* From a press release…

Chip Englander, campaign manager for Bruce Rauner, issued the below statement after Bruce received the Cook County Republican Party’s first endorsement in a gubernatorial primary in at least 25 years:

“While government unions and national Democrats are lining up to attack Bruce in the GOP primary, Republican leaders and activists are lining up to support Bruce. Republicans know that Bruce’s ideas to increase jobs, control spending, reduce taxes, improve education and enact term limits are the keys to both winning statewide and bringing back Illinois.

Republicans want to win and shake up Springfield, and they won’t let government union bosses and national Democrats hijack the Republican primary. We are grateful for their support and look forward to working with them to secure victory in March and then November.”

I still can’t believe that no other media outlet has yet picked up on the fact that the unions and others are about to jump into the GOP primary against Rauner. As always, subscribers know more - for over a month.

* Sneed…

Rauner won by securing 63.3 percent of the 200,750 votes.

Amongst his opponents, state Sen. Kirk Dillard placed second with 10.18 percent of the votes.

State Treasurer Dan Rutherford came in third with 5.94 percent of the votes and State Sen. Bill Brady placed dead last with zero percent.

The endorsement doesn’t mean all that much. What will matter, however, is the union involvement in the primary that the campaign refers to in its statement.