* From a press release…

Warning: $200k of Mudslinging On the Way from DGA

CHICAGO – Last month, the Democratic Governors Association (DGA) funneled more than $103,500 into an attack PAC to be used against the Republicans running to replace Gov. Pat Quinn. Late yesterday, the DGA doubled down with an additional $96,500, bringing the total to $200,000 - so far.

According to Illinois Republican Party Chairman Jack Dorgan, the DGA should focus more on dismal job that Pat Quinn is doing, rather than trying to mislead voters by sneaking around in the Republican primary.

“It’s no secret that the DGA is panicked about Pat Quinn’s re-election. They should be. He’s one of the most unpopular governors in the country, and his leadership has been a disaster for Illinois,” Dorgan said. “But the voters deserve better than $200,000 in DGA mudslinging during the Republican primary to replace him.”

The PAC he’s talking about is here.

And $200K ain’t much, if you ask me. They’re gonna need a lot more than that to do any damage to Bruce Rauner.

* Meanwhile, the Daily Herald looks at the money race in the Republican US Senate primary…

Campaign finance reports filed Friday reflect Oberweis’ $500,000 donation to his own campaign, as well as $105,000 in contributions from others in the last three months of the year.

Truax raised about $107,000 in the same amount of time.

Truax did report raising $107K in the fourth quarter. However, you have to be extra careful when looking at federal candidate disclosure reports.

$18,200 in Truax contributions during the fourth quarter were specifically set aside for the general election. In the third quarter, the money Truax raised included $21,800 for the general election.

Truax reported having a little over $44K on hand at the end of the fourth quarter. But he can’t use $40,000 of that until after the primary ($18,200 plus $21,800).

So, the bottom line is that Truax had only about $4K on hand for the final push.

Yeesh.

* Also, it’s worth pointing out here that Jim Oberweis loaned himself a half million dollars. That means he may have to eventually approach PACs and others to help pay off his debt to himself.

This is common practice in campaigns.

Bruce Rauner, on the other hand, is breaking tradition and flat-out contributing money to his campaign. None of his bigtime contributions to himself are listed as loans. I asked the Rauner campaign about this the other day and this is the e-mailed reply…

He’s not planning on raising money to pay himself back. He’s asking other people to contribute to his campaign, so he believes he should do the same thing.

If you got it, you got it, I suppose.