166 Comments - A matter of trust - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 6:52 pm: Funny how Dillard’s vote count is much like his internal polls…not very reliable!!! - Rich Miller - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 6:54 pm: Actually, his internal polls showed a Brady surge and a McKenna tank late last week. Let’s try to avoid this sort of stuff, shall we? - Chicago Cynic - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 6:56 pm: I have no dog in this fight, but I really think Dillard should demand a recount. Anybody on here really want to tell me that our elections system is perfect with no possibility for error? We’ve got plenty of time. Take it. Get it right. Then we can fight it out between Pat and whomever. That said, Dan needs to concede - tomorrow morning at the latest. 8000 votes is simply too much to overcome. - Concerned Voter - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 6:58 pm: 1st, I agree with Chicago Cynic, 8000 is a lot to make up. That being said, did being Lt. Guv all that time while Blago was in charge somehow make Quinn inherit Hairdos panache for fuzzy math? Less than 1% or 8000 votes does not seem like a mandate to me. - Bookworm - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 6:58 pm: “Eventually we’ll learn which one of these Springfield insiders with a 20-percent mandate will try to become governor on a record of fiscal irresponsibility and failed economic policies” Sorry to burst your bubble, Daschle, but I wouldn’t exactly say that your favored candidate has a “mandate” either (however much he’d like to think so), and I think his record of “fiscal irresponsibility” is pretty well established by now too. He’s not exactly a “Springfield outsider” anymore either. - Chicago Cynic - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 7:00 pm: McKenna, Ryan and Dillard were in a circular firing squad for the last week. It’s not surprising that Brady consolidated his base and won, at least in theory. Of course I’ve been saying Brady would be the nominee for six months, so maybe I just feel vindicated. And naturally I’m not trying to validate my prognostication abilities in order to salve my wounds and forget the rest of what was a no good, horrible, very, very bad day (those of you with kids will get that reference). Really. - Quinn T. Sential - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 7:03 pm: Before I invest too much time in the mathematical gymnastics exercise I would like to know what each side (AP vs. Dillard Campaign) claims as its source for these numbers. A 5,377 total vote discrepancy is a wide spread in a race that appears separated by less than 500 votes. Are the AP and Dillard relying on the same source for the raw data in the first place, or is there something available to one, that is not available to the other? - Bummer - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 7:07 pm: I feel like a kid the day after Christmas. Not only is all the excitement leading up to it over, I really didn’t get anything I wanted. - And I Approved This Message - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 7:10 pm: Isn’t it an easy choice for Dillard to ask for a discovery recount? If I heard David Orr right today (and I assume it’s state law not Cook County)it doesn’t cost the candidate anything and it’s swift and a small sampling. If that process shows a pattern that matches the results we’ve seen, or shows an ananomoly, then you make the decision to ask for, and pay for, a recount. It buys some time and seems like the next obvious nest step. No matter how many votes haven’t beentallied to this point, the margin is going to be in the hundreds. Nothing to lose by asking for it. - Jeff Kibler - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 7:10 pm: Take a look at Vermillion county. AP (Brady): 2155 Dillard (Brady in Vermillion): 680 Dillard (Brady in City of Danville): 680 Looks like they mistakenly duplicated the correct value? - Segatari - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 7:14 pm: I’ve found a couple errors in his formulas to calculate percentages. Cook county is WAY different than Dillard’s numbers…actually the Politio’s map isn’t 100% across the state…still some numbers below 100%. So no need to go any further tonight. - jwscott72 - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 7:15 pm: Bummer, I wouldn’t go that far. McKenna did lose. Here’s hoping he crawls under the same rock Oberweis is hiding and not come back! I agree with Approved, I don’t think a discovery recount is a bad idea, just to make sure. - Hisgirlfriday - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 7:15 pm: OK catching up on today’s comments… can someone explain to me why there is THIS much visceral hatred for Dillard? Is it something more than the Obama ad? Because just objectively, I can’t imagine what it is like to not only come in second in a race THISCLOSE but to have it come just days after you lost your father and that loss forced to you to suspend your campaign the FINAL WEEKEND of the race? Gosh. Talk about heartbreaking and a lot of painful what-ifs. Maybe I’m just biased because despite being a Democrat I’ve always liked Dillard (for his goo-goo work on campaign finance reform mainly) and I’m one of the handful of people who actually care what Jim Edgar thinks about crap, but I also don’t understand the gloating by the anti-Dillard people about his loss as he is the one GOP gov candidate I would consider crossing ticket to vote for (the way I did for JBT four years ago) and I don’t think I’m alone on that sentiment. I also don’t buy the argument that what cost Dillard the primary in the end was the Obama ad, because face it… a lot of people voting yesterday in that GOP primary did cast a ballot for Obama four or six years ago… otherwise Alan Keyes and John McCain would have done a lot better in this state. Sure, a lot of primary voters may have been turned off by it, but I suspect those same folks wouldn’t have voted for him even if he hadn’t taped the ad because he wasn’t right-wing enough and the people most outraged by his ties to Obama were voting for Brady or AA. My crackpot theory is that McKenna wasting all that money the last week bashing Dillard for ties to a president with a 50+ approval rating who actually had a pretty good week last week with his SOTU may have actually helped him as much or more than it hurt in the Chicago suburbs. - Screwball - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 7:21 pm: Yeah it’s Danville/Vermilion. The Vermilion total should be Dillard 1212 and Brady 1475. When you fix that it matches the AP’s totals. And if you fix their spreadsheet for all candidates in Vermilion then the total vote matches up. - Amalia - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 7:25 pm: Hynes making a major announcement tomorrow re Chicago Tonight. - George - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 7:27 pm: Oooops. Should have gotten one of these - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 7:30 pm: Hisgirlfriday, Just speaking for myself, I have ZERO hatred or even vile feelings towards Dillard. I see this situation as one of poor public speaking on an evolving issue by the candidate that should haqve been handled by a press hack. Dillard, wanting to show strength in his convictions that he believed he won was fine, and with a race this close, why wouldn’t he? However, it is comical to have certain time markers be an indicator as to when he will be leading and/or winning. We all hate “campaign-speak”, like “coach-speak” or “player-speak” - “Cautiously optimistic, and at the end of the day, we feel we are going to be happy.”. Despise it, but a necessary evil because of a situation like this. Dillard gave himself to sun-up then he would be winning, then it was sundown, then it got so bad, he literally had to issue a press release, at sunset no less, to carry on! Try this ….this was a way Dillard could have gone last night: “From what we feel our numbers are showing, we feel cautiously optimistic on the outcome and we will wait further to comment on the totals. Believe me, you guys (the press surrounding him) will be the first to know. Thank you, thank you …” That is where I am at with this, and parlaying it with a “myopic” laser-like focus on something (like a “sun” deadline) is great fodder. - 618er - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 7:30 pm: By my looking Cook County is off also, Dillards sheet and Cook County haveBrady at 6389 and Dillard at 23674. AP has Dillard at 28943 and Brady at 8167 - PanAmerican - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 7:31 pm: Danville and Vermilion results are both hosted on the county’s website. The summary hotlinks were both pointing to the city results….and somebody just fixed the link. LOL - Excessively Rabid - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 7:33 pm: “…a record of fiscal irresponsibility and failed economic policies.” This from the Illinois dems. Now that’s rich. - Annoyed... - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 7:34 pm: Re: Democratic Governors Association Chair Gov. Jack Markell’s statement He obviously doesn’t know Quinn too well. Or, Quinn told/paid him to say all of that. Quinn has not restored any confidence nor did he balance the budget (isn’t it still technically out of whack by constitutional standards?). - Screwball - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 7:35 pm: I take that back, when you fix the Vermilion numbers the totals are still of by 98 by my count, but I could have mis-typed something. - Congress Works For Us - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 7:36 pm: The real news here is that the combined votes of the two “Tea Party” candidates would have been enough to win, had one thrown support to the other. - Pat Collins - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 7:36 pm: Wabash and Jefferson tally between the two. Kane cOunty is way off Dillard says: Dill 6421 Brady 1909 Polit says Dill 7571 Brady 2179 BUT Adam A got 6412 in Kane? Maybe Dillard’s people got mixed up? - Jeff - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 7:37 pm: The numbers do add up if you change the Vermillion numbers. However, the AP’s numbers for Cook County are also different from Dillard’s spreadsheet. The Dillard spreadsheet is correct for Cook, as I just checked the official sites. - George - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 7:41 pm: 59 cents says regular media will do stories on internal vs. reported numbers for the next 3 days as a great dispute, rather than just the Dillard campaign mistakenly using the wrong link for one set of numbers. He-said/she-said is always easier than hard work. Rich, you win again. Its just like Dan Rather. - Easy - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 7:42 pm: one of the micro stories of this race will be how downstate turnout almost matched cook+collars. that is unheard of. If turnout in cook+collars had matched historical levels, McKenna would have won. Dillard actually fared poorly in the collars, ironic since he is a suburbanite. The fact Dillard got 2nd place is owed primarily to Peoria and Sangamon. - Downstate Weed Chewing Hick - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 7:44 pm: So when the make the corrections for Vermilion, Kane, Cook, what are the correct numbers? - Pat Collins - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 7:46 pm: Way off in Winnebago also: Dillard says: Dill 2282 Brady 2860 ==>578 Polit says Dill 4335 Brady 4613 ==> 278 - Pat Collins - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 7:49 pm: Oh, how cute. Since when do some counties not report the cities total? When I add Rockford into Winnebago, they are the same. - Quinn T. Sential - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 7:50 pm: Am I missing something here? The AP numbers show a higher total than Dillard, yet if the Politico/AP Map is the source, the map indicates only 99.4% of precincts counted. - Pat Collins - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 7:50 pm: Aurora might account for Kane as well….. - wordslinger - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 7:51 pm: It is so close. You could probably recount a dozen times and get a different number. This one will go the distance as far as playing out the process. - Juice - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 7:51 pm: Pat Collins, ever since certain cities (Rockford, Chicago, Aurora) have separate boards of elections. - George - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 7:57 pm: For those following Pat Collins’ lead here - Dillard’s numbers separate out some of the big cities that report their numbers separately. Politico has already combined them on their map. Meaning: Rockford (Dillard) + Winnebago (Dillard) = Winnebago (Politico) - Downstate - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 7:59 pm: I’m look at Winnebago figures now. Kudos for the Winnebago County Clerk’s office. Their election results pages and maps (even down to the precinct level) are outstanding and the best I’ve seen. Website - http://results.enr.clarityelections.com/IL/Winnebago/12442/20234/en/summary.html - Quinn T. Sential - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 7:59 pm: They appear to have done this with Cook and Chicago as well. First, the Politico map indicates last updated; 5:10 p.m. Second, they indicate Cook County as incomplete with 98.4 in. Third, they are blending the Chicago number in with Cook County numbers, where the full County numbers are in; per the Clerk’s webiste, so then what Politico is suggesting is the City of Chicago still outstanding in their numbers - HappyToaster - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 7:59 pm: AP is adding Chicago + Cook. Same with the other counties with independent election authorities: Kane + City of Aurora (71 precincts) Kendell + City of Aurora (3) Will + City of Aurora (6) McLean + City of Bloomington Cook + City of Chicago Vermilion + City of Danville St. Clair + City of East St. Louis Knox + City of Galesburg Peoria + City of Peoria Winnebago + City of Rockford For the real geeks, DuPage is a county wide electoral commission. - HeyThere! - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 8:03 pm: Nathan Daschle is as cluess as his father. IL GOP state senators have a record of fiscal irresponsibility? Is this kid ignorant of the fact the Democrats have been running this state into the ground since 2003? Oh wait, he’s a Dashcle, igonrance should be expected. - StarkCtyR - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 8:05 pm: Easy, thank you for summing up the GOP primary. Maybe the Chicago machine will realize in a contest this close, meeting downstate voters matter. - Charlie Wheeler - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 8:06 pm: Point of Information: There are eight counties in which individual cities operate their own election boards and thus report results to the State Board independently of county election authorities. They are Aurora, Bloomington, Chicago, Danville, East St. Louis, Galesburg, Peoria, and Rockford, per the State Board’s Web site. Charlie Wheeler - Charlie Wheeler - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 8:10 pm: Point of Further Information: I stand corrected, thanks to Happy Toaster. There are 10 counties in which city election authorities have jurisdiction over voting, including Kendall and Will, both of which contain portions of Aurora. Charlie Wheeler - Quinn T. Sential - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 8:12 pm: Politico is missing 156 votes for Dillard in Chicago, and 53 votes for Brady in Chicago, for a net difference of +103 for Dillard. They do not idnicate what they believed as being out in Chicago when they last updated the map, but the City numbers are drilled down to the precinct on the Chicago site, and appear to be complete - Quinn T. Sential - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 8:19 pm: The Clerk’s sites are reporting the following Cook County 23,674 - Chicago Cynic - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 8:23 pm: I was about to make that point Charlie. And to further clarify, that means you must ADD the city plus the county to get the total for that county. It’s a weird and INCREDIBLY annoying system. But it is what it is. Further confusing matters is David Orr’s practice of putting checkmarks next to the winners. The reality is those check marks are next to the non-Chicago Cook County winners, not the winners of the county as a whole. I wish it wasn’t so because all my candidates won in non-Chicago Cook county, but that’s just not how it works. - George - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 8:24 pm: Rich, Quinn T. Sential @ 8:12 has it correct. There are two discrepancies that, if you fix, match up the numbers exactly: 1) Dillard counted City of Danville twice, instead of City of Danville and County of Vermillion. This was an error on Dillard’s staff side, and resulted from a bad link on the results page that directed both to the City #s and they never double-checked. 2) Politico is missing 156 votes for Dillard in Chicago, and 53 votes for Brady in Chicago. So they are both wrong in their own way. Still not enough for Dillard to claim the lead. - T.J. - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 8:25 pm: “OK catching up on today’s comments… can someone explain to me why there is THIS much visceral hatred for Dillard? Is it something more than the Obama ad?” I’d be happy to explain, but I’m not sure this is the place to do it. “I also don’t buy the argument that what cost Dillard the primary in the end was the Obama ad, because face it… a lot of people voting yesterday in that GOP primary did cast a ballot for Obama four or six years ago…” Got that right. - Downstate Weed Chewing Hick - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 8:27 pm: So, what’s the corrected spread? - Downstate - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 8:35 pm: Since Politico’s numbers are incomplete, stop worrying about them. As Kibler pointed out earlier. Dillard’s campaign is touting a spreadsheet with a mistake. The city of Danville’s numbers were duplicated in place of the rest of Vermilion County. When you make that correction, his spreadsheet comes to the same conclusion as the Sun-Times’ - a 406 vote win for Brady. I could live with either man on top of the ticket come November, but I just don’t see him picking up 406 votes with the combination of touch-screen and paper ballot readers that’s used in most of the state. There’s no pregnant chads to debate. It’s a six-way race with five of the candidates carrying multiple counties throughout the state. Not only do you have to find uncounted or miscounted ballots, they all have to fall your way. Keep in mind 60 percent of the votes are for the other five men on the ballot. That means most of the new votes found (if any) would not go to either Brady or Dillard on average. Plus, if the Republicans needed months of confusion before getting a state campaign in motion we could have voted for Jim Ryan. - Chicago Cynic - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 8:40 pm: Change of subject. From Tonight’s Trib story on Scott Lee Cohen’s arrest: “Also, public records show that the alleged victim, Scott’s 24-year-old girlfriend at the time, was a prostitute. Six months before the October 2005 incident, she had been arrested after a police investigation of a Glenview massage parlor. She later pleaded guilty to a charge of prostitution.” Oh my. - Quinn T. Sential - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 8:41 pm: Sorry; too many windows open Cook Dillard———-Brady 23,674———–6,389 Chicago Dillard——–Brady 5,425———-1,831 Combined Cook and Chicago sites Dillard———-Brady 29,099———–8,220 Politico AP was reporting Dillard———-Brady 28,943 8,167 which they were suggesting were combined city and suburban totals in Cook, but indicating only 99.4% reporting Since the County numbers are indicated as complete now on the County site, and the City numbers are indicated as complete as well, that’s where I came up with the diferences in Cook County, between what the Politico AP map shows, and what the clerk’s site shows. The Politico AP also shows a total of 110,573 for all R ballots cast in Cook (+City), whereas the County website is showing a total of 124,685 total R ballots cast, excluding the City. When you add in the 33,805 votes cast in the City from the city site, then the two clerk sites indicate total R ballots cast of of 158,490. Subtracting out the 110,573 that Politico AP is reporting with the map, that leaves 47,917 ballot difference between the clerks sites, and the Politico site total at *99.4% counted allegedly. Since the numbers between AP Politico and the clerks sites now on Dillard and Brady only appear to have missed 209 votes between the two candidates, then the remaining 47,708 would have to be spread across the remaining 5 other candidates on the ballot. - Pat Collins - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 8:41 pm: the argument that what cost Dillard the primary in the end was the Obama ad, Yes, but who voted in a low turnout primary? And, really, when it’s only 400 /154000 that’s the difference, ANYTHING might be it! - George - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 8:42 pm: CORRECT TOTAL Bill Brady: 155,263 Kirk Dillard: 154,857 Brady lead = 389 - Pat Collins - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 8:42 pm: Scott’s 24-year-old girlfriend at the time, was a prostitute So, all those job fairs he was running……. - Middle of the Road - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 8:44 pm: Assuming that 389 is the right number, is it a surmountable obstacle? Where are the uncounted votes…up north or downstate. - Lester Holt's Mustache - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 8:47 pm: “… he’s a Dashcle, igonrance should be expected.” LOL. Sorry, I hate to be rude, but that is the best thing I’ve read all week. - Downstate Weed Chewing Hick - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 8:48 pm: George, those were the original totals that give you 406 - Downstate - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 8:49 pm: Rich, I now understand your “uh oh” comments regarding Cohen. Still, can’t wait for the Lt. Gov. debates where the candidates debate strategies on job creation, small business and self-employment. - RMW Stanford - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 8:51 pm: George, How are you getting a difference of 389? when I subtract the numbers you have there I am getting 406 - Ron Burgundy - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 8:51 pm: How long before we see the 2005 mug shot? Can’t be long now. If Jack Ryan resigned for creepiness, this also has prostitution and alleged violence angles to it as well. Running as a Dem, he could be toast real quick once some of the special interest groups start pressuring the party to get rid of him. If that happens, they better hope he goes quietly. Which begs the question — he’s self-funded and doesn’t owe the party regulars anything — what if he doesn’t go quietly should the time come? - Quinn T. Sential - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 8:51 pm: Politico is not showing the 1, 143 votes garnered by Schillerstrom. 766 votes in suburban Cook County, or the 377 votes garnered in Chicago. In total; - Arthur Andersen - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 8:55 pm: George, can you tell us how you “got to” the correct totals? Or, a reconciliation of the differences in numberspeak. - Hisgirlfriday - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 8:56 pm: Fair enough, Pat Collins. Just offering up a bit of devil’s advocate here. Yikes to Scott Lee Cohen. Reading through the Trib article… his claim is that he thought she was just a “massage therapist” and didn’t know she was a prostitute, yet Cohen admits he was living with her at the time?!?! Thanks a lot Rickey Hendon for this crap! Why oh why couldn’t you have let the cook county board race be your vanity project? Ugh. Interesting that Quinn said he has still not even spoken to SLC today. - George - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 8:58 pm: sorry, after all that I do the math wrong at the end: Brady Lead = 406 That’s kind of ironic - Downstate Weed Chewing Hick - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 9:01 pm: But what then happened to the 209 votes between Dillard and Brady that Quinn T. identified as missing from the AP numbers? - Quinn T. Sential - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 9:02 pm: Now that I look at it; Politico AP is not showing any numbers for for Proft in Cook County, where he actually garnered 13, 762 in the suburbs, and 3,188 in the City of Chicago, for a combined total of 16,950 votes that are missing for Proft, in Cook County as well on the Politico AP map - Chicago Cynic - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 9:03 pm: What I want to know is why one of his six opponents didn’t investigate and get this out? Especially Art Turner who had the most to lose. Couldn’t the Speaker have given that story a little boost. I mean I heard about his record of domestic abuse back at Dems day (though not the specifics). Maybe if we had an actual Democratic party in IL that was responsible for more than 1/2 of one branch of government… - Hisgirlfriday - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 9:05 pm: Off topic, but anyone still bummed about yesterday’s results (or even if they’re thrilled with yesterday’s results) could probably get a few chuckles out of this quite possibly strangest political ad of all time from California’s gubernatorial primary… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yo7HiQRM7BA - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 9:07 pm: To T.J. My take on this specific election with multiple candidates & low turnout combined: Worth = this post and $2.59 will get you a cup a coffee…. For every candidate that thinks a “field operation” is overrated, even if is one that can recognize your “pluses” to get them to a poll,and thiks its worthless - this election should make you take pause. If McKenna, Dillard, or even Ryan were able to identify 2 voters per pct statewide above all who voted in this horrible turnout, any of them would have betten the britches off Brady and won comfortably. Not one of them could get organized on the ground enough to drag 2 voters per pct? If you told any of those 4, “get organized enought to find 48k unidentified “plus” voters (2 per pct statewide) and do everything the same, no issue change, no radical trick, just a field answer to get those 2 voters to the polls, you win”, how many of them would do it, knowing what they know now? I have zero sympathy for candidates losing by a handful of votes with zero control of their voters or zero control of the turnout of THEIR voters… Mail, TV, radio …and now ad internet, and social networking … critical, without question, end of story. But, here is the rub … 2 voters per pct and you win … and you can’t get those 2 found and to the polls … “If I can bomb them over the air and do great mail, I am going to win huge” “Yeah, ground … yeah, yeah …” Very few signs out there … polling places were empty …. Now, I get the patronage aspect “killing” the field … no jobs, no campaign workers … Really … patronage killed campaign organizing ground troops? Laziness killed the ground game. Identify people to drag 2 neighbors in their pct to come and vote???? Simple ground game. No frills, no deep Cog-like aparatus. Just find 1 contact in each pct, have them bring 2 voters that normally may not vote, but will for your candidate, and you win. “One coffee - $2.59″ This post is worth what change is left …. - Downstate Weed Chewing Hick - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 9:09 pm: If SLC drops out, what happens? Does the party appoint an LT candidate, and if so, who actually gets to choose? - George - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 9:11 pm: I got to the totals from the two items in my post at 8:24 pm. There are two discrepancies that, if you fix, match up the numbers exactly: 1) Dillard counted City of Danville twice on accident, instead of City of Danville and County of Vermillion separately. When fixed, that results in: +504 Dillard (to the Dillard spreadsheet) +795 Brady (to the Dillard spreadsheet) 2) Politico was short 156 votes for Dillard in Chicago, and 53 votes for Brady in Chicago. When fixed, that results in: +156 Dillard (To the AP numbers) +53 Brady (To the AP numbers) Now, both numbers match up. - Quinn T. Sential - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 9:11 pm: The total AP number indicated by Rich up above is 765,371, but the Politico Map indicated a total of 697,965; or a total difference between the 2 sources of 67,406. The Politico map however does not include Schillerstrom or Proft for some reason; and the Politico map is indicating only 99.4 % in. in Cook County; representing 47,708 in net votes not including the 209 previously assigned to Dillard and Brady. - Chicago Cynic - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 9:13 pm: SLC will not dropout after spending $2 million to get here. If he had any shame or half a brain, he would never have run because this story coming out was inevitable. - Thomas - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 9:14 pm: if SLC drops out, I’m not sure what happens - I can’t imagine a special election; they’d probably be able to choose, right? would it have to be someone who ran for the position? If not, Raja Krishnamoorthi? - Quinn T. Sential - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 9:14 pm: George, Have your numbers matched up with the total votes cast? Politico Map, and the AP number indicated by Rich up above differ. I am not sure of the difference is entirely due to their exclusion of Proft and Schillerstrom, and the missing votes in Chicago for Dillard and Brady, or if the Politico AP map is showing any other county with some votes outstanding as well. - Downstate Weed Chewing Hick - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 9:14 pm: Thanks George. - Michelle Flaherty - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 9:15 pm: Downstate, Google “Jack Ryan” and you can read all about what happens when a nominee drops out after the primary. - Chicago Cynic - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 9:15 pm: Though if it would happen, my guess is state central appoints, ie Speaker Madigan gets to put Art Turner in anyway. - Downstate Weed Chewing Hick - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 9:16 pm: Dan Hynes needs a job - Thomas - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 9:23 pm: if you are quinn, what do you want in a LG - somebody you can trust? african american? independently wealthy / big fundraiser? - Kanders - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 9:24 pm: If SLC drops out, the replacement would be made by central committee, right? Could it be Hynes? - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 9:26 pm: I see MJM working a deal … hear this out; Turner is the Speaker’s guy, and Quinn and the Speaker need something to bring them together and SLC on this ballot with MJM house races will drive Madigan batty. Quinn will not need SLC dragging him down and Quinn needs MJM’s marker so he can call it in on for some of his ideas and programs, along with votes on a budget. “Amazingly!” pressure mounts on SLC, and with 9 months till NOV, it is going to be like a pressure cooker quick. Why? MJM and Quinn will agree to try to 86 this guy … and the “deal” will start to evolve … a “drop” here, a compliment of Turner there…If Turner would have won, Quinn would have zero leverage, not he gets to work on MJM for something that would make Madigan happy. I am starting to smell Quinn/Turner with a snoozy session between Quinn and MJM … and Lisa … don’t forget Lisa … she gets to do her own thing, let MJM clean up this mess … and she gets herself ready for 4 years …. or …. maybe not! - Responsa - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 9:27 pm: I love the smell of poor opposition research in the morning. Scott Lee Cohen Feb 3, 2010 - Thomas - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 9:27 pm: if SLC drops out, would hynes even want the job? might be smarter for him to take a break from political office, do something productive, watch quinn lose this year, then come back and run for governor again? - And I Approved This Message - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 9:27 pm: No offense to all you pawn brokers and massage therapists out there but I have a funny feeling that there is more to learn about Scott Lee Cohen. And Pat Quinn and the Democratic Party are going to be the worse for the wear. This is an imperfect system. - True Observer - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 9:31 pm: “SLC will not dropout after spending $2 million to get here.” He just parlayed that 2 mil into at least 20 without going to Vegas. Obama’s people will be seeing his people. This is funnier than the LaRouchies. - Bookworm - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 9:31 pm: “Dillard actually fared poorly in the collars, ironic since he is a suburbanite. The fact Dillard got 2nd place is owed primarily to Peoria and Sangamon.” Ok, I can think of several reasons for Dillard winning Sangamon (state workers, nostalgia for Jim Edgar), but anyone know why Peoria would vote for him? - Rich Miller - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 9:32 pm: The problem with SLC Is how do you get a guy like that out? I just don’t see how. - Anon III - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 9:34 pm: 406 votes out of some 310,000 cast statewide between the two of them, and out of about a million in the R gubernatorial primary. A statewide recount will cost hundreds of thousands, if not a million. And they will have to find mistake or fraud that affected the outcome of the election to change results. In truth, as one wise Florida judge once said, the margin of victory is less than the margin of error inherent in the vote counting system (or words to that effect). These two R candidates ought to consider the amount of time, money, energy, and good will that a recount would cost. They ought to agree to a cut of the cards and be done with it. - Responsa - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 9:37 pm: Maybe Plummer will be voted in as Lt. Gov. regardless of who wins the Governorship. - George - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 9:38 pm: Rich - did you get what you needed on the numbers? Long story short - they were both wrong, but the spread is still 406. - Ron Burgundy - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 9:38 pm: I agree Rich. What is there above the table that they could give the guy to drop out? He’s not going to do it out of the goodness of his heart, or likely for the good of the party. What does he care? And you thought Quinn looked uncomfortable before? Wait ’til he has to run with this guy. - True Observer - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 9:39 pm: “The problem with SLC Is how do you get a guy like that out? I just don’t see how.” The machine’s got enough judges. Maybe some qualification angle. - tom - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 9:39 pm: I am told many in the media knew about the Cohen O.R. It figures the Tribune wanted to sabatage the Democratic Party. The media should be ashamed. - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 9:42 pm: Rich … lol, You know, a guy is going to meet SLC for coffee or pie and he will have a briefcase … in that briefcase will be enough stuff on this guy to choke a horse. They sit across each other… “Your battery thing and such, the press knows all that, and you can ride it, do whatever. But what you don’t know, and what they don’t have is what I am about to tell you. This briefcase has a ‘twin’, actually about 6 ‘twins’… and these twins are going to be delivered to every media outlet in 48 hours. We are not going to have a ‘Jack!’ situation. We know this about you, we WILL pass it on, and we will bury you with embarrassment. I am going to leave you this briefcase. You look at, don’t look at, I don’t care. This time MON, I am going to pass on the twins unless I hear from you. You are NOT going to be our ‘Jack!’ Have the pie here, it’s good.” - Paul S. - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 9:43 pm: I know that Dillard will pull the independent and moderate democrates; Brady will drive them away. For a victory, the GOP should hope for Dillard. - Quinn T. Sential - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 9:43 pm: {The fact Dillard got 2nd place is owed primarily to Peoria and Sangamon.”} The fact that Dillard got 2nd place is due to Schillerstrom’s name on the ballot. If you apply his vote totals in Dupage. If you applied all of Schillerstrom’s DuPage votes to all the candidates in DuPage on a proportional basis with their total votes there, Dillard picks up a net total of 381 votes, but those votes would not likely spread proportionately with Schillerstrom votes going to Brady in the same proportion that he otherwise garnered in DuPage - RMW Stanford - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 9:44 pm: Ok, I can think of several reasons for Dillard winning Sangamon (state workers, nostalgia for Jim Edgar), but anyone know why Peoria would vote for him?” Maybe the Peoria Journal Star endorsement helped Dillard out in Peoria county? - George - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 9:46 pm: “but anyone know why Peoria would vote for him?” My assumption - he ran TV ads there. Major market. - Quinn T. Sential - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 9:49 pm: George, I am still not clear on the differences in total votes between Dillard, the Politico Map, and the number Rich indicates for AP above. I am not getting them to match up; even after adding back in the missing Chicago numbers for all candidates, and the missing votes for Proft and Schillerstrom from the Politico map - Chicago Cynic - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 9:52 pm: This was out there in the summer. One of the other candidates for LG told me he was a domestic abuser and apparently he announced it when he announced he was going to be running. Still I wonder how come none of his opponents made a big deal out of it. Frankly, it would have been easy to do in a way that forced the media to report this. Sad on so many levels. - True Observer - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 9:52 pm: “We know this about you, we WILL pass it on, and we will bury you with embarrassment.” This has got to be a joke right. A guy who got an intern to give him oral sex in the Oval Office was the most admired man in the world until Obama. Does anything embarras anymore. No, it’ll have to have proof which will result in him doing 10 to life. Or, that 20 mil. - Hisgirlfriday - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 9:53 pm: Unless Quinn and Madigan can offer up some $10-20 million green-cleaning contract for the state, what incentive does Cohen have to drop out of this? - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 9:57 pm: Who would have thought “Jack!” would leave because of redacted court documents … No one has pushed SLC, not the media, not the party, not his opponents. We have no way of knowing would could be in a “briefcase” and we have no way of knowing what is his breaking point … None of us know what is his “point”. I do know one thing about the “scene” I described: Someone will sit with him and find out…and MJM will not put up with a “Jack!” especially having dealt with the LaRouchies. MJM does not like to relive bad history. - George - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 10:00 pm: Ok, final numbers update: If you look at the numbers totals at this link, you will see the final (and I believe accurate) numbers (100% reporting). The difference between the AP numbers here, and the Dillard spreadsheet, is only the Vermillion County/Danville error that Dillard’s campaign made on their spreadsheet. That is now the single error, and the single difference in vote totals. Case settled. 406-vote difference confirmed. - Quinn T. Sential - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 10:00 pm: While we are having fun with #’s here however, did anyine else happen to notice that Hynes beat Quinn 54%-46% in the 13th ward? - John Powers - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 10:06 pm: “The problem with SLC Is how do you get a guy like that out? I just don’t see how.” Defeat him in the General Election - True Observer - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 10:07 pm: “Unless Quinn and Madigan can offer up some $10-20 million green-cleaning contract for the state, what incentive does Cohen have to drop out of this?” No. No. Too obvious. They grandfather in all existing pawn shops for video poker. - wordslinger - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 10:08 pm: As things stand, why would Cohen drop out? He spent a lot of cash to win. A pawn broker who didn’t know the “massage therapist” he was living with was a hooker? It could happen. There’s no way a judge is going to force him out, either. Adlai (and Madigan) tried all sorts of goofy ways in the courts to get rid of Mark Fairchild and Janice Hart, but they didn’t have a leg to stand on. If you get the most votes, you win. After a few days, it’s going to sink in this guy is going to be a real problem for the Dem Brand. - Quinn T. Sential - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 10:12 pm: Thanks George: I think. The missing link for me was the spreadsheet illustration you provided here for the AP, as I all I was working with was the map; operating on the assumption that the map #’s = the AP #’s, but they were not matching, due in large measure to the fact that the map did not include Proft & Schillerstrom - Mike Ins - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 10:17 pm: SLC - so you’ve got a guy on the ticket who has an arrest for a battery on his live-in prostitute girlfriend. Blago - on trial this June(?) with who knows what stories coming out. Um - Quinn is going to be fighting a perception he is surrounded by criminals… no? - Downstate Weed Chewing Hick - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 10:18 pm: Its not the pawn broker part or the hooker part that will drive the voters away. Its the allegation he held a knife to her throat and the arresting officers observed markes from a knife on her throat that makes him toxic. Im not calling him guilty or a liar, but I think the story is a huge liability. - True Observer - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 10:19 pm: “The problem with SLC Is how do you get a guy like that out? I just don’t see how.” Defeat him in the General Election” Didn’t you see Double Indemnity. Quinn and Cohen are tied together. “They’re stuck with each other and they got to ride all the way to the end of the line and it’s a one-way trip and the last stop is the (political) cemetery.” - Anonymous - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 10:20 pm: NBC 5 reports Dan Hynes is having a press confernce tomorrow. Obama has chimed in, the DGA has chimed in, and he still hasn’t conceded. It is mathematically impossible for him to win and he will have to pony up the big $$$$$$$ to finance a recall. Pat Quinn needs to tell everyone he has no clue who the hell scott lee cohen was or is and call for him to drop out tomorrow. The people over at Grainger Terry will be looking for new jobs really quickly and they will be looking outside the State of Illinois if this guy doesn’t drop out. Everyone knows who they are. Any rich person with $1 million, can declare themselves an independent and be Lt. Gov in November. The clock is ticking. The Scorekeepers are still on the clock, as they have been for the last 72 hours. The winner in all of this BS are political consultants who actually know the game and have a proven track record. They will be cashing in on some miserable failures of a lot of top of the ticket candidates in November. Pingback First Count Completed and Checked: It’s Brady by 406 Votes…Recount? | Chicago Daily Observer - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 10:21 pm: […] From Capital Fax Comments […] - Quizzical - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 10:24 pm: How about SLC gets to handle all the State assets we’re going to pawn in order to solve our budget crisis without raising taxes in an election year? - John Powers - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 10:28 pm: True, I suppose then Quinn would also have to be defeated. Politics…bedfellows…etc ** Grainger Terry got the SLC elected. I would think all the other runningskunks in the state would be calling Phil up and begging for his help. JBP - John Powers - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 10:30 pm: True Quinn and Cohen are tied together. “They’re stuck with each other and they got to ride all the way to the end of the line and it’s a one-way trip and the last stop is the (political) cemetery.” Then defeat Quinn and SLC goes out too…missing quote from above.. - Quinn T. Sential - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 10:32 pm: Not only did Hynes beat Quinn 54%-46% in the 13th ward, with only 40% turnout, but for comparison purposes, Blago beat Eisendrath 80% -20%, with 54% turnout in 2006. The 2010 contest was obviously way more competitive in the media leading up to the actual election, so driving out machine vote should have been easier in 2010 vs. 2006. Did the Committeeman intentionally suppress the vote in 2010 in an effort to avoid the embarassment of having his endorsed candidate get beaten by an even wider margin the ward, or was the effort to supress the vote more designed to make sure that it wouldn’t cost the endorsed candidate the nomination? - kj - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 10:36 pm: 20-1 odds that hynes is gonna try an independent run, especially with a very conservative gop candidate. I know it is a longshot, but the Hynes family has left the party before…. - Newt Rier - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 10:37 pm: In Cohen’s defense, his highest level of educational achievement is a GED, so maybe he couldn’t connect the dots and see his live-in massage therapist galpal was turning tricks. - Ron Burgundy - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 10:40 pm: Correct me if I’m wrong, but Hynes and anyone else who just lost can’t run in the general under the “sore loser” law. - Quinn T. Sential - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 10:41 pm: Hynes is going to announce tomorrow that he is conceding the Democratic nomination to Quinn; however, can not support the ticket in November due to the criminal record of the Lt. Gov. candidate, pointing out that we cannot just assume that the Lt. Gov will not ascend to the throne due to unexpected consequences. As a result; Hynes is going to announce that he is following in the footsteps of Joe Lieberman, and will be filing petitions to run in November as an “Independent Democrat”, and is inviting Art Turner to join him on the ticket as his Lt. Gov candidate. That way; if Madigan comes out against Turner making such a move as “divisive”, then he will in effect be endorsing SLC as Lt. Gov. - kj - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 10:47 pm: ron- no idea on that i dont have a full understanding of this election law, but……you know lisa madigan didn’t run for governor this time and would be very offended at the scott lee cohen revelations - IrishPirate - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 10:49 pm: Come on my fellow Dems. Look at the bright side. Perhaps a pawnbroker with hooker experience is just what this State needs. At least she wasn’t a dead hooker. It could be worse. I take it Drew Peterson wasn’t available to run? - Anonymous - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 10:50 pm: Sorry. Don’t know what “SLC” stands for. Can some kind reader please inform me and no, this is not “snark” If Dan Hynes wants to launch an “Independent Bid” he should be ready to answer questions about three things. Tom Hynes, the 19th Ward and who has got copies of those 22 Burr Oak Cemetery Complaints that Comptroller Hynes has been refusing to release for the last year. There might be a leak coming from the “Cemetery Care” division of his office. Welcome to the 6th game of the Divisional Series. Quinn is up 3-2 in the series, going into the bottom of the 9th in Hynes Home park- the 19th ward. Quinn is winning this game 9-2 and Hynes is up to bat with no runners on and two outs in the bottom of the 9th. Quinn has people in the bullpen ready to come in to finish the game. Welcome to the show! - Ron Burgundy - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 10:53 pm: SLC is Scott Lee Cohen, the Dem. nominee for Lt. Governor. See the front page of the Trib. website for more on why he’s the major topic right now. - IrishPirate - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 10:54 pm: SLC=Scott Lee Cohen=Pawnbroker Hooker Boyfriend With Possible Anger issues - Anonymous - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 10:55 pm: Thanks Ron! I appreciate it. I thought “SLC” was some sort of acronym for some BS political action committee or ward committee. SLC should stand for this… Slimy Liar Corrupt - Ben S. - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 10:56 pm: SLC==Scott Lee Cohen, the winning Dem LG candidate. And as noted above, Illinois has a sore loser law, meaning Hynes can’t run in the general as an independent… - True Observer - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 10:56 pm: “As a result; Hynes is going to announce that he is following in the footsteps of Joe Lieberman, and will be filing petitions to run in November as an “Independent Democrat”” He can’t do that. He can’t run as an Independent or New Party Candidate for Governor. Someone else will have to be the new party’s candidate for Governor and it can’t be Quinn. Only way out is to form the new party and slate Madigan for Governor and Hynes for U.S. Senate. Have one of the Supreme Court judges resign and appoint Quinn to the court. Leave the Dem openings for Gov, Lt. Gov and Senate vacant. - Randall Sherman - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 10:57 pm: kj, Illinois has a sore loser law, so Hynes cannot run for Governor on a third-party ticket. - Ron Burgundy - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 10:57 pm: Nice IrishPirate. Considering people think most politicians are prostitutes anyway, maybe they want someone willing to put a knife to their necks? An interesting, yet disturbing, campaign strategy? - Effingham County - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 10:58 pm: Anonymous, “SLC” is Scott Lee Cohen. - siriusly - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 10:59 pm: Rich is right, no way to get a SL,C out. He obviously doesnt care about money. Its an ego trip and he wants his name on the JRTC office door He is a big problem for the entire dem ticket. Legislative dems may be forced to print some signs that say XX / Brady - Ron Burgundy - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 11:01 pm: Kass’ column just went up on the Trib. site, and it touches on SLC… are IL Repubs on an “Illinois hooker hunt” now? “Find that hooker!” LOL. - Hisgirlfriday - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 11:02 pm: OK… even more hilarious in all of this Scott Lee Cohen mess is that one of his few listed endorsers is the Illinois Committee for Honest Government. “The Illinois Committee for Honest Government was founded in August 1986 by a group of individuals who sought to improve Illinois election proceedures. (sic) This occured (sic) in the aftermath of the fiasco of the 1986 Democratic Primary, when unknown followers of Lyndon Larouche with plain-sounding names upset George Sangmeister (who later became a Congressman from the Joliet area) for Lieutenant Governor and Aurelia Pucinski (who later became Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County and is now a Circuit Court Judge) for Secretary of State.” Randall Sherman, you got some ’splainin to do! - siriusly - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 11:04 pm: BTW - thanks a lot for telling the voters about SLC’s record the day AFTER the election. Mother Tribune “watchdog” my ass - you just jumped into the game. - Quinn T. Sential - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 11:06 pm: {“As a result; Hynes is going to announce that he is following in the footsteps of Joe Lieberman, and will be filing petitions to run in November as an “Independent Democrat”” He can’t do that. He can’t run as an Independent or New Party Candidate for Governor. Someone else will have to be the new party’s candidate for Governor and it can’t be Quinn.} Cue the music and cut to the door for the entry of Edwin Eisendrath for Governor - Will County Woman - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 11:07 pm: You guys are going to have to get over the Scott Lee Cohen win. He won his race fair and square. Art Turner was too lazy and simply did not do enough to win. As pat quinn likes to say “everybody in, nobody out”, and that includes his runningmate Scott Lee Cohen. - ZC - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 11:08 pm: This SLC story seems like a failure across the board - by the political establishment, by the voters, and most importantly by the media - old AND new. It’s easy (and deserved) to bash the Trib’s non-coverage of this issue, back when it might have made some difference. But aside from some general hints that “Scott’s got issues,” there wasn’t much more on the web or online either. At least not to my knowledge. This was a media breakdown across the spectrum. Troubling sign for the future ahead? - Ron Burgundy - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 11:11 pm: The Sun-Times is reporting that Terry Link and other unnamed challengers in the Lt. Gov. race went to both the Hynes and Quinn camps a month ago about the SLC issue asking them to denounce him to prevent this from happening, and they did nothing. Oops. - Vibes - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 11:14 pm: QT — I love that Turner did so much better than Quinn in 13; clearly their fine committeman can make things happen when he wants to. Rich, best case scenario I can see is for Quinn, Cullerton and MJM to all support a constitutional referendum on the November ballot eliminating the LG and making the Sec State succeed the Gov. Quinn can say that his runningmate is Jesse White, and that Bradyllard’s runningmate is … anyone? … anyone? Yep, Robert Enriquez. Who actually looks more qualified to be Governor than anyone who actually ran for the LtGov job. To save y’all the constitutional search, it would need to pass by May 2nd with 3/5 in each chamber OR get 8% of those voting in the Rod/Judy election (remember that), or roughly 280,000 signatures. FUN! - Mike Ins - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 11:14 pm: d’oh! The gang that couldnt shoot straight. Heh. Love it. Of course though, so far away from an election a healthy economic turn-around and jobs would go a long way… but fun for tonight to see this implosion. What a joke. - Will County Woman - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 11:21 pm: ZC, you’ve go to be kidding. slc did what was necessary by law to get on the ballot, and he ran his campaign well enough to win. the tribune and sun times tried to warn people about berrios, and he still won. so who’s to say that “warning” people about slc before the election would’ve changed the results from yesterday? - siriusly - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 11:22 pm: Easy for Link to say itnow. Why did nt he go public. It was his race. - Hisgirlfriday - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 11:30 pm: Vibes, where can I sign a petition to eliminate the lt. gov position? I’m not crazy about Plummer either. And also from that Sun-Times piece… apparently his ex-wife/estranged current wife(apparently his divorce had a status hearing TODAY!?!?) got a judge to get a temporary order of protection against the guy and he had federal tax troubles. - kj - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 11:32 pm: (heavy snark intended) if hynes was able to run as an independent his lt.gov candidate would be…..FORMER MAYOR HAROLD WASHINGTON - Bookworm - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 11:33 pm: I feel better now about voting for Don Tracy (GOP lite guv candidate) … he at least has a law degree, 30 years legal experience, and has run for public office before, even if he did so as a (gasp!) Democrat - T.J. - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 11:33 pm: “I know that Dillard will pull the independent and moderate democrates; Brady will drive them away. For a victory, the GOP should hope for Dillard.” See above where Hisgirlfriday asks about “THIS much visceral hatred for Dillard?” Republicans have not done well with candidates who have to rely entirely on Democratic crossover votes because, oh, 80% of actual Republicans abhor them. The exception is George Ryan. That turned out well. - ZC - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 11:37 pm: WCW, I agree it’s not the responsibility of the media to make up the voters’ minds for them. But there was a documented police record and it is the job of the media to tell the voters about the backgrounds of those running for office. If SLC’s past wasn’t relevant to his candidacy -during- the primary, why is the Trib suddenly calling it newsworthy the day after? And why the heck wasn’t anyone else in the “independent,” new media breaking this story? One possible explanation comes to mind: because the other candidates didn’t say it. So much of the “investigative news” these days comes not from the journalists but from the oppo squads of the campaigns themselves. Except - the other LG campaigns _weren’t_ pushing this at the Trib, behind the scenes, during the campaign? Amazing if true. To my knowledge Joe Berrios has never been alleged to push a prostitute 14 years younger than him against the wall and hold a knife to her throat. That might stick in the voters’ minds more than seedy allegations about Joe. - Quinn T. Sential - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 11:38 pm: Speaking of turning out well; how about this one? Asked Wednesday night on WTTW’s “Chicago Tonight” if Cohen should step down from the ticket, Quinn replied, “I think he should come forward and tell us everything about his background. But anything dealing with that has to go through the [Democratic] state central committee. I want to see what Mr. Cohen has to say. “I don’t give opinions until I hear all the facts from the person involved.”} So; does everybody understand; Gov. Quinn does not give opinions until he hear all the facts from the person involved. - Pot calling kettle - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 11:39 pm: I went to 50 election authority web sites and checked their results vs Dillard’s and Dillard’s matched in all 50. - kj - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 11:41 pm: t.j.- As a moderate suburban republican, not gonna say who i went with, but I actually think brady has a better shot. The Hynes vote in the Chicago area will probably stick with dems no matter what. But if Brady can run a subtle “it’s all Chicagoland’s fault” campaign, I think the Hynes vote is more likely to go to Brady - Will County Woman - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 11:45 pm: “everybody in, nobody out, unless they hurt my chances of getting elected to a position i sold my soul for, lied and cheated to keep.”—pat quinn - Anon-Number7 - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 11:49 pm: Just to be clear - Brady won Peoria County…and Dillard finished second. - kj - Wednesday, Feb 3, 10 @ 11:55 pm: anon-7- but dillard won the early vote in peoria, which should be comparable to absentee, if that is true throughout downstate dillard may still have it - Hisgirlfriday - Thursday, Feb 4, 10 @ 12:15 am: I would be outraged if the media sat on this story just to embarrass the Dem ticket, but I doubt that’s what happened siriusly. More than likely the political reporters (and there are a lot less of them than we used to have in this state thanks to all the cutbacks and consolidations of the last few years) were just too busy following the doings in the bigger races (senate, gov, cook county board prez, congress) to focus too much on the shady doings of a lite gov candidate no one thought would even win. A joint statement from Hynes and Quinn would surely get their attention, but otherwise there were only so many hours in a day and only so many inches/minutes devoted to politics in news outlets anyway to get their stories out. Look I am horrified as the rest of us that SLC is on the ticket, but I’m not going to blame the media for it. We citizens have responsibilities too to make informed decisions. And anyone who took five minutes to actually research the candidates running for lt. gov would have picked just about anybody but Scott Lee Cohen. - Six Degrees of Separation - Thursday, Feb 4, 10 @ 12:15 am: How about this for a bumper sticker - “Don’t Blame Me, I Voted for Rickey Hendon” - Rich Miller - Thursday, Feb 4, 10 @ 12:16 am: Hisgirlfriday, you’re wrong. The media, myself included, is to blame for much of this. It’s a hard thing to admit but it’s true. - Hisgirlfriday - Thursday, Feb 4, 10 @ 12:31 am: Well, Rich, are you taking blame for being lazy and/or inept at reporting everything you heard about Scott Lee Cohen? Or do you think siriusly is right that Tribune had this juicy scoop and the reporters sat on it to spite Michael Madigan and Illinois Democrats. That is what I find hard to believe. - Illinois Repub - Thursday, Feb 4, 10 @ 12:39 am: Dillard’s campaign sent an eblast on Monday telling supporters he was surging ahead. But we learned from Greg Hinz today that in reality the Dillard camp knew it was Brady who was surging. Dillard said last night that at dawn he would be ahead. Then at dawn he said by sundown he would be ahead. Sundown came and went and he still can’t back up his claims of a secret vote stash. It’s nothing but doubletalk with this guy, just like on the tax increases, the video poker ‘yes’ vote, on the Obama ad, and on the IEA endorsement. It’s time for Dillard to admit he lost. He threw this race away by never being honest with Republicans. - T.J. - Thursday, Feb 4, 10 @ 1:04 am: But, but, but he was Jim Edgar’s Chief of Staff! Bet you didn’t know that. - SALly Mae - Thursday, Feb 4, 10 @ 6:50 am: Dillard is right - if you go County by County - this is much closer than 400 votes. Brady is just too dumb to count. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Feb 4, 10 @ 7:52 am: The only thing Dillard has gotten right is that the sun has risen and the sun has set. He has never led, thus far, and by being the Celestial guru, he has looked more like a bad version of Carnac (I am showing my age there) than a candidate ensuring he/she has been given their fair shake. I think by sundown, Dillard will have another statement out there…. - Amalia - Thursday, Feb 4, 10 @ 9:10 am: wow, I see DGA and think Director’s Guild. Movie awards season on the brain! Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.