45 Comments - William j Kelly - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 9:37 am: Wait a second, is this a paid rauner add? - William j Kelly - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 9:40 am: Ad, is this another rauner paid ad? - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 9:43 am: The more anyone talks, the more stuff gets heard. This will help in the General, but then again, if Rauner is spending a half a million to a million a week either bashing Quinn or trying to re-define Quinn, even the simple soundbite might be lost to a large crowd. As Rauner knows, Dems don’t have Litmus Tests, they just want to win, so the more Rauner gives them a majority of “Good”, the better the chance in November. Can Quinn hold his feet to the fire on this, while facing all that media? Dunno yet. - Draznnl - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 9:45 am: That’s the kind of leadership you want from a governor - “Excuse me while I wait for a plebiscite on that issue.” - too obvious - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 9:49 am: He’s full of it. Another Pander Bear. - wordslinger - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 9:50 am: Gutless and cynical phony. Rauner might talk like that down at Quincy tea party events, but I guarantee you he doesn’t when he’s hanging out by the old moat on Central Park West. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 9:55 am: “add” - Ad. Your Welcome. What are you trying to say anyway? - Endangered Moderate Species - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 9:55 am: Rauner’s achilles heel will be miscues on the stump. These tea party gatherings are dangerous ground for the GOP candidates because they get caught up in the negative energy in the room. Then they make a little comment and get a big applause and hear the atta boys! Then they really feel good about their message so they say something from their heart and not from their head. They walk away feeling great because of the back patting and people telling them how they loved the message. Then two months later they are defending their words to a majority of voters whom are moderate. - walkinfool - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 10:04 am: “Your” - You’re We all make ‘em. Word’s right, you used to be able to get away with nonsense pandering to a small partisan crown, but no longer. Too many recorders and cameras in everybody’s phones. At least he didn’t repeat the 47% meme, which is big among the moneyed set. - Grandson of Man - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 10:09 am: “statewide referendum on gay marriage” Doesn’t this guy look at polls? We support gay marriage in Illinois. - Just Observing - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 10:11 am: If, as Rich has repeatedly stated, that the IL Constitution does not allow a binding referendum on this issue… Rauner is being disingenuous with his comments. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 10:14 am: - walkinfool -, You know me, I make them constantly. I was mocking the “drive by”, correcting, than spelling/using “Your” wrong to make the point, about “drive bys” more than spelling. Really, - walkinfool -, I am Pot calling Kettle in spelling. lol All good. - langhorne - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 10:16 am: wanting to put gay marriage to a statewide referendum was a transparent dodge, which became worthless when the bill passed. a veto is a veto. he would have vetoed it. its too late to say they shoulda had a referendum. like it or not, members of the GA took a stand and passed it. so this is the tough leader, who will bring madigan and the democrats to heel, neuter the union bosses, and shake things up? by hiding behind a non binding referendum? winning an election is not, in and of itself, a mandate that will have any effect whatsoever on his boogey men. you have to work WITH people=legislators, to pass a budget, or change things. bluster cant do it. rauner is blago 2.0, but with money like rod only dreamed of. - AFSCME Steward - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 10:17 am: Wait, am I hearing this right… he actually took a stand on a controversial issue ? - Madison - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 10:19 am: Rauner is amongst a handful of candidates that can make even the hapless PQ look like a statesman. Watch or no watch, watch that ticket go down in flames in the November sky ina brilliant display of light but no heat. - Rich Miller - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 10:20 am: ===watch that ticket go down in flames in the November sky ina brilliant display of light but no heat. === Yeah. The Republicans were saying the same thing about the primary six months ago. Better wake up, y’all. - walkinfool - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 10:24 am: O’Willy: and I just foolishly walked by and lobbed one all good - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 10:30 am: ===Better wake up, y’all.=== It is as though blaming the messenger feels better than seeing the issue and doing what needs to be done to win, or understanding that this ain’t a typical “rodeo” and everyone sits back and rails on those warning them …. “Rodeo”. I just don’t understand why urgency is not the order of the day, but wishing is in season. - Chavez-respecting Obamist - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 10:56 am: ‘he actually took a stand on a controversial issue ?’ No, he pandered to the people in that room on an issue that’s been put to bed. - RNUG - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 11:03 am: What was that line I cracked the other day? Something about one of the GOP candidates being dumb enough to suggest revoking SSM? - Samurai - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 11:06 am: If I am Kirk Dillard or Dan Rutherford, big time help from Local 150 and AFSCME would be appreciated against the #shammerandfaker. Union support in exchange for mass disclosure of Bruce’s friendly relationship with Montana fishing buddy and equity apprentice Rahm, pay rolling “consultant” Stu Levine and clouting millions in pension fees seems a descent trade off all considered. The greatest risk is that the GOP are so repulsed by Rahm on one end and Union support on the other that Bill Brady wins the primary. - D.P.Gumby - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 11:07 am: And the hammer hits back on the guy who has never used one. - Demoralized - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 11:07 am: It was a Tea Party event. He was clearly pandering to that crowd. The rest of the sane world knows that the SSM issue is closed and have moved on. - Carl Nyberg - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 11:09 am: Let’s put tax cuts for corporations to a vote too. - Wensicia - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 11:11 am: He may have been pandering, but he’s on record now concerning gay marriage. - ZC - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 11:15 am: The problem is nobody else has the cash right now to match Rauner, and keep the pace up to the March primary. There’s not much point in just running a few early spots to say, “I exist too.” I think the evidence is pretty clear that ads closer to the primary election in March matter much more, than ads this far out in December. A lot of this early spending by Rauner is like running up the down escalator. He’s making upward progress but at an incredible financial cost. But he can afford it, and he is slowly climbing upwards. Candidates like Rutherford can’t try this shock and awe strategy, not unless Rutherford’s got another huge source of untapped cash out there. If Rutherford runs a bunch of ads from his kitty in late December / early January, will he have the dough to compete in the final three-week, post-Olympic sprint in March? I’m betting his advisers are warning him he can’t let this flurry of spending by Rauner sucker him into spending his cash too early. Because by March, people would have forgotten any of Rutherford’s Christmas spots, just like they will have (mostly but not entirely) forgotten Rauner’s. The other GOP candidates had better have some amazing negative spots in the mill for post-Olympics. I expect at some point we’ll see a bit of Rauner-backlash in the press to mix it up, too, but right now, yes, don’t underestimate this guy. - Just Me - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 11:20 am: So, for any did dick or controversial decision, we can expect Governor Rauner to use a referendum process that doesn’t exist. That sure is shaking things up! - Just Me - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 11:22 am: Oh my gosh: bad auto correct!!! So sorry! That was supposed to say “difficult.” - Samurai - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 11:24 am: Just Me—Auto correct? You mean Freudian slip. - MrJM - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 11:28 am: Of course, an ad could simply use his “If I were governor I would veto” line to make him look like a winger. What kind of person would ever do such a thing? – MrJM - 47th Ward - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 11:36 am: Every day Rauner is talking about same sex marriage or abortion is a good day for Brady, Dillard and Rutherford. - Anon - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 11:40 am: Has Rauner announced any other issues that don’t rise to the level of the constitution that he believes would require approval by referendum? Or is marriage equality unique? If it’s unique, why? It would be fun to see, say, a one-handgun a month proposal put on the statewide ballot. Or parental notification re abortions by minors… - Princess Leah - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 11:50 am: The more I see this guy with his sledgehammer, the more he reminds me of the old man at Woolly Swamp. Kinda scary. - qcexaminer - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 12:18 pm: What kind of person would so such a thing? Um, you mean Al Sharpton and MSNBC? Glad to see Rich is promoting high standards in political ads—at least against politicians he doesn’t like. I’m sure if this sort of taking stuff out of context happened to one of his favorites, he would be howling with indignation. - Soccermom - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 12:35 pm: It’s hard to calculate the impacts of Rauner’s “I have more money than God” media strategy. It’s true that voters are more focused in the last few weeks of the election, and some strong negative ads could erase a lot of the squishy good will that Rauner is buying with his warm and fuzzy holiday messages. It’s also true that he could be using this as a strategy to force his opponents to buy early ads they don’t really need, just to bleed down their already-sparse cash supplies. On the other hand — Rauner’s ads are kind of charming, and they’re building a persona for him. He’s going from an unknown to “oh, that guy in the snow globe.” If he keeps spending on these image ads, it could greatly expand both his profile and his positive image among centrists/lukewarm Republicans. But on the other other hand — will those folks actually show up at the polls? Interesting times. - dave - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 12:36 pm: Bruce Rauner, I assume, also supports letting voters choose whether or not they want to get rid of the flat tax in IL, right? - Aldyth - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 12:37 pm: Human rights should always be put up for a popular vote? Is that how it works? - Just Observing - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 1:05 pm: === Glad to see Rich is promoting high standards in political ads—at least against politicians he doesn’t like. I’m sure if this sort of taking stuff out of context happened to one of his favorites, he would be howling with indignation. === @QCExaminer — What exactly was taking out of context? It seems the context was provided. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 1:48 pm: ===But on the other other hand — will those folks actually show up at the polls?=== That is the final hurdle Rauner has to clear. “Can the Rauner Crew identify all these names on ‘petitions and referendum’ and get them organized enough, come election time, to vote them ‘Rauner’ and actually control their own turnout, and run and vote their own identified ‘pluses’ to win”. Money? Check. Message control? So far, Check. Stand alone events, stand alone aparatus to generate voting bloc to victory? Jury is out. Agree 100% with you - Soccermom -, so I know I must be on the right track. - walkinfool - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 2:53 pm: QC: “What kind of person would do such a thing?” Are you kidding? Every campaign advertising person, for every candidate, in every party, in every district in the country. - A guy... - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 3:08 pm: Spilt milk. It’s over. Even if he were to win in November, the law would have been in effect for 6 months before he was sworn in. It’s the law of the land and it doesn’t matter much what anyone’s thoughts were prior to the vote by that time. The SSM crowd is with Pat Quinn. They oughta be. He spent a lot of political capital getting it passed. There was never much of a jump ball for this bloc. If he wins, it will come from somewhere else. So far as I can tell, he didn’t resonate on this one with either side. Time will tell how smart or dumb it was. Or if anyone will care by then. - Juvenal - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 3:46 pm: @A guy: Disagree. Suburban moderates play an important role for Republicans in General Elections. They are the reason Topinka is Comptroller and Brady is still a Senator. And you just can’t hope to win suburban moderates if you are going to toe the line on every conservative Litmus Test issue. - A guy... - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 4:16 pm: Juvenal, I believe your analysis to be correct. The only problem is he didn’t toe the line on this issue for either side. I sense that there were (and are) a lot of people in the middle on SSM. For many who would lean against, they came to the conclusion the world would not end and they’re glad it’s over with. Everyone knows or is related to gay people they like or love. Only the most callous were nasty. In many conversations I’ve met people who said they were not “for” it, but they are glad the resolution passed sooner rather than later. It was uncomfortable. I just don’t see people wanting to go back and re-examine this. Even the repeal talk has died down to well below a whisper. Good. Let’s move forward. - Just The Way It Is One - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 8:15 pm: Wow, this is a shocker. Guess he’s playing his cards a bit further to the right to have a better shot at sealing a Nomination, but more interestingly is if he REALLY beLIEVES in this now publicly-pronounced position…! - olddog - Thursday, Dec 19, 13 @ 9:15 pm: Meanwhile back at the ranch … http://www.wbez.org/news/cost-analysis-questions-wisdom-opening-more-charter-schools-109411 Who wins? Who loses? Who benefits? Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.