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Friday, Sep 25, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Whom are you supporting for governor and why? Details, please. Thanks.

Is Quinn being helped by Obama’s organization? Yes, but so is Hynes

Friday, Sep 25, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller

* This is a fascinating observation by Clout Street. Pay close attention to the last graf, which turns out not to be completely true…

As he seeks election, Gov. Pat Quinn has signed on to promote President Barack Obama’s health care reform plans.

The people behind the current incarnation of Obama’s grassroots 2008 campaign organization are promoting a Saturday event featuring Quinn on the North Side. […]

What makes the event, being held in conjunction with 46th Ward Democrats, even more interesting is that progressive activists “will also be distributing petitions for local Democrats, and outlining the key ways that you can help the Democratic Party locally,” according to Organizing for America’s Web site.

If Quinn is getting support from Obama’s grassroots organization, now a part of the Democratic National Committee, it would be a blow to the governor’s Feb. 2 Democratic primary challenger, Comptroller Dan Hynes.

Absolutely. It would be a very big blow, if it was true. Trouble is, it doesn’t tell the whole story.

From the Hynes campaign…

I wanted to let you know that Dan is doing a similar event with [Obama for America] in November and that they are not working for Quinn.

So, no big deal.

[The above was partially re-written to include the information from the Hynes campaign.]

* Speaking of Obama, it just seems bizarre to me that Rahm Emanuel, who has wanted to be House Speaker for years, apparently believed that Rod Blagojevich could appoint his replacement. The US Constitution has always mandated that vacancies be filled by elections.

Keep that in mind when reading this alleged goofy proposal by Rahm….

…the Chicago Sun-Times has learned that Emanuel wanted then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich to appoint Cook County Commissioner Forrest Claypool to his 5th Congressional District seat.

Claypool would serve one or two terms and then be considered for a place in Obama’s Cabinet, according to sources familiar with Emanuel’s proposal. That would give Emanuel the option of returning to Congress, where he could vie to become House speaker. […]

Still, the proposal raises questions about whether Emanuel was contemplating offering a coveted presidential Cabinet post in exchange for a benefit for himself.

That’s just mind-boggling. And supremely idiotic, not to mention insanely self-centered.

* Other stuff…

* Ex-alderman Robert Shaw throws hat in for Cook County assessor: “When he makes comments about lawyers donating money, he might want to look at his old D-2s [campaign contribution disclosure statements] because when he was at the board and had his fund-raisers, the people contributing to him are the same people he’s beating up right now,” Berrios said.

* The Cook County Republican Party will unveil its slate of countywide candidates in Rosemont this afternoon. Former state senator Roger Keats is expected to be the county board president candidate. The Cook GOP Chairman these days is Lee Roupas, the Palos Township Republican committeeman.

* Cook GOP Hopeful Better Times Have Arrived

* Greg Hinz: Surely politicians nowhere else in America try to help some constituent’s kid get into Government U. Surely private schools like Notre Dame turn a deaf ear when some bishop or cardinal puts in the word for a young protege. Kids of big donors never get an admission break — and “legacy” is an historic term of fiction that surely disappeared when John Belushi went to that big animal house in the sky. I mean this is a REALLY AWFUL scandal, right? Why else would my morning newspaper have covered seemingly nothing else for months on end?

* Experts: U. of Ill. image suffers little damage

* Commission cites concerns with Chicago State accreditation: Chicago State University is at risk of losing its accreditation because of “remarkably poor” graduation and retention rates, as well as tumultuous leadership and finances, according to the region’s accrediting agency.

* Illinois scholarship cuts rally students

* MAP grant’s future uncertain: Rep. Rose hopes grant will be saved with new General Assembly bill: Rose hopes a permanent solution for the MAP funding will be discussed during the spring session, he said.

* Resignation helps U of I get back on track

* “Green lanes” plan withers but other projects sprout up: The Illinois tollway Green Lanes program touted by Gov. Rod Blagojevich just weeks before his arrest last year is dead, although the agency is moving forward on part of the construction program involving a new interchange plus possible bus/carpool lanes on I-294.

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Assessing the impact

Friday, Sep 25, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller

* The first thing you should do when gauging the impact of a news event staged in Chicago is to see how it played on Chicago TV stations, which cover the majority of Illinois’ population.

So, how did the SEIU endorses Alexi Giannoulias story play yesterday on TV? Well, ABC7, which runs the most-watched news program in the market by far, pretty much dismissed the Republican and Democrat David Hoffman outrage and focused on Giannoulias’ actual message…

The vote in Washington to extend unemployment benefits took center stage in the race for the United States Senate in Illinois on Thursday.

In a state where the jobless rate hovers in the neighborhood of 10 percent, political candidates watch each other like hawks when it comes to positions they take on issues related to unemployment. And when they don’t take a position for whatever reason the campaign knives come out.

As he was endorsed on Thursday morning by Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the state’s largest labor union, Democrat Alexi Giannoulias took a shot at Republican U.S. Senate front-runner Mark Kirk. The North Shore congressman missed the House vote in Washington Tuesday when the chamber approved the extension of unemployment benefits to jobless Americans. “This was a very important vote for the American people and Mark Kirk didn’t show up,” said Giannoulias.

I wasn’t in the Chicago-area yesterday as planned, but none of the other stations have any Giannoulias-related stories on their websites as I write this. Not even Fox, which is odd, considering the ACORN component.

* The next thing you do is look at the AP’s take, since it will usually be picked up by many city, suburban and Downstate radio stations, newspapers and TV outlets. The AP went full-on for the GOP spin…

Illinois Republicans are using a union endorsement Democrat Alexi Giannoulias received Thursday to again try to make disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich a central figure in the U.S. Senate race.

The powerful 170,000-member Illinois chapter of the Service Employees International Union endorsed Giannoulias, the state treasurer, in his bid for President Barack Obama’s old Senate seat, and Republicans jumped at the chance to point out the union’s ties to Blagojevich.

* Next up, the Tribune, Sun-Times and Daily Herald. All three appeared to run the AP story today, if that.

The Tribune did post a story on its Clout Street blog, however…

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias was endorsed today by one of the nation’s most politically active unions, but he also got criticism from a Democratic primary challenger and the Republicans. […]

The fury of the Illinois GOP response was notable given that it said little when Gov. Pat Quinn got the SEIU’s endorsement 10 days ago.

On the move by Congress to take away ACORN’s federal funding, Giannoulias said he agreed with the majority of the U.S. Senate. “The goals of the organization are laudable, but serious allegations have been raised and it’s not an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars,” he said.

Actually, the Illinois GOP only responded to Hoffman. It was the National Republican Senatorial Committee which initially attacked Giannoulias. The IL GOP merely posted the NRSC hit on its website. The state party also prominently featured the AP story, of course.

On balance as far as the mainstream media goes? Not a totally horrible day for Giannoulias, but not good, either.

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Friday, Sep 25, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller

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The best they can do? Really?

Friday, Sep 25, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller

* My Sun-Times column today is about Andy McKenna’s fledgling gubernatorial race…

Years ago, I attended a union function in Springfield, and Adlai Stevenson walked in.

Nobody noticed.

Adlai was running for governor and the union was holding a reception. It wasn’t until I pointed him out that a couple of the leaders went over and talked to the guy.

Adlai Stevenson was not gregarious like his father, the former Illinois governor, two-time presidential candidate and U.N. ambassador. He was soft-spoken and uncomfortably shy. But he was still a major candidate and I was amazed that nobody saw him hanging out by the food bar.

A similar thing happened to me a couple of years ago with Andy McKenna, the former Illinois Republican Party chairman and the newest candidate for governor.

Some political types and I were having lunch in what I thought was a large, empty room at one of those ultra-exclusive private Chicago clubs. None of us were members, but one guy, a celebrated university professor, was using a friend’s membership to get us in. Otherwise, we would’ve all been tossed out on our ears.

When I got up to leave, I noticed that McKenna had been sitting just a few feet from us. My earlier experience with Adlai Stevenson came back to me in a flash.

Here we were, just a few feet away, and nobody noticed he was there. McKenna doesn’t exactly light up a room, which may help explain his fourth-place finish in the 2004 U.S. Senate primary.

Yet, this is the guy who is supposed to save the Republican Party next year?

McKenna has lined up some of the biggest Republican money-bags behind his campaign. They are less than impressed with the rest of the Republican field, so they’ve decided to back McKenna for governor.

The idea is to stop state Sen. Bill Brady from winning the nomination. Brady came in third in the 2006 GOP gubernatorial primary, but with his residual name recognition and hard work since then, he reportedly has the highest poll numbers of all the contenders. He still doesn’t have enough support to win, but he’s far enough ahead that the top dogs don’t think anyone else can stop him.

The “problem” with Sen. Brady is his voting record in the state Senate. It’s so conservative that he will have a very tough time winning the general election, to say the least.

McKenna, on the other hand, has a lot of his own money, knows a lot of wealthy people and has raised a lot of cash from them over the years. Most important, he has never been elected to anything, so he has no pesky legislative voting record that the Democrats can use to frighten suburban voters.

The logic is clear as day.

What I don’t understand is the actual choice.

The only thing impressive about McKenna’s failed U.S. Senate bid was his fund-raising. His actual campaign was a total, complete dud. On the positive side, he has hired a bright staff for this current run, but I’ve seen a whole lot of bad candidates with great staffs fall on their faces.

“Boring” may be the watchword for Illinois politics next year, considering how badly we’ve fared with flashy back-slappers such as Rod Blagojevich and George Ryan. But you can take boring only so far. The most boring governor of my lifetime was Jim Edgar, but you still knew when he was in a room.

Stevenson, by the way, didn’t get that union’s endorsement. He was stomped a few months later by the gregarious Jim Thompson. That was a very long time ago, but the lesson has never been lost on me.

The Republicans have oodles of issues to use against the Democrats next year. But you can’t beat somebody with a nobody.

* Related…

* Andy McKenna enters crowded race for Illinois governor: “Coming in October: An announcement of Epic Proportions,” Andy McKenna’s website proclaims.

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Stewart strikes out

Friday, Sep 25, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller

* The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart has often been lauded for his tough but funny interview style of notorious liars. But he struck out bigtime with his interview of Rod Blagojevich last night. He did, at least, ask Blagojevich about the allegations surrounding cutting off state funds for childrens’ hospitals in exchange for campaign cash, but for some reason he let Blagojevich off the hook. I wasn’t impressed.

IMPORTANT: These clips are unedited for profanity. So, do not, I repeat, do not play them if you are someplace where that sort of thing could get you into trouble. I’m serious.

* This first clip is mostly warm-up, but towards the end Stewart starts to probe Blagojevich about how he could be charged with so many things and still be completely innocent…

* “The House Speaker is the one who may have some criminal culpability,” Blagojevich claims, explaining that Speaker Madigan was illegally holding back the capital bill on behalf of his daughter. Stewart laughs.

Stewart then asks Blagojevich about holding up state grants for childrens’ hospitals in exchange for campaign contributions. This could’ve been the real heart of the interview, and almost nobody has asked Blagojevich about this during his book tour. But Stewart fails to press the issue. Blagojevich offers a super-weak explanation, admitting that he replied “It’s good to know” after asking if the hospital money could be held up for budget considerations, but says, essentially, he wasn’t saying, he was just saying. Stewart then allows Blagojevich to change the subject…

* Finale. Blagojevich rants his usual “Let’s hear the tapes,” and Stewart just clowns around with him. Unbelievably, Stewart actually suggests that Blagojevich is the Richard Jewell of Illinois. Jewell was the man who was falsely accused of bombing the Atlanta Olympics…

I had high hopes for this one. It was just not to be.

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