinn campaign. Flying off into the unknown. - Ghost - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 3:22 pm: Soccermom I dont buy it. if he has time to schedule and attend the event, then he has time to spend 60 min outlining some remarks. he chooses not to spend the time putting together his remarks. That is lazy to me. - Just The Way It Is One - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 3:51 pm: To call Quinn “lazy” is akin to calling the Pope “irreligious!” The guy’s known to be practically indefatigable and from this point on will not sleep hardly at all through November 2. Soccermom is right. Basically, when he talks, on anything that matters to him, he “shoots from the hip” and triple A verbosity follows–drives some nuts but it’s just who he is…and much of it IS leftover from his 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s famous Sunday Press Conferences hoping that the more he’d say on one of his causes, the better the chance for a decent sound bite on the 5, 6, or 10 o’clock news–and it worked, but now he DOES have cameras following him everywhere so he definitely could chill some. And, oh, the “JOBS (and the best Reform at least at this stage you could hope for, e.g. finally getting RECALL on the Illinois ballot, campaign expenditures limits reform, etc.) GOVERNOR” debate message, agree with it or not,seems to identify his “positive” campaign theme for the final 5 week push–e.g. creating 439,000 jobs now and in coming few years under his capital ILLINOIS JOBS NOW program, (sorry, Cohen) unemployment declining, etc.)–as well as solidifying the Dem. base- e.g. minorities, teachers, firefighters, blue collar Union backers, etc. (and pounding away on BB ANTI-women positions). - Cincinnatus - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 4:03 pm: Just The Way It Is One, Quinn may not be lazy in one sense that he expends a lot of effort. However, he does appear to be lazy in a sense that he is unfocussed and undisciplined, in both his campaign style and his governance. - wordslinger - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 5:09 pm: Never mistake effort for accomplishment. You can work really hard banging your head against a wall, but you’re still doing just that. - Just The Way It Is One - Wednesday, Sep 29, 10 @ 5:55 pm: Never mistake accomplishments (shall we review them, sorry, I don’t have the time–like him or not–Quinn’s MANY positive accomplishments for the millions in this State going back around 35 years now…) for wordiness. He made his point-and punctuated the reality that, like with FORD, BOEING, UPS, etc. even more jobs out of those nearly 1/2 a MILLION under ILLINOIS JOBS NOW have just been created (and holy cow–Downstate no less!) and some folks, believe it or not, given one of his major campaign themes IS creating a slough of JOBS for people–may actually think the message was not only effective, but appreciate (ironically) that ACTIONS speak LOUDER than words! Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.