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* 7:46 am - Rep. Art Turner is on WVON Radio right now talking about his campaign for lt. governor, race, the Democratic Party and Gov. Pat Quinn. Listen by clicking here. Help live-blog in comments if you can.
* 8:00 am - End. Since nobody apparently saw the link in time to comment, this is now an open thread on Rep. Turner’s argument in favor of his appointment to the ballot.
…Adding… I was working during the interview, but I did catch this quote by Rep. Turner about Sen. Rickey Hendon’s candidacy for lt. governor…
“Sen. Hendon was only in this race to stop me from winning.”
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Feb 23, 10 @ 7:47 am
Sorry, comments are closed at this time.
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“…I put my career on the line and threw all my marbles in…”
Good luck with that Art!
Comment by Bill Tuesday, Feb 23, 10 @ 8:01 am
Art was very good. He concluded by saying that he put everything on the line…gave up his seat in the GA unlike the Senators in mid-term that ran, and unlike those being discussed that never even expressed an interest in the office until the primary election was over. He was talking about being ready to team up with Quinn and get to work defeating the Republicans when the female co-host chimed in with, “I wish you weren’t running with Quinn”.
Comment by N'ville Tuesday, Feb 23, 10 @ 8:02 am
Her wish will probably come true.
Comment by Bill Tuesday, Feb 23, 10 @ 8:03 am
He could not beat Scott Lee Cohen. Why would Quinn, or anybody else, want to run with him?
Comment by 23rd Tuesday, Feb 23, 10 @ 8:32 am
Putting aside the circus about why the position is open, I would like to see that the voter’s opinion have a little more respect.
There was in fact a process where a number of candidates ran and placed in a particular order. If the first place winner is somehow unable to run, then it makes more sense to advance the second place finisher than to allow the political elite to choose a new winner from an entire new pool of candidates.
Comment by Plutocrat03 Tuesday, Feb 23, 10 @ 8:36 am
i missed this but wish i had heard it. Art clearly deserves the lt. gov spot. Art is committed to principles and can work with Quinn. I just wish Quinn would let the Central Committee do their work.
What is happening to Art is racist as its core as John Kass has pointed out. Selecting someone other that Art could also result in major defection from democratic party. the green party might look very good to some of us.
Anyone with a grain of sense knows Art should be the nominee so Central Committee do the right thing.Nominate Art for Lt Gov the Quinn/Turner tickets will be awinner
Comment by bill ryan Tuesday, Feb 23, 10 @ 8:38 am
He currently lives in Buffalo, but after Sunday’s performance in goal, I’m for Ryan Miller for anything. Only he can protect us from the marauding Canadians.
Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Feb 23, 10 @ 8:45 am
What does Art Turner bring to the ticket? I’m still wondering. He’s a good guy who should have stayed in the House. Instead, he’s done. We need someone who adds something to the ticket, either a downstater, someone more conservative than Quinn or perhaps a woman. Someone who is all three of those things would be a big add.
Comment by Niles Township Tuesday, Feb 23, 10 @ 8:45 am
Art is a nice guy who lost his election. Now it’s time for Democrats to select a LT. Governor candidate that can add balance to the ticket.
Comment by Blah Tuesday, Feb 23, 10 @ 8:57 am
Isn’t the real issue here the impact of a Turner
choice on upcoming redistricting. I don’t know how tight some districts are but I assume the Democrats can’t be certain that the current arrangement, heavily gerrymandered in their favor, couldn’t change, in the wrong direction for them. That’s probably much more important
than the particular characteristics of any of the candidates.
This isn’t about what’s fair or who’d the “best”
candidate. This is about whether Turner’s appointment could imperil Democratic control of the state. I’ll have to leave that assessement to the experts–I’m sure by know Madigan and Co. know where every single vulnerability is.
Comment by cassandra Tuesday, Feb 23, 10 @ 9:04 am
Niles he bring experinece, integrity and a proven record and he ran for Lt. Gov. Integrity sure isnt in great supply right now.
Comment by bill ryan Tuesday, Feb 23, 10 @ 9:05 am
By the way, anyone running a public campaign for the position (the way Art Turner has) in my opinion should be disqualified. I don’t like pressure tactics whether they come from someone like Bobby Rush or a good guy like Art Turner.
Comment by Niles Township Tuesday, Feb 23, 10 @ 9:12 am
It’s obvious that the Dem powers that be are waiting and stalling to see whether it’s Dillard or Brady on the other side before they commit to a new Lt. Gov. candidate. Maybe it’s a smart tactic, but to many independent voters it might well look like dithering and more political game playing in a time of peril to our state. And, is additional turmoil within the party as people are jockeying for position really all that good for the Dems after the brutal and divisive primary race for Gov.?
Comment by Responsa Tuesday, Feb 23, 10 @ 9:19 am
“Balancing the ticket” by geography is politico speak, more important in national politics. Most voters don’t even know who they are voting for (see Cohen election), so would definitely not know where they are from. Cohen won because he spent more money and sent out mailers. Most voters hadn’t heard of the rest of the candidates.
Comment by Bonsaso Tuesday, Feb 23, 10 @ 9:26 am
What will all this dithering look like to the voters? They are not watching. None of this process-jockeying will matter in November, though the results of it will. We are a bunch of political junkies, but nothing could be more boring to most people. Sorry.
Comment by Ray del Camino Tuesday, Feb 23, 10 @ 9:27 am
Voters deserve the candidates and gov’t they choose.The people wanted Scott Lee Cohen, they deserve him. Just like they deserved Blago, George Ryan, George Bush, Mayor Daley, Denny Hastert …etc…etc.
Maybe one day people will learn.
Comment by jaded voter Tuesday, Feb 23, 10 @ 9:30 am
absent a game-changing candidate (and none have emerged) -they ought to slate Turner. No one can quarrel with the DEM SCC if it puts in the guy who came in second in the primary. Anybody else will evoke talk of backroom deals etc….
Comment by Cousin Ralph Tuesday, Feb 23, 10 @ 9:36 am
Well I know that Hendon former Political Director for his Org Matt Harrington.
Told him months before the election that he would end up in third if not forth place and that is candidate for state rep. for the 9th wouldn’t even get 15% of the vote.
He told Rickey that if Scott wins and Thomas Castillo keeps using the game plan that Matt maped out for him.
Then Rickey will have a very hard time getting elected to county wide office and that his dist would be one of the ones on the table for the 2012 election as well as remaping.
I heard that Matt quit the org. and that after withdrawing as a candidate for state rep. Was then asked by Comm. Tony P. and other top ranking Republicans State Rep.and State Sen. to run as a GOP candidate.
This I think is a major blow to the Democrats.
This person was a campaign director for Judge Reyes landslide win as well as the Berwyn Democrats.
He the cousin of the late wheeling township committeeman Pat Botterman and is well like and known in the 9th dist.
If I was Art Jr. I be very worried about the race, here’s a man who has been known as a real hero saving people’s life’s pulling them out of burning buildings and cars.
Performing CPR not just once but many times and was a kidney donor to a young black woman to whom he never meet until the surgery date. So the Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times wrote in several stories. This should be a fun race to watch. we want to Back Matt!!!!
Comment by GOP I.D. Tuesday, Feb 23, 10 @ 9:55 am
Dumb Racist Reason to Not Choose Art Turner: too many African American candidates on the ticket. That argument is disgusting and is outdated.
Smart Reasons to Not Choose Art Turner: (1) he is not a good campaigner, (2) is not a big funraiser, and (3) his appeal is largely in Chicago where Quinn is already strong.
So if you are trying to win, would you pick someone who isn’t at least one of (campaigner, fundraiser, has downstate/suburban appeal)?
Of course, I’m not convinced Madigan is trying to win…
Comment by Robert Tuesday, Feb 23, 10 @ 10:04 am
Voters are angry.
They want the political games to stop.
The moment Cohen withdrew, Turner should have been selected.
It is easier to tell voters why Turner is on the ticket, than it is to tell voters why they were ignored once again.
If the Democrats want to think this is just another election year and everything is hunky-dorey with their relationship with voters, then they will make a huge mistake by playing political games here.
Voters are fed up.
Give it to Turner and move on!
Comment by VanillaMan Tuesday, Feb 23, 10 @ 10:08 am
–Voters are angry.–
All 20% of them, a plurality of whom voted for Cohen.
Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Feb 23, 10 @ 10:13 am
Maybe I’m being a ditz, but I somehow doubt all blacks think alike or that they all stand for this or that. To me, saying we have enough blacks already, is about as silly as saying we don’t need to worry about whites running that have differences in being too conserved or pro/anti whatever, I mean, afterall white is white?
It also annoys the heck outta me that everybody wants to suddenly worry about balanced, downstate, best ticket blah blah. Also tired of some blaming voters for the Cohen crap. I remember myself all but begging for information on the lt. gov runners, I visited all their websites, listened to what few online tidbits there were.
NOW is not the time to bicker over what happened or who should now be placed there. In my humble opinion, Turner should take the run by default, if everyone else now wanting to be on the ticket has actually shown time and interest prior to the primary they could and should have done so.
Just Cindy’s 2 cents.
Comment by Cindy Lou Tuesday, Feb 23, 10 @ 10:38 am
Luckily, the party has a great public servant in Art, and a person of integrity who knows the process and is respected by both sides of the aisle. He could actually help Quinn A LOT once elected, and he is uniquely positioned to use the office for great things.
Besides, it is intuitively fair to give it to the candidate who came in second. (Yes, they have the right to give it to whoever they want, but the Democratic party is adding error on error to look around for new people after demanding that the voters first choice resign).
It DOES matter that Turner took the job seriously enough to leave his own job. That’s because the race filled up with people who had nothing to lose. It is undignified of the party to go snooping around for people who didn’t run. They shouldn’t give it to people who they “flatter” by asking them.
And for those who say Turner lost the primary so he shouldn’t get the job, that’s just ridiculous…there were 10 people in that race. Coming in second to a guy who spent millions when you spent 60k is actually pretty good.
Sorry for posting this information again, but the same question was asked again!
Comment by Just Do It Tuesday, Feb 23, 10 @ 11:11 am
Art is a nice guy who has been trying to leave the legislature for the last year or two. He applied for several jobs around the state and didn’t get them. He had his seat lined up for his son when he left.
Why didn’t the LG candidates raise the issues about Cohen at the public forums they were at? Why didn’t one of them issue a press releases about his background. Candidates know a lot about their opponents. And why didn’t
Art contact the State Central Commmittee with this info? Now he is telling the SCC what to do?
I think that none of the also rans should be on the ballot for LG.
Comment by Tom Joad Tuesday, Feb 23, 10 @ 11:13 am
He was talking about being ready to team up with Quinn and get to work defeating the Republicans when the female co-host chimed in with, “I wish you weren’t running with Quinn”.
hmmm…now i wonder what the female co-host meant by that.
Comment by Will County Woman Tuesday, Feb 23, 10 @ 11:58 am
Since when is an election supposed to follow the rules of a beauty pageant (”If Miss Whatever cannot serve, the First Runner-Up will take her place)? When Jack Ryan had to pull out from the US Senate race, I don’t recall discussion that whoever came in second should be tapped to replace him because he was somehow entitled. Of course, whoever that was could not have been a worse disaster than the Republicans’ ultimate choice was!
Comment by girllawyer Tuesday, Feb 23, 10 @ 12:47 pm
will county…Green party perhaps
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Feb 23, 10 @ 1:22 pm
Quinn should get rich Whitney to be his running mate, get the greens out of te race and balances the ticket with a downstater.
Comment by Fed up Tuesday, Feb 23, 10 @ 1:29 pm
Dillard/Turner
Comment by 3rd Party Tuesday, Feb 23, 10 @ 1:46 pm
This could end up being Turner’s by default:
http://www.suntimes.com/news/elections/2065622,duckworth-no-lt-gov-spot-022310.article
Comment by 47th Ward Tuesday, Feb 23, 10 @ 2:06 pm
And just as I said…Quinn should have kept quiet about wanting Duckworth. Now he looks foolish. He needs a real campaign manager over there giving him advice.
Comment by Niles Township Tuesday, Feb 23, 10 @ 2:10 pm
=== I somehow doubt all blacks think alike ===
which leads to the fascinating point that it looks like Hendon ran for the very purpose of funneling black votes away from turner.
I myself see nothing wrong with weighing the aspect of what brings the most votes to the ticket.
I myself lean towards somone who is a very strong draw donwstate; Downstate will be brady’s strongest area, and Quinn’s weakest.
Comment by Ghost Tuesday, Feb 23, 10 @ 2:23 pm
ghost Turner has lots of contacts downstate and campaigned quite a bit there. Cohen spent millionsand outpolled Turner but he did ok, probably percentage wise better than quinn. Time for quinn/turner to make up and move on
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Feb 23, 10 @ 3:12 pm
While I am a big Art Turner fan, and believe the runner up theory has merit - afterall, he did go all in for it - I have to wonder whether he brings what is needed for the Dem ticket to win. It all depends on which demographic is needed to win.
If the AA vote is critical for Democratic victory, then he should be the choice, no question. If Downstate votes are needed, then maybe he’s not the right guy. Although I think Art can run well Downstate just like Jesse White does. I’m originally from Downstate and I don’t think that the Quinn v Brady vote will vary much from the traditional split, regardless of the runningmate. The suburbs, however, will make a difference.
Independent and moderate Republican suburban women could end up being the key to the election. Does anyone think that moderate Republican or independent suburban women will vote for Sen. Brady once they learn what he really stands for? No way! Will they just take a pass on the Governor’s race, or will they vote for the Democrat? Does Quinn alone have what is needed to pull in those votes, or does he need a runningmate who can concentrate on that demographic? Now that Duckworth is definitely out, who does offer that balance for Quinn? Unfortunately Art can’t help here but I still don’t see anyone mentioned for the job who can. Until or unless they do, Art should be Lt. Gov.
Comment by Anon Sequitor Tuesday, Feb 23, 10 @ 3:31 pm
Cohen kept him off, Art is bitter that Madigan and the machine didn’t pave the road for him..
Comment by Northsider Tuesday, Feb 23, 10 @ 5:22 pm
tyrber us maybe bitter b/c he is in danger of being penalized for being black and from chicago. this just aint right!!!
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Feb 23, 10 @ 5:49 pm
Art Turner had a chance but he neglected to win. But now he has a second chance. All he has to do is get 19 votes and he’ll deserve it. If he loses again he’ll get what losers get, all the crying, whining and complaints of racism notwithstanding.
Comment by Mighty M. Mouse Tuesday, Feb 23, 10 @ 7:50 pm
Art has no one but himself to blame.
He ran a terrible campaign, must not have taken it seriously because he did not raise any money.
In the interview he says he never raises any money. Well shame on him for bringing a switchblade to a gunfight.
Comment by Curious Tuesday, Feb 23, 10 @ 7:56 pm
Many supporters of Art turner, myself included, dont have a lot of money so art ran a true grassroots campaign not depending upon huge money from special interest groups. It is b/c money has indeed had such an influence in our elections that is a major cause of the problems we are having. we need leaders who are independint like art who will represent best interests of everyone not a select few.
I think ARt ran a brilliant campaign
Comment by bill ryan Wednesday, Feb 24, 10 @ 8:10 am