Quick hits
Wednesday, Oct 12, 2011 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Gov. Pat Quinn’s dream event has finally arrived: Country music and trains…
Country music fan Gov. Pat Quinn is welcoming singer Martina McBride to Chicago.
Quinn will be at Union Station on Wednesday morning to greet McBride. The crooner is on an 11-city, cross-country train tour promoting her new album, “Eleven.”
* So, the Republicans believe 17,000 Illinoisans [typo fixed] are gonna pay $5 each to vote in a straw poll? Good luck…
Illinois Republicans hope to raise at least $85,000 via a presidential straw poll that gets under way later this month.
The state party’s first-ever straw poll — modeled on similar GOP fundraisers in other states — will allow voters to cast their unofficial ballots online beginning Oct. 29 at IllinoisStrawPoll.com.
Voters wanting to cast actual physical ballots will have to wait until Nov. 5. The in-person paper voting, run by county party organizations wishing to participate, will take place from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. that day.
The cost to cast a ballot: $5, payable at the voting sites or via a credit card if voting online. […]
Blessing said he is not sure how many people might participate in the poll, but he hopes Illinois can surpass totals set in Iowa this summer, in which nearly 17,000 Republicans cast ballots and gave Bachman an early boost.
It’ll be one heckuva feat if they meet their goal.
* Rev. Jesse Jackson advises us “Don’t Sleep Through the Revolution”…
Rainbow PUSH joined with Attorney General Lisa Madigan to expose the targeting and steering of Blacks and people of color into sub-prime loans, and to demand appropriate remedies from Countrywide and other banks that engaged in discriminatory lending practices.
What Rev. Jackson forgot to mention is that he opposed a state predatory lender law back in early 2007, before all heck broke loose. Jackson said back then that the law, which targeted areas hardest hit by the scammers, had “the smell of apartheid.”
- CircularFiringSquad - Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 7:08 am:
“The cost to cast a ballot: $5, payable at the voting sites or via a credit card if voting online. ”
GOPers selling votes. Isn’t that special. Heck even the skid row types did better than that.
Iowans had to pay hundreds, same in FL.
Make sure to use a credit card so you can get lots of spam & junk mail.
And are they planning to buy only one vote per person or can we do a three for $10 deal?
Fire, Aim, Ready!
- Wensicia - Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 7:12 am:
Does this mean the current assortment of candidates will be invading our state? Will Joe Walsh endorse any of them to get more face time?
- PublicServant - Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 7:38 am:
Joe Walsh may vote, but his $5 check might bounce.
- too obvious - Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 8:33 am:
So basically the straw poll will measure the preference of those Republicans clueless enough to give $5 to the people doing a lousy job of running the Illinois Republican Party.
Pat Brady then follows up with a call to sell you some swamp land no doubt.
Aren’t the Republicans the ones always accusing the Democrats of buying votes?
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 8:36 am:
I’m old school country, so I don’t know about these Hat Acts like Martina McBride.
But just off the top of my head, the best train songs include:
–”Wabash Cannonball” by Roy Acuff
–”City of New Orleans,” by Chicago’s own Steve Goodman (RIP).
–”Rock Island Line,” by Leadbelly
–”Folsom Prison Blues,” (I hear that train a-comin)by JC
–”Hey Porter,” by JC
–”You Never Even Call Me By My Name,” David Allen Coe channeling Steve Goodman
–”Railroad Lady,” by Jerry Jeff Walker and Jimmy Buffett
- MrJM - Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 8:40 am:
Let’s be fair to Rev. Jackson — he thinks everything smells of apartheid.
– MrJM
- GMatts - Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 9:02 am:
How I long for the day that the name “jesse jackson” will no longer appear anywhere.
- Mark Thoman - Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 9:09 am:
$5 to vote? Pass.
- wordslinger - Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 9:13 am:
For train songs, I should add “Chattanoonga Choo-choo”, done by many, but never done better than by Asleep at the Wheel.
- Stickler - Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 9:15 am:
Actually, it would only take 17,000 votes, not 170,000 to raise that amount of dough. Still a lot, but not quite as far-fetched.
- zatoichi - Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 9:22 am:
I thought ‘The revolution will not be televised.’
- What planet is he from again? - Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 9:38 am:
Rich, I think you’re off by a factor of ten. $85,000 divided by $5/vote is 17,000 voters.
- Slick Willy - Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 9:47 am:
===How I long for the day that the name “jesse jackson” will no longer appear anywhere.===
Amen to that! Any time I hear Jesse Jackson is involved, I just tune it out as his next attempt at coercion in the name of “improving” race relations or “protecting” black people from “the man”. Yawn…
- walkinfool - Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 10:05 am:
Back to a poll tax now? I hope this bone-headed virus doesn’t spread. GOP straw polls are now for sale?
- Jaded - Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 10:10 am:
What’s to know about Martina McBride. She’s forty-three, still smoking hot (after three kids), and can sing like crazy. This might be the only time EVER I envy Pat Quinn.
- Irish - Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 10:19 am:
Ms. McBride will only have time for a short interlude to a song as PQ will have taken up all her time with her introduction.
So the Illinois Repubs will pay $5.00 to produce results that mean nothing. The Iowa vote is so relevant to the numbers today. Seriously?
JJ is the perpetuator of racism. He sees it where no one else can. But without it, who needs him?
- just sayin' - Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 10:28 am:
Clearly the Dems didn’t need to gerrymander the new map so much. The GOP remains a joke in this state.
5 bucks to a fund that would help Joe Walsh’s children might get some participation.
- Jaded - Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 10:28 am:
Say what you want about Jesse Jackson, but whenever I hear his name, all I can think about is the SNL Green Eggs and Ham reading. Just focus on that, and no matter what he does, he won’t make you mad anymore.
- Way Way Down Here - Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 10:46 am:
Add “Mystery Train” - written by Junior Parker and Sam Phillips - performed by Paul Butterfield.
- 47th Ward - Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 10:55 am:
I don’t think a list of train songs is complete without Casey Jones.
“Switchman sleepin, train hundred and two,
is on the wrong track and headed for you”
- wordslinger - Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 11:01 am:
47, I can’t believe I forgot the Dead. Given the constant play I gave to American Beauty back in the day, that’s a surprise. Come to think of it, maybe not. I can’t remember.
“Trouble ahead, trouble behind….”
- Ghost of John Brown - Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 11:07 am:
Individual voters won’t be coughing up $5/head to vote. The campaigns (usually the Ron Paul folks) will cough up $20-30k to stack the vote and pay for the votes for their supporters. That’s why Ron Paul keeps winning these meaningless straw polls. It’s a fundraising gimmick - nothing more.
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 11:15 am:
Stickler, thanks. Fixed typo.
- Whatever - Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 11:33 am:
FYI — the IL GOP held a Straw Poll at the State Fair in 2007, so this isn’t the first.
However, the one in 2008 was FREE. Good luck getting people to pony up for this one.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 11:37 am:
“It’ll be one heckuva feat if they meet their goal.”
No kidding. While one could argue that paying to attend an event where a straw poll is held is paying for a vote and that a straw poll vote obviously isn’t a real vote, I wonder how many will reject the idea because the need to pay for a vote–no matter whether it’s $50 or $5, just sees perverse. I, for one, feel it’s a pretty twisted way of raising money.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 11:38 am:
…just seeMs perverse. Sorry.
- D.P. Gumby - Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 12:04 pm:
What about Gladys Knight–”Midnight Train to Georgia”?? (different country?)
- Left Out - Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 1:24 pm:
I looked over the ballot. I am backing “None of the Above” who is not on the ballot (but should be). For $5 I will skip it.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 3:03 pm:
“What about Gladys Knight–”Midnight Train to Georgia”?? (different country?)”
Are you proposing that Quinn, or the person who came up with the idea to pay for votes–even straw poll votes, take that train? As a Republican, I’m definitely leaning toward the latter.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 3:06 pm:
I mean seriously. Straw polls are dinner entertainment and nothing more. This is like the introduction of on-line gambling.
- Just a Citizen - Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 4:02 pm:
I too will be glad when we never hear Jesse Jackson’s name again!!!!
- dupage dan - Wednesday, Oct 12, 11 @ 4:45 pm:
Asleep at the Wheel did a great train song years ago - “My Baby Thinks She’s a Train”.