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*** UPDATED x1 *** The Dems are “worried,” except they don’t say so

Posted in:

* Not a single Democrat was quoted - even on background - for this Tribune piece, which suggests that the author hyped his lede

While Scott Lee Cohen is casting himself as an alternative to established party candidates for governor, running mate Baxter Swilley is a main reason Democrats are worried.

See, Swilley is black, so Democrats must be worried. Except that nobody knows who the guy is. Swilley has a bunch of yard signs planted, but he’s not exactly a household name. Could a black lt. governor candidate sway a few votes in what could turn out to be a close race? I suppose so, but the real problem isn’t Swilley, it’s the money, time and message that Scott Lee Cohen is aiming at black neighborhoods.

* Meanwhile, Cohen’s legal troubles have not abated

But records show his personal issues continue. On August 23, the judge in his Cook County divorce case issued an order to arrest Cohen if he didn’t cough up $3,210 in support payments within a week. He paid. […]

On Friday, York-Cohen’s attorney appeared in court and asked a circuit judge to force Cohen to turn over evidence of how he is funding his campaign when he is chronically behind in his support payments

Oops.

We’ve seen at least one politician go to prison in this state because he failed to keep his ex-wife happy: Former Attorney General Bill Scott. The lawyer for Scott’s ex asked for a piece of the AG’s campaign slush fund during child support proceedings. Scott did a year and a day in prison, if memory serves. I’m not suggesting that this could happen to SLC, I’m just saying that when you’re running for office it’s always best to make sure the ex is cool with the flow.

* In other also-ran news, Green Party gubernatorial nominee Rich Whitney has a new Internet promo video. It’s not bad for an amateur


*** UPDATE *** I forgot to post this Cohen story. The candidate believes all the polls are wrong and he’s gonna win

Scott Lee Cohen, running as an independent candidate for Illinois governor, campaigned in Quincy on Tuesday and discounted polls that show he is running a distant third behind Gov. Pat Quinn and Republican challenger Bill Brady.

Cohen said the polls are inaccurate, and he claims he has much more than the 14 percent following that was his high water mark among a flurry of recent polls.

“The mainstream media is trying to minimize my campaign … no offense. But it’s not working,” Cohen said. “I’m in this to win and have been since day one.”

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Oct 13, 10 @ 4:59 am

Comments

  1. The Dems should be worried. They are still running from all Blagojevich connections. They have the power of incumbency and fundraising, but they are tied or behind in the top races. At this point, the election in three weeks is a huge roll of the dice.

    Comment by Been There Wednesday, Oct 13, 10 @ 6:39 am

  2. He won’t support his kids until threatened with arrest, but he’ll spend money on his ego trip?

    If it is just an ego trip. I can’t tell. But it is very weird. He’s a businessman; what’s the ROI?

    Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Oct 13, 10 @ 7:39 am

  3. Not a bad ad from Whitney. Too bad he doesn’t have any money to actually get people to see the ad.

    Comment by dave Wednesday, Oct 13, 10 @ 7:46 am

  4. Setting aside the gov race I don’t see why any Democrats would be alarmed at a boost in African-American turnout.

    Comment by Dirt Digger Wednesday, Oct 13, 10 @ 8:22 am

  5. Hey Rich,

    Just wanted to let you know that Rasmussen has listened to you. I was polled by Rasmussen last night and they included Cohen and Whitney in the questions, Congrats!

    Comment by Cardinals Fan Wednesday, Oct 13, 10 @ 8:28 am

  6. Whitney’s ad is excellent!

    Comment by fedup dem Wednesday, Oct 13, 10 @ 8:56 am

  7. Swilley used to work for Schakowsky, right? What happened?

    Comment by Angry Chicagoan Wednesday, Oct 13, 10 @ 8:59 am

  8. Any normal person running for office would pay the child support before buying ad time because they would feel that being a dead beat dad hurts the vote count more than TV time helps it.

    This leads me to beieve that SLC ain’t normal.

    Comment by Phineas J. Whoopee Wednesday, Oct 13, 10 @ 9:07 am

  9. Swilley was Jan’s Poliical Director in 2002.

    I’m going with some advice I’ve heard here and there; If you don’t have anything nice to say….

    Comment by Nice Suit Wednesday, Oct 13, 10 @ 9:30 am

  10. *Political–dropped the T

    Comment by Nice Suit Wednesday, Oct 13, 10 @ 9:44 am

  11. Oh and we forgot after the election we are making BaxterSwilley our handle for the blog….it is just toooooooo cool.

    Comment by CircularFiringSquad Wednesday, Oct 13, 10 @ 10:28 am

  12. Like the democrats were worried when ALAN KEYES ran. I know, this is slightly different. A few percentage points could be big.

    Does Rich Whitney qualify as am amatuer? That is like calling Jim Oberwies an amatuer.

    Comment by Wumpus Wednesday, Oct 13, 10 @ 10:41 am

  13. >Like the democrats were worried when ALAN KEYES ran.

    Except Keyes(R) was running against Obama(D) here - neither Brady nor Quinn have an African-American running mate.

    Where does SLC come up with $6 million for the run for gov yet can’t pay ex-spouse support?

    Comment by Segatari Wednesday, Oct 13, 10 @ 11:00 am

  14. Why spend almost 2/3 of the 30 second spot repeating your opponents’ names? I don’t get that. Make the “noise” point in half the amount of time and get another 10 seconds to define yourself because NOBODY KNOWS WHO YOU ARE except that you ran in 2006 and got the “none of the above” vote.

    Comment by Betsy Wednesday, Oct 13, 10 @ 11:03 am

  15. I have a (dumb) question re: polling (referencing Cardinals Fan above).

    Do pollsters have access to cell phone numbers? Is that how they do their polling? Or are they calling home phones?

    Seems weird if home phones, b/c I cant think of 3 people I know under the age of 35 who know their home phone number and only have one, if they have one, for a security system or for internet, and rarely even have a phone hooked up.

    Most are cell phone only and have been for years.

    Comment by Mike Ins Wednesday, Oct 13, 10 @ 11:04 am

  16. Cohen has his photo and ad across Peoria bus/es (at least the one I got stuck side by side with at the lights this morning). There was Smiling Scott telling all morning drivers/riders how great he is.

    Comment by Cindy Lou Wednesday, Oct 13, 10 @ 11:11 am

  17. Rich Whitney’s people have been circulating this ad appealing to people to pressure the debate sponsors to include him in the debates

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pz2T32oCEbg

    Comment by TimetoditchtheDemGOP Wednesday, Oct 13, 10 @ 11:21 am

  18. Cindy Lou…his ad should have been under the bus because that is where the democrats threw him. (Okay, I am being silly)

    Comment by Wumpus Wednesday, Oct 13, 10 @ 11:27 am

  19. “I’m in this to win and have been since day one.” — Dude the Cubs say the same thing as well and that hasn’t worked out so well either.

    Comment by OneMan Wednesday, Oct 13, 10 @ 12:24 pm

  20. Mike Ins: yes. depends on the pollster, but anybody who random digit dials has the potential of reaching a cell phone. and it is not unknown for pollsters to use the voter file; both the voter vault and the van have cell phone numbers in them…

    Comment by bored now Wednesday, Oct 13, 10 @ 3:15 pm

  21. pew study: http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1761/cell-phones-and-election-polls-2010-midterm-elections

    Comment by bored now Wednesday, Oct 13, 10 @ 3:37 pm

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