Well if Glenn Nixon doesn’t pull it out, Durkin and company is by far the biggest loser
- Mr. Know-it-All - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 12:37 pm:
President Obama, for obvious reasons - fair or not, the federal results are about perceptions of his presidency.
Pat Quinn, also for obvious reasons - voters are frustrated with Springfield, and whether one blames the Governor or the legislature, the Governor is the one guy who has to answer to each of us. He was the natural fall guy for the failures of the Democratic-controlled Springfield.
Bruce Rauner - dude has no clue what he just stepped into.
Candidates without charisma.
Political parties.
Employees of the Executive Branch. God help them.
Where the GOP had the more charismatic candidate, they won. Where the Dems did, the Dems won.
The big progressive ballot questions were all winners. This wasn’t a GOP win because voters back the GOP’s plan. What plan? The voters backed the progressive sentiments, but when you have lackluster candidates pushing those sentiments, they lose to charisma.
- Ravenswood Right Winger - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 12:38 pm:
Brooke Anderson-Simply atrocious before the cameras.
Jim Durkin-As noted by 2nd Ward, the House GOP can’t even pick up 1 seat????
DCCC effort in IL- To be fair, Busto won. But Enyart got creamed, Callis got written off long ago and Schneider lost.
Durkin - no pickups in a wave year. Wha…?
Oberweis - fish and guests start to stink in 3 days. Go back to Florida.
Democratic Coordinated Campaign (not IDP, not Madigan) - ballot questions and vaunted drop-off program appear not to have worked where needed most.
Runner-up: Cullerton (not SDems, Cullerton) - failed to expand SDems field by challenging more incumbent SGOPs. Worse, lost one of his own.
Unions - they had two shots, one clear one, and one haphazard one to stop Bruce Rauner. Unions get what they deserve now, I guess(?)
Pollsters - while numbers always fluctuate, the turnout aspect of what you are trying to poll makes “polling” numbers exactly what they are; refutable by GOTV, be it good or bad. Polls don’t vote, voters do.
Quinn Crew / Quinn Strategy - All the tweeting and the bluster, all the withholding of paychecks, and Squeezy, and the idea of being a non factor as a strategy in governing, allowing to be passive, and to be removed from negotiations, and THEN claiming the work as yours too…failure of strategy from the political and governmental, and the voters acted accordingly…they didn’t show up.
Leader Durkin - He will be good in time, but no net gains hurts. Not one win?! Really?!
Leader Radogno - I love her to death and she is a great person, but she is a terrible recruiter. A better candidate in the 48th might have equaled a Manar defeat.
Bill Enyart - Ouch.
And one more honorable mention: Justice Karmeier. Seriously - did he NOT know there was going to eventually be an effort to knock him off? That was awfully close.
- AFSCME and other unions. Union workers actually did get out and vote….they just didn’t necessarily vote for the person their union wanted them to.
- Pollsters. All but one missed.
- Doug Ibendahl and the “purity” wing of the GOP. whatever small influence they think they still had, has now been marginalized even more. He threw everything including the kitchen sink trying to undermine Rauner, and failed miserably.
1.The Sun-Times. They disgraced themselves in this election. They could have taken the high road and the results probably would have been the same.
2.Pat Quinn. He was never very good at being Governor.
3.The DNC. They need to rethink everything about how they’ve played their hand.
1. Durkin - had a sugar daddy and still couldn’t pull out a single seat despite expectations.
2. Oberweis - how many times does this guy have to lose to get the message. He even prostituted his far right positions for an insufficiently few votes. Now it’s time for him to join his wife in Florida. However, leave the ice cream in Illinois.
3. Denny Jacobs - now he’ll have to give his son a job.
Southern Illinois Becoming “Southern Chicago” with one party rule. Whatever, Chicago wants is evil and So. ILL. wants the opposite. Plus, we still have a Gov. who is from Chicago who now has government housing is Springfield.
Durkin’s time as leader could be very short. Too bad, I had somewhat high hopes for him this election cycle especially with all the money pouring in to win just one seat and he failed. Now instead of being part of the process with a new Republican Governor his successor will have to sit on the sidelines and get jammed by Madigan.
Organized Labor, despite their best efforts they didn’t have a lot of good options here and now their worst case scenario has probably happened.
Pat Quinn, it wasn’t a regional defeat, Rauner exceeded his vote goals in every region.
How elections are reported. Seriously the Treasurer’s race is essentially tied and there is no decent information anywhere to help decipher the vote totals. The opportunity to cover election night so much better is right there and no one is taking advantage of it.
Quinn - he lost the respect and support of the unions.
Unions - but what do they have going forward in this state?
Barack Obama - his negatives helped deliver the Republican base.
- Boone's is Back - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 12:55 pm:
Obvious answer here but Pat Quinn. He lost way more than any other Dem on the statewide ticket
(including Sheila Simon), and his campaign showed serious flaws in their GOTV, field, and messaging strategies. (Seriously, you’re going to run negative ads on election day?) Moreover, have the grace to concede it when its over man.
- SonofSuperAbe2014 - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 12:55 pm:
Dan Proft is always the biggest loser
closely followed by Pat Quinn.
1. House Republicans, with all seats up, they couldn’t pick up one seat to stop a super majority… in a republican wave. Durkin/Cross, they still can not get it done.
2. Frerichs - ran a horrible campaign almost trying to give it away.
3. Quinn - Got bean by a much larger margin than I thought. Maybe he should have been a better governor.
Republicans: now they’re responsible for government and have to face the same structural challenges that Quinn faced.
Retirees/the poor: the only people who have to lose something to fix the structural issues referenced to above.
Downstate IL: making gov more efficient means reducing thousands of government jobs or pay for DOT, DHS, public safety and other state workers located in Lincoln, Decatur, Springfield, Jacksonville, Peoria, and others
Lisa Madigan is both the biggest winner and the biggest loser.
Biggest loser because her failure to run in back-to-back election cycles has cost the Democratic Party a US Senate seat (Kirk) and now the Governorship (Rauner). What the heck are you going to do with a 4th (FOURTH, geeze) term as AG Lisa?
Biggest winner because it’s all still there for her if she still wants it. 2018 could be a great year for D’s in Illinois if she runs.
On a side note, I have said on this blog that I believe that Bruce Rauner is dangerous. I still believe that. I hope the Governor-Elect was just “playing to the base” in the primary with some of the policies he wanted to enact. I hope he is a more pragmatic leader than what he let on.
Biggest loser- Barack Obama. He was nationally embarrassed by losing in his own home state as well as being treated as though he had leprosy by many of his Democrat Party’s political candidates.
Biggest winner- Lisa Madigan. The “cloak of power” is now being shifted from Mike to Lisa. Quinn is out of the way now. The Illinois Democrat Party knows that they need the ever-popular Lisa now more than ever. If she had run in the Primary against Quinn, Quinn would not have survived her. If she had run against Rauner, we would still have a Democrat governor in Illinois and Obama would not have to walk around in public today with a paper bag over his head. All of King Obama’s horses and all of his men ( (First Lady Michelle, Hillary, Bill Clinton, King Barack himself, etc.) could not put Humpty Dumpty Quinn back together again in Illinois. Quinn was destined to be an omelet right from the start of his re-election campaign. The GOP owes a big “Thank you” to Lisa.
Durkin, of course. But Team Sleep is right, Radogno shouldn’t get a pass. Jacobs was easy pickings. A good candidate against Manar and some better spending decisions and she could have picked up three seats. They wasted at least 125k going after Cunningham and got hammered. That’s not a ton of cash, but if they spent that against Claiborne (who was the subject of some tough reporting by the BND,) they would have taken down the Senate majority leader.
Durkin - I like him a lot, but man, how do you now pick up any seats?
Proft - for all his bloviating about how his strategy was right and Durkin’s was wrong, he spent a lot of money and got… nothing. At all.
Bill Hyers: the superstar campaign manager did… what, exactly? He sure didn’t build a field operation, he didn’t run any base turnout our persuasion. What did he do for $20k a month?
Again House GOP showed its epic internal issues. PQ for not being willing to see what is going on. Rutherford’s fired whistle blowers who will now for sure not have their Braver report released.
Biggest future winners on the day? Jerry Costello, Jr., Kwame and Kevin Artl…who for every bit of the pain he can be, proved his ability to run and win a race-congrats to Kevin and TC on that one.
Lisa Madigan She couldn’t run for Governor this time. Her next chance will be to stare down a minimum of $30 Mill just to get into the race.
And I don’t see her sticking around 8 years to be Governor. I think that ship has sailed.
- From the 'Dale to HP - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 1:14 pm:
Quinn - Obvious
Political parties - voters are mad, parties aren’t responding. Somethings gotta give at some point right? Third wave midterm election in a row. And progressive ballot measures did pretty well but voters want GOP representation. Good luck figuring this out.
State GOP - Okay so Rauner won and then what? I guess you can chalk up Dold too, but within the state, has to be a somewhat disappointing day once you get beyond the Rauner wins headline.
Rahm? - Are the Chicago voters who stayed home really upset and can’t wait to go out and vote for not-Rahm? Or are they apathetic?
- And I Approved This Message - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 1:16 pm:
Oberweis - Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. How can we miss you if you won’t go away.
Durkin - Not even one??
Quinnocchio - Likely no room in the new administration for a balding, hairy-legged puppet. But thanks for the memories.
- Robert the Bruce - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 1:16 pm:
1) Quinn.
2) Obama. He is in for a rough two years of investigations.
3) Tea Party (I think). Maybe it was just Illinois, but it seemed like once again, the more moderate the republican nominee, the more likely a republican victory. Not sure if this was true nationwide; I believe Iowa Sen winner was a tea partier.
- Ship Has Sailed - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 1:19 pm:
Unions- The threats turned out to be rather toothless.
Travel agents- Tax increase,pension reform and budget fights threaten our summers. Just like back in the Blago days.
The idea of statesmanship- After a vicious campaign that got about as ugly as it could go claiming his challenger beats women and kills babies and grandma our governor pouts in defeat instead recognizing that the will of the people is the law of the land. Classless.
Public Education - It’ll be more failed charter schools pushed out.
Government Employees between 40 and 60 - Too old to get another career and start earning social security and too young to count on a pension.
Democrats - You can’t be the party of we’re bad, but the other guy is worse. If you don’t stand for something, you’re not going to succeed. Quinn and Obama both had accomplishments and the Democratic candidates ran from them. Quinn made a big mistake going after the union teachers who carried him in 2010.
Harry Truman once said, “When given a choice between a Republican and a Democrat that acts like a Republican, voters will inevitably choose the Republican.” There’s a lot of wisdom there.
1. Judy Barr Topinka. Not that she had much of a future beyond her own office, but barely beating a very weak opponent cements the fact that she’s reached her limit.
2. Ron Sandack. If Rauner loses, Ron has a clear path to the Governor’s office in four years. Instead, he’s going to be forced to vote for multiple tax increases and even then, Rauner is still likely to run for a second term. Ron went from having one of the brightest stars in the GOP field to a guy who will likely face strong challengers in both the primary and general just to keep his own seat. Both Dan Proft and the Speaker are going to be after him.
3. Joe Berrios. People will tolerate antics when you run an organization that puts up numbers, but the numbers he put up were terrible.
1. Quinn, Enyart and Schneider: ouch, ouch and ouch.
2. Public employee labor unions, their retirees and their families.
3. Basic arithmetic also lost big yesterday because you can’t spend the same dollar two, three or four times, yet if you listened carefully, that’s exactly what Rauner’s campaign promises have done.
1. Illinois citizens. Choosing between 2 mediocre candidates for governor was a no-win for all of us.
2. Sheila Simon. Running against Topinka was political suicide, and she can’t live on her Dad’s name any more.
3. Lisa Madigan. Her Dad will never retire, so her chance of being governor may never come. On the other hand, if Durbin or Kirk ever retire, she’ll make a good U.S. Senate candidate.
- Kasich Walker, Jr. - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 1:55 pm:
I agree with Conor Friedersdorf of the Atlantic who wrote that Marijuana Prohibitionists were big losers. Even in Florida, medical marijuana received 58% of the vote, though it needed 60% to amend their state constitution to allow it.
DC and Oregon are now legal. Alaska was legal, but now it can also be bought and sold legally.
Pat Quinn for deluding himself that he could duplicate the 2010 results with Bill Brady as an opponent and NRI as his GOTV.
I really think that Rauner could not have beaten a different Democratic nominee. A new Democrat would have been inaugurated in January had Quinn retired.
1 Unions- that wasted a huge amount of money on Chad Grimm. Maybe if they went with the Governor they could have pulled it off. Big mistake.
2 Pollsters- they have proven themselves to be to a joke all across the country. From the IL Gov race, to the VA Gov race and across our nation, they need to learn how to actually predict results, because right now, they can’t.
I would’ve called Dan Proft a loser, but to me the only thing he does is throw money at a race and hopes/prays he pulls it off. Mr. Uelhein needs to rein Mr. Proft in a bit.
Durkin, and to a lesser extent Radogno, should have done much better. But I don’t think they controlled spending this year they way leaders have in the past. Rauner bankrolled the state party and I assume his folks made many of the decisions on GA spending. Remember Rich’s report about negative mail dropping in Chicago against Cassidy and Mitchell? No way Durkin made that call. And I could be wrong, but I don’t think Radogno is delusional enough to think she could take down Cunningham and the 19th Ward. Rauner wanted a candidate in that race to help drive GOP turnout in the suburban sections of the district, though I’m not sure bashing Cunningham in the mail helped accomplish that. Still, when you have money to burn, you can afford to spend it recklessly.
AFSCME– A large number of Members and Retirees know what Quinn did to them, and no matter how much lipstick AFSCME put on Quinn they still voted against the Gov who threw State Workers and Retirees under the train. Now AFSCME has lost the trust of the Governors office as well as a large percentage of their membership.
The Republican Central Committee–They failed to make any gains in the House and Senate in a year they should have rode a strong wave. Rauner and JBT won on their own.
Progressives– Their agenda took massive hits across the country.
Pollsters - as a group, their success rate for the final polls was somewhere was between the success rate of TV weather forecasters and the Chicago Cubs.
- lake county democrat - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 2:46 pm:
The unions took another punch to the gut last night when the election results began to come in. The unions are like my 70 year old Uncle Louie. Uncle Louie likes to think that he is the same strong guy that he was when he was only 35 years old. Nobody wants to hurt his feelings so we all go along with his delusion. The unions glory days have long faded away and each year they and Uncle Louie become far less formidable. Granted, I still wouldn’t want to get hit by Louie even at 70 years of age but his (and the unions) ability to intimidate, cajole, and influence the outcome of state and national elections (like yesterday’s) has declined enormously over the last decade.
Harry Reid should have been minority leader after both the 2010 and 2012 elections. The National GOP snatched defeat from the jaws of victory with Christine “I was a witch - now I’m not” O’Donnell in 2010 and Todd “ways to shut that whole thing down” Akin in 2012.
I didn’t get all of the question when Rich asked for 3 biggest and was thinking Illinois only so the other two are
1. Gun control. Nationally its off the table for at least the next two years. The flip of the US senate means that national right to carry reciprocity has a real chance of passing. The moms didn’t take a single seat in Illinois and are crowing about Durbin, Duckworth, Kelly and
Quigley being re-elected.
2. Blue Dog Dems. They were a lot of the ones taken out inthe national wave due to the President’s policies. just like when the repubs get pushed to far tot he right, this leaves the national party leaning more to the left. not good
Lake County GOP trounced Dems at the Congressional Level, Statewide (- Madigan/White)and County level yet kept Springfield intact with majority Dems…..a head-scratcher!
Polls and pollsters, like in the primary most had numbers that didn’t resemble the actual votes. The polls would have had it be a lot closer. Sheila Simon, who picked the most universally liked Republican to run against and could have been successful in another race. Bruce Rauner, for spending millions to get one of the worst jobs in the state instead of retiring and doing whatever retired billionaires do.
Correct Amalia, the billionares spent a ton of money on that. But any notion of national gun control moving in the next congress is over. Reid can’t get votes now, and even if he could, it will not pass the House.
Fienstien’s hope of a semi-auto ban is gone. mag ban/restriction gone. National right o carry is on the table. AS a big issue in DC it’s over for the next two years at least.
They didn;t fair to well here in Illinois either. Yes a stragely worded non-binding referendum passed in Cook, it matters little. They lost the bully pulpit of the Governor’s mic. They didn’t unseat a single pro-gun legislator after we passed a carry law.
You are now left with Rahm, Toni and Anita to be the gun control cheer leaders in Illinois. All from one little corner of the state.
Considering the legislature looks pretty much like it did two days ago, I’m feeling ok about our chances.
Public Employees: If Rauner follows through with his promises then their standard of living is in drastic jeopardy. I don’t see how attacking a large group of middle class taxpayers and forcing them to take pay cuts will help the economy, but hey, I’m not a billionaire.
Todd, thank goodness you will not have to defend so much! then perhaps the NRA can stop, for example, as they did in Pennsylvania, siding against a bill to ban the eating of cat and dog meat and the shooting of pigeons.
Losers are the exact opposite of my winners - these are the partisan hacks in congress that care more about petty infighting than representing their district. They include Schneider, Enyart, and St. Sen Jacobs. Good Riddence.
The have been tryign to pas a ban on pigeon shoots for years and can’t get it done so they tacked it on to the other legislation and it didn’t pass. The issue wasn’t the dogs/cats it was the pigeons.
The biggest losers?
1) The far right-wing of the GOP, which embraced a pro-choice and pro marriage equality gubernatorial candidate. Even Obe moved to the middle.
2)The GOP minority in the General Assembly because they can no longer be irresponsible. Their Governor will demand their votes on some revenue enhancements and some unpopular issues.
3) Durkin, who comes up with no wins in a wave election in which he enjoyed ample funding.
Amalia ! lets see piglets are dying from disease all over the country the climate in the western states are affecting produce and fruit and produce, the last winter had an adverse affect in Florida for fruit, I cant speak for Todd but I have a deer in the freezer all natural and gluten free !!! the loins and straps are great sautéed in butter and garlic , with American made Merlot
Democrats–two reasons…first, losing and second for failing to run in defense of and based upon the successes of the Obama administration. Deems were too afraid to counter the Rep narrative that Obama was a “failure” when in fact it has been the obstructionist Repubs and the wing nut Tparty that has logjamed progress. the nadir was Grimes refusing to say she voted for Obama! I stopped donating to her after that.
did I say you don’t eat venison? I hope you do and if so I’m convinced you understand shooting sports, and if you’ve been blessed to travel to third world countries or been in the military at any given time you would love cat or dog, I was at one time ecstatic with forest monkey…
sorry, drawing the line on lovely animals at home or zoo. grew up in a family with a freezer well stocked with venison. you can love shooting sports and still be in favor of gun regulations.
1. IEA/IFT: leadership that brought SB1 and SB7, wasted valuable dues money the past 10 years for a “seat at the table,” should be replaced immediately.
2. Illinois Conservatives: Rauner is going to be more moderate than you’d like. Deal with it, it’s how stuff gets done.
3. Governor Rauner: remember what Eleanor Roosevelt said to Harry Truman when he took the oath of office after FDR’s death: “Mrs. Roosevelt, is there anything I can do for you?” “I should be asking you that, Mr. Truman, for your the one in trouble now.”
Fiscal Responsibility??? Hopefully, the real issues won’t get swept under the rug, but I doubt it. Hopefully, there will be more debate than in the City of Chicago.
- OneMan - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 12:33 pm:
Sheila Simon… Think she could have beat cross.
Pat Quinn.. Not for losing, but for not accepting losing.
Same day voter registration.. Problems and lines make me think the experiment will not continue.
- 2nd Ward - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 12:33 pm:
Well if Glenn Nixon doesn’t pull it out, Durkin and company is by far the biggest loser
- Mr. Know-it-All - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 12:37 pm:
President Obama, for obvious reasons - fair or not, the federal results are about perceptions of his presidency.
Pat Quinn, also for obvious reasons - voters are frustrated with Springfield, and whether one blames the Governor or the legislature, the Governor is the one guy who has to answer to each of us. He was the natural fall guy for the failures of the Democratic-controlled Springfield.
Bruce Rauner - dude has no clue what he just stepped into.
- chi - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 12:37 pm:
Candidates without charisma.
Political parties.
Employees of the Executive Branch. God help them.
Where the GOP had the more charismatic candidate, they won. Where the Dems did, the Dems won.
The big progressive ballot questions were all winners. This wasn’t a GOP win because voters back the GOP’s plan. What plan? The voters backed the progressive sentiments, but when you have lackluster candidates pushing those sentiments, they lose to charisma.
- Ravenswood Right Winger - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 12:38 pm:
Brooke Anderson-Simply atrocious before the cameras.
Jim Durkin-As noted by 2nd Ward, the House GOP can’t even pick up 1 seat????
DCCC effort in IL- To be fair, Busto won. But Enyart got creamed, Callis got written off long ago and Schneider lost.
- Pese - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 12:39 pm:
Durkin
Proft’s Liberty PAC
Operating Engineers
- 1776 - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 12:39 pm:
Pat Quinn - obvious reasons. Lost the Governor’s race in a very blue state. Refused to show class and concede last night.
Mike Frerichs - ran a horrible campaign that gave Cross numerous issues. Ended future ambitions.
House/Senate/ IL Republicans - despite running a decent show and having Rauner’s money, couldn’t win more than one legislative seat.
I’ll add a fourth - Dan Proft & Dick Uhline - spent a ton of cash and are holding a losing lottery ticket.
- A. Nonymous - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 12:39 pm:
Durkin - no pickups in a wave year. Wha…?
Oberweis - fish and guests start to stink in 3 days. Go back to Florida.
Democratic Coordinated Campaign (not IDP, not Madigan) - ballot questions and vaunted drop-off program appear not to have worked where needed most.
Runner-up: Cullerton (not SDems, Cullerton) - failed to expand SDems field by challenging more incumbent SGOPs. Worse, lost one of his own.
- VanillaMan - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 12:40 pm:
You mean besides Obama?
OK - we’ll keep it state focused.
The biggest loser was Pat Quinn. He is practically the only incumbent to lose in Illinois.
The two House incumbents to lose, lost to guys voters knew already.
The only guy shown the door by a new challenger was Pat Quinn.
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 12:41 pm:
Unions - they had two shots, one clear one, and one haphazard one to stop Bruce Rauner. Unions get what they deserve now, I guess(?)
Pollsters - while numbers always fluctuate, the turnout aspect of what you are trying to poll makes “polling” numbers exactly what they are; refutable by GOTV, be it good or bad. Polls don’t vote, voters do.
Quinn Crew / Quinn Strategy - All the tweeting and the bluster, all the withholding of paychecks, and Squeezy, and the idea of being a non factor as a strategy in governing, allowing to be passive, and to be removed from negotiations, and THEN claiming the work as yours too…failure of strategy from the political and governmental, and the voters acted accordingly…they didn’t show up.
- Wordslinger - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 12:41 pm:
1. Sun-Times/McKeon poll from last week showing Quinn ahead Downstate and among male voters. What were you guys on?
2. “Vote fraud” hysterics. The object of the game is to get more votes.
3. GOP GA campaign outfits. Second wave election in a row you forgot your surfboards.
- Team Sleep - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 12:42 pm:
Leader Durkin - He will be good in time, but no net gains hurts. Not one win?! Really?!
Leader Radogno - I love her to death and she is a great person, but she is a terrible recruiter. A better candidate in the 48th might have equaled a Manar defeat.
Bill Enyart - Ouch.
And one more honorable mention: Justice Karmeier. Seriously - did he NOT know there was going to eventually be an effort to knock him off? That was awfully close.
- Anonymoiis - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 12:42 pm:
- AFSCME and other unions. Union workers actually did get out and vote….they just didn’t necessarily vote for the person their union wanted them to.
- Pollsters. All but one missed.
- Doug Ibendahl and the “purity” wing of the GOP. whatever small influence they think they still had, has now been marginalized even more. He threw everything including the kitchen sink trying to undermine Rauner, and failed miserably.
- Super CFL - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 12:42 pm:
Durkin. Durkin. Durkin.
- Sangamo Sam - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 12:43 pm:
1.The Sun-Times. They disgraced themselves in this election. They could have taken the high road and the results probably would have been the same.
2.Pat Quinn. He was never very good at being Governor.
3.The DNC. They need to rethink everything about how they’ve played their hand.
- Norseman - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 12:43 pm:
1. Durkin - had a sugar daddy and still couldn’t pull out a single seat despite expectations.
2. Oberweis - how many times does this guy have to lose to get the message. He even prostituted his far right positions for an insufficiently few votes. Now it’s time for him to join his wife in Florida. However, leave the ice cream in Illinois.
3. Denny Jacobs - now he’ll have to give his son a job.
- Ron Burgundy - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 12:43 pm:
Pat Quinn. Had six years and nothing to run on in a referendum on the incumbent. Probably capped his career with a graceless failure to concede.
IL House/Senate GOP. Blew a great opportunity to gain seats and have nothing to show for it.
Sheila Simon. Just being your father’s daughter isn’t enough. Yes, even in Illinois.
- Down South - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 12:43 pm:
Southern Illinois Becoming “Southern Chicago” with one party rule. Whatever, Chicago wants is evil and So. ILL. wants the opposite. Plus, we still have a Gov. who is from Chicago who now has government housing is Springfield.
- Ralph - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 12:44 pm:
Durkin’s time as leader could be very short. Too bad, I had somewhat high hopes for him this election cycle especially with all the money pouring in to win just one seat and he failed. Now instead of being part of the process with a new Republican Governor his successor will have to sit on the sidelines and get jammed by Madigan.
- 2nd Ward - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 12:49 pm:
Jimmy Caporusso
- Watcher - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 12:49 pm:
Dan Proft again is big loser.
Terrible night for Durkin.
Quinn…finally can we be done with him?!
- The Captain - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 12:50 pm:
Organized Labor, despite their best efforts they didn’t have a lot of good options here and now their worst case scenario has probably happened.
Pat Quinn, it wasn’t a regional defeat, Rauner exceeded his vote goals in every region.
How elections are reported. Seriously the Treasurer’s race is essentially tied and there is no decent information anywhere to help decipher the vote totals. The opportunity to cover election night so much better is right there and no one is taking advantage of it.
- Wensicia - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 12:50 pm:
Quinn - he lost the respect and support of the unions.
Unions - but what do they have going forward in this state?
Barack Obama - his negatives helped deliver the Republican base.
- Boone's is Back - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 12:55 pm:
Obvious answer here but Pat Quinn. He lost way more than any other Dem on the statewide ticket
(including Sheila Simon), and his campaign showed serious flaws in their GOTV, field, and messaging strategies. (Seriously, you’re going to run negative ads on election day?) Moreover, have the grace to concede it when its over man.
- SonofSuperAbe2014 - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 12:55 pm:
Dan Proft is always the biggest loser
closely followed by Pat Quinn.
- Ahoy! - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 12:56 pm:
1. House Republicans, with all seats up, they couldn’t pick up one seat to stop a super majority… in a republican wave. Durkin/Cross, they still can not get it done.
2. Frerichs - ran a horrible campaign almost trying to give it away.
3. Quinn - Got bean by a much larger margin than I thought. Maybe he should have been a better governor.
- looping - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 12:59 pm:
Enyart– wow.
Quinn– *snicker
Frerichs– I hate saying names, but if he hired Marty Morris- I bet Marty was worth 25,000 votes. –Fail–
- Logan County - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 1:01 pm:
Republicans: now they’re responsible for government and have to face the same structural challenges that Quinn faced.
Retirees/the poor: the only people who have to lose something to fix the structural issues referenced to above.
Downstate IL: making gov more efficient means reducing thousands of government jobs or pay for DOT, DHS, public safety and other state workers located in Lincoln, Decatur, Springfield, Jacksonville, Peoria, and others
- Try-4-Truth - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 1:03 pm:
Lisa Madigan is both the biggest winner and the biggest loser.
Biggest loser because her failure to run in back-to-back election cycles has cost the Democratic Party a US Senate seat (Kirk) and now the Governorship (Rauner). What the heck are you going to do with a 4th (FOURTH, geeze) term as AG Lisa?
Biggest winner because it’s all still there for her if she still wants it. 2018 could be a great year for D’s in Illinois if she runs.
On a side note, I have said on this blog that I believe that Bruce Rauner is dangerous. I still believe that. I hope the Governor-Elect was just “playing to the base” in the primary with some of the policies he wanted to enact. I hope he is a more pragmatic leader than what he let on.
- Coffee Cup - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 1:08 pm:
Biggest loser- Barack Obama. He was nationally embarrassed by losing in his own home state as well as being treated as though he had leprosy by many of his Democrat Party’s political candidates.
Biggest winner- Lisa Madigan. The “cloak of power” is now being shifted from Mike to Lisa. Quinn is out of the way now. The Illinois Democrat Party knows that they need the ever-popular Lisa now more than ever. If she had run in the Primary against Quinn, Quinn would not have survived her. If she had run against Rauner, we would still have a Democrat governor in Illinois and Obama would not have to walk around in public today with a paper bag over his head. All of King Obama’s horses and all of his men ( (First Lady Michelle, Hillary, Bill Clinton, King Barack himself, etc.) could not put Humpty Dumpty Quinn back together again in Illinois. Quinn was destined to be an omelet right from the start of his re-election campaign. The GOP owes a big “Thank you” to Lisa.
- Timmy G. - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 1:08 pm:
Durkin, of course. But Team Sleep is right, Radogno shouldn’t get a pass. Jacobs was easy pickings. A good candidate against Manar and some better spending decisions and she could have picked up three seats. They wasted at least 125k going after Cunningham and got hammered. That’s not a ton of cash, but if they spent that against Claiborne (who was the subject of some tough reporting by the BND,) they would have taken down the Senate majority leader.
- AlabamaShake - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 1:11 pm:
Biggest losers:
Durkin - I like him a lot, but man, how do you now pick up any seats?
Proft - for all his bloviating about how his strategy was right and Durkin’s was wrong, he spent a lot of money and got… nothing. At all.
Bill Hyers: the superstar campaign manager did… what, exactly? He sure didn’t build a field operation, he didn’t run any base turnout our persuasion. What did he do for $20k a month?
- Downstate GOP Faithless - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 1:13 pm:
Again House GOP showed its epic internal issues. PQ for not being willing to see what is going on. Rutherford’s fired whistle blowers who will now for sure not have their Braver report released.
Biggest future winners on the day? Jerry Costello, Jr., Kwame and Kevin Artl…who for every bit of the pain he can be, proved his ability to run and win a race-congrats to Kevin and TC on that one.
- Todd - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 1:13 pm:
Lisa Madigan She couldn’t run for Governor this time. Her next chance will be to stare down a minimum of $30 Mill just to get into the race.
And I don’t see her sticking around 8 years to be Governor. I think that ship has sailed.
- From the 'Dale to HP - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 1:14 pm:
Quinn - Obvious
Political parties - voters are mad, parties aren’t responding. Somethings gotta give at some point right? Third wave midterm election in a row. And progressive ballot measures did pretty well but voters want GOP representation. Good luck figuring this out.
State GOP - Okay so Rauner won and then what? I guess you can chalk up Dold too, but within the state, has to be a somewhat disappointing day once you get beyond the Rauner wins headline.
Rahm? - Are the Chicago voters who stayed home really upset and can’t wait to go out and vote for not-Rahm? Or are they apathetic?
- And I Approved This Message - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 1:16 pm:
Oberweis - Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. How can we miss you if you won’t go away.
Durkin - Not even one??
Quinnocchio - Likely no room in the new administration for a balding, hairy-legged puppet. But thanks for the memories.
- Robert the Bruce - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 1:16 pm:
1) Quinn.
2) Obama. He is in for a rough two years of investigations.
3) Tea Party (I think). Maybe it was just Illinois, but it seemed like once again, the more moderate the republican nominee, the more likely a republican victory. Not sure if this was true nationwide; I believe Iowa Sen winner was a tea partier.
- Ship Has Sailed - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 1:19 pm:
1. Quinn
2. Democrats, all of them
3. Capitol Fax
(not necessarily in the order of importance)
- That Guy - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 1:21 pm:
Unions- The threats turned out to be rather toothless.
Travel agents- Tax increase,pension reform and budget fights threaten our summers. Just like back in the Blago days.
The idea of statesmanship- After a vicious campaign that got about as ugly as it could go claiming his challenger beats women and kills babies and grandma our governor pouts in defeat instead recognizing that the will of the people is the law of the land. Classless.
- Carhart Representative - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 1:22 pm:
Public Education - It’ll be more failed charter schools pushed out.
Government Employees between 40 and 60 - Too old to get another career and start earning social security and too young to count on a pension.
Democrats - You can’t be the party of we’re bad, but the other guy is worse. If you don’t stand for something, you’re not going to succeed. Quinn and Obama both had accomplishments and the Democratic candidates ran from them. Quinn made a big mistake going after the union teachers who carried him in 2010.
Harry Truman once said, “When given a choice between a Republican and a Democrat that acts like a Republican, voters will inevitably choose the Republican.” There’s a lot of wisdom there.
- AlabamaShake - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 1:22 pm:
Loser: non-binding ballot measures that did little/nothing to drive turnout
- Anon - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 1:26 pm:
Biggest loser (it’s a tie)
the public - the state is more divided now than before.
public servants - hyper-partisanship rules the day - anyone really interested in solving problems doesn’t stand a chance.
- Gooner - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 1:31 pm:
1. Judy Barr Topinka. Not that she had much of a future beyond her own office, but barely beating a very weak opponent cements the fact that she’s reached her limit.
2. Ron Sandack. If Rauner loses, Ron has a clear path to the Governor’s office in four years. Instead, he’s going to be forced to vote for multiple tax increases and even then, Rauner is still likely to run for a second term. Ron went from having one of the brightest stars in the GOP field to a guy who will likely face strong challengers in both the primary and general just to keep his own seat. Both Dan Proft and the Speaker are going to be after him.
3. Joe Berrios. People will tolerate antics when you run an organization that puts up numbers, but the numbers he put up were terrible.
- Wordslinger - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 1:35 pm:
– He is in for a rough two years of investigations.–
LOL. That’s a forward thinking agenda for the new Congress.
- 47th Ward - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 1:37 pm:
1. Quinn, Enyart and Schneider: ouch, ouch and ouch.
2. Public employee labor unions, their retirees and their families.
3. Basic arithmetic also lost big yesterday because you can’t spend the same dollar two, three or four times, yet if you listened carefully, that’s exactly what Rauner’s campaign promises have done.
- Joe Maddon - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 1:45 pm:
1. Pat Quinn needs to find another Job
2. Dan Proft wasted a lot of other peoples money
3. William Kelly only proved what we all knew,TOOL
- Streator Curmudgeon - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 1:46 pm:
1. Illinois citizens. Choosing between 2 mediocre candidates for governor was a no-win for all of us.
2. Sheila Simon. Running against Topinka was political suicide, and she can’t live on her Dad’s name any more.
3. Lisa Madigan. Her Dad will never retire, so her chance of being governor may never come. On the other hand, if Durbin or Kirk ever retire, she’ll make a good U.S. Senate candidate.
- Kasich Walker, Jr. - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 1:55 pm:
I agree with Conor Friedersdorf of the Atlantic who wrote that Marijuana Prohibitionists were big losers. Even in Florida, medical marijuana received 58% of the vote, though it needed 60% to amend their state constitution to allow it.
DC and Oregon are now legal. Alaska was legal, but now it can also be bought and sold legally.
As for biggest winner in IL — no need to say it.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 1:59 pm:
Pat Quinn for deluding himself that he could duplicate the 2010 results with Bill Brady as an opponent and NRI as his GOTV.
I really think that Rauner could not have beaten a different Democratic nominee. A new Democrat would have been inaugurated in January had Quinn retired.
- mail guy - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 2:00 pm:
1 Unions- that wasted a huge amount of money on Chad Grimm. Maybe if they went with the Governor they could have pulled it off. Big mistake.
2 Pollsters- they have proven themselves to be to a joke all across the country. From the IL Gov race, to the VA Gov race and across our nation, they need to learn how to actually predict results, because right now, they can’t.
- Southern Illinois Voter - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 2:00 pm:
Pat Quinn - you run, you win or lose; if you lose, you concede graciously & move on. You don’t keep hanging on looking foolish.
Bill Enyart
Obama
- Team Sleep - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 2:03 pm:
I would’ve called Dan Proft a loser, but to me the only thing he does is throw money at a race and hopes/prays he pulls it off. Mr. Uelhein needs to rein Mr. Proft in a bit.
- Gooner - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 2:04 pm:
I agree with all those listing the President as a loser.
After yesterday, there is no way he’s going to win a third term
- Not so sure - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 2:05 pm:
Durkin, and to a lesser extent Radogno, should have done much better. But I don’t think they controlled spending this year they way leaders have in the past. Rauner bankrolled the state party and I assume his folks made many of the decisions on GA spending. Remember Rich’s report about negative mail dropping in Chicago against Cassidy and Mitchell? No way Durkin made that call. And I could be wrong, but I don’t think Radogno is delusional enough to think she could take down Cunningham and the 19th Ward. Rauner wanted a candidate in that race to help drive GOP turnout in the suburban sections of the district, though I’m not sure bashing Cunningham in the mail helped accomplish that. Still, when you have money to burn, you can afford to spend it recklessly.
- ste_with a en - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 2:18 pm:
Biggest winner-Rauner. He made bold and vauge promises to an angry electorate and became governor.
Biggest loser-Rauner. He made bold and vauge promises to an angry electorate and became governor.
- Demoralized - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 2:27 pm:
Bruce Rauner. He’s now the man in the big chair. Would you want that job given the state of affairs in Illinois?
Sometimes winning is losing. lol
- Amalia - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 2:32 pm:
Durkin/Radogno….no progress
Quinn….obviously
Obama….coast to coast
- SO IL M - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 2:34 pm:
Leaving the obvious answer of Quinn out.
AFSCME– A large number of Members and Retirees know what Quinn did to them, and no matter how much lipstick AFSCME put on Quinn they still voted against the Gov who threw State Workers and Retirees under the train. Now AFSCME has lost the trust of the Governors office as well as a large percentage of their membership.
The Republican Central Committee–They failed to make any gains in the House and Senate in a year they should have rode a strong wave. Rauner and JBT won on their own.
Progressives– Their agenda took massive hits across the country.
- Anyone Remember - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 2:35 pm:
Pollsters - as a group, their success rate for the final polls was somewhere was between the success rate of TV weather forecasters and the Chicago Cubs.
- lake county democrat - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 2:46 pm:
Pat Quinn.
Harry Reid.
The current minimum wage.
- Coffee Cup - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 3:02 pm:
The unions took another punch to the gut last night when the election results began to come in. The unions are like my 70 year old Uncle Louie. Uncle Louie likes to think that he is the same strong guy that he was when he was only 35 years old. Nobody wants to hurt his feelings so we all go along with his delusion. The unions glory days have long faded away and each year they and Uncle Louie become far less formidable. Granted, I still wouldn’t want to get hit by Louie even at 70 years of age but his (and the unions) ability to intimidate, cajole, and influence the outcome of state and national elections (like yesterday’s) has declined enormously over the last decade.
- Anyone Remember - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 3:07 pm:
lake county democrat
Harry Reid should have been minority leader after both the 2010 and 2012 elections. The National GOP snatched defeat from the jaws of victory with Christine “I was a witch - now I’m not” O’Donnell in 2010 and Todd “ways to shut that whole thing down” Akin in 2012.
- Todd - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 3:28 pm:
I didn’t get all of the question when Rich asked for 3 biggest and was thinking Illinois only so the other two are
1. Gun control. Nationally its off the table for at least the next two years. The flip of the US senate means that national right to carry reciprocity has a real chance of passing. The moms didn’t take a single seat in Illinois and are crowing about Durbin, Duckworth, Kelly and
Quigley being re-elected.
2. Blue Dog Dems. They were a lot of the ones taken out inthe national wave due to the President’s policies. just like when the repubs get pushed to far tot he right, this leaves the national party leaning more to the left. not good
2.
- DMAC57 - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 3:32 pm:
Lake County GOP trounced Dems at the Congressional Level, Statewide (- Madigan/White)and County level yet kept Springfield intact with majority Dems…..a head-scratcher!
- Amalia - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 3:42 pm:
Todd, Washington referendum did not go your way.
- Wordslinger - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 3:51 pm:
Biggest loser today is Tribune Publishing, closing down 15 percent after a sick third quarter report.
That makes for a $492 million market cap for the Trib, LA Times, and all the other papers.
- AC - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 3:54 pm:
Polls and pollsters, like in the primary most had numbers that didn’t resemble the actual votes. The polls would have had it be a lot closer. Sheila Simon, who picked the most universally liked Republican to run against and could have been successful in another race. Bruce Rauner, for spending millions to get one of the worst jobs in the state instead of retiring and doing whatever retired billionaires do.
- Todd - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 4:05 pm:
Correct Amalia, the billionares spent a ton of money on that. But any notion of national gun control moving in the next congress is over. Reid can’t get votes now, and even if he could, it will not pass the House.
Fienstien’s hope of a semi-auto ban is gone. mag ban/restriction gone. National right o carry is on the table. AS a big issue in DC it’s over for the next two years at least.
They didn;t fair to well here in Illinois either. Yes a stragely worded non-binding referendum passed in Cook, it matters little. They lost the bully pulpit of the Governor’s mic. They didn’t unseat a single pro-gun legislator after we passed a carry law.
You are now left with Rahm, Toni and Anita to be the gun control cheer leaders in Illinois. All from one little corner of the state.
Considering the legislature looks pretty much like it did two days ago, I’m feeling ok about our chances.
- Bulldog58 - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 4:12 pm:
Public Employees: If Rauner follows through with his promises then their standard of living is in drastic jeopardy. I don’t see how attacking a large group of middle class taxpayers and forcing them to take pay cuts will help the economy, but hey, I’m not a billionaire.
- Cheryl44 - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 4:12 pm:
State workers. If I were one of them, I’d retire today so maybe I’d get some of my pension.
- Amalia - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 4:26 pm:
Todd, thank goodness you will not have to defend so much! then perhaps the NRA can stop, for example, as they did in Pennsylvania, siding against a bill to ban the eating of cat and dog meat and the shooting of pigeons.
- modest proposal - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 5:12 pm:
Losers are the exact opposite of my winners - these are the partisan hacks in congress that care more about petty infighting than representing their district. They include Schneider, Enyart, and St. Sen Jacobs. Good Riddence.
- Todd - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 5:22 pm:
Amalia — I don’t work PA.
The have been tryign to pas a ban on pigeon shoots for years and can’t get it done so they tacked it on to the other legislation and it didn’t pass. The issue wasn’t the dogs/cats it was the pigeons.
- anon - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 6:09 pm:
The biggest losers?
1) The far right-wing of the GOP, which embraced a pro-choice and pro marriage equality gubernatorial candidate. Even Obe moved to the middle.
2)The GOP minority in the General Assembly because they can no longer be irresponsible. Their Governor will demand their votes on some revenue enhancements and some unpopular issues.
3) Durkin, who comes up with no wins in a wave election in which he enjoyed ample funding.
- railrat - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 6:13 pm:
Amalia ! lets see piglets are dying from disease all over the country the climate in the western states are affecting produce and fruit and produce, the last winter had an adverse affect in Florida for fruit, I cant speak for Todd but I have a deer in the freezer all natural and gluten free !!! the loins and straps are great sautéed in butter and garlic , with American made Merlot
- DPGumby - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 6:20 pm:
Democrats–two reasons…first, losing and second for failing to run in defense of and based upon the successes of the Obama administration. Deems were too afraid to counter the Rep narrative that Obama was a “failure” when in fact it has been the obstructionist Repubs and the wing nut Tparty that has logjamed progress. the nadir was Grimes refusing to say she voted for Obama! I stopped donating to her after that.
- Amalia - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 6:21 pm:
@railcat, and you think I don’t eat venison because?
- railrat - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 6:32 pm:
did I say you don’t eat venison? I hope you do and if so I’m convinced you understand shooting sports, and if you’ve been blessed to travel to third world countries or been in the military at any given time you would love cat or dog, I was at one time ecstatic with forest monkey…
- Amalia - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 6:49 pm:
sorry, drawing the line on lovely animals at home or zoo. grew up in a family with a freezer well stocked with venison. you can love shooting sports and still be in favor of gun regulations.
- Alvin says - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 7:36 pm:
Durkin - not 1 seat?!?!
Hope GOP thinks twice before making him leader again.
- Now What? - Wednesday, Nov 5, 14 @ 7:41 pm:
1. IEA/IFT: leadership that brought SB1 and SB7, wasted valuable dues money the past 10 years for a “seat at the table,” should be replaced immediately.
2. Illinois Conservatives: Rauner is going to be more moderate than you’d like. Deal with it, it’s how stuff gets done.
3. Governor Rauner: remember what Eleanor Roosevelt said to Harry Truman when he took the oath of office after FDR’s death: “Mrs. Roosevelt, is there anything I can do for you?” “I should be asking you that, Mr. Truman, for your the one in trouble now.”
- Fred - Thursday, Nov 6, 14 @ 6:28 am:
Fiscal Responsibility??? Hopefully, the real issues won’t get swept under the rug, but I doubt it. Hopefully, there will be more debate than in the City of Chicago.
- too obvious - Thursday, Nov 6, 14 @ 9:12 am:
Far and away the biggest loser is the Illinois media. Their credibility is in tatters.
Few will admit it but most IL media outlets became Rauner’s lapdog. Not just the Sun-Times. And I don’t see that changing.