85 Comments - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 5:58 pm: Could be the last time we see Rutherford, or Dillard as Candidates on a stage. Brady will still be in the Senate come 2015 if he loses. Set that VCR(?) - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:00 pm: Phil Ponce…Plummer flashbacks. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:02 pm: “Blue Shirt Buddies”! They all got the memo. Whew. - Wensicia - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:06 pm: Rutherford concedes the race. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:07 pm: Rauner - “relationship”, that explains it all I guess. Brady - votes- conflicts… “Inaccurate” Rutherford - Drop out? Beliefs, resigning to being spoiler. Making an arguement for issues. Dillard - Unions = influence? Ponce going about support and Dillard goes on tangent. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:09 pm: Yep. Rutherford concedes his chances. Rauner - influence of Unions - Bribes! Dillard defends working/negotiating unions, Rauner “Pay to Play” - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:09 pm: Rauner not getting pass from Rauner - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:09 pm: Ponce - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:12 pm: Going on Assault Weapons…Leave it there - an innocent observer - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:12 pm: Rutherford, “I’ll mow down the beaver.” For some reason I don’t think that’s true. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:13 pm: Payton Prep… Rauner talks about how wonderful HE is, “Winnetka” license!!! - Percival - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:13 pm: I get the distinct impression that Mr. Ponce does not think that any of these four should be Governor. - Arthur Andersen - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:15 pm: Mow down that beaver Dan! - Dear Abby - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:15 pm: Innocent Observer- (not so innocent) I went there too! Still laughing…. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:16 pm: Schools dominating discussion. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:16 pm: Darwin - “Inherit the Wind”? - PoolGuy - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:18 pm: Dillard is a sox, cubs and cards fan. ha ha pander away - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:18 pm: Fun? Dillard, no favorite Cubs or Sox Rauner even has talking points on “Fun” I would golf with Brady.., - Oh Come On! - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:18 pm: I happened to be in the vicinity (not by design) and Rauner staff members holding signs were lining North St. Louis Avenue near the driveway entrance to WTTW Channel 11. Not sure if this is the most effective use of resources. This street is residential on one side and Northeastern Illinois University is on the opposite side. Unless you want to impress university students, I am not sure how this helps. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:18 pm: Rutherford to Brady, biggest splurge… Wow. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:20 pm: Rutherford is just playing it loose. Nothing to lose… well… - Arthur Andersen - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:20 pm: That musta been a heckuva dress Bruce. - PoolGuy - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:20 pm: i think Gov’s security would not allow concealed weapons in Gov’s mansion. come on guys!!!! - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:22 pm: The dress could be for the Versailles wedding in France. “Need a dress? Go Eye-Talian” - an innocent observer - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:22 pm: Rutherford is playing it as loose as a beaver… - 47th Ward - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:24 pm: If “Mowing down the beaver” was his unofficial campaign slogan, Dan might not be in last place here. - PoolGuy - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:25 pm: Brady, I like you, but you have no concept on state income taxes. stop comparing IL to FL and TX - Percival - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:26 pm: Brady: seizes the moment on growth vs. tax increase. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:27 pm: “Blue Ribbon” - yikes… - Percival - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:28 pm: Oh Lord, Kirk, enough of pass the buck to a panel or committee. It’s as bad as Rauner and his referendum on gay marriage. - PoolGuy - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:30 pm: if I was Jill Tracy I would cringe every time I hear “repealer” - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:31 pm: Oh. My. “Slip and Sue”!!! Doesn’t know the facts of the case. Epic! - Arthur Andersen - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:31 pm: Phil Ponce is almost outta breath going after these guys. - PoolGuy - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:31 pm: Rauner wants dirt on every legislator, but he doesn’t know the dirt on his own Lite Gov pick???? - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:31 pm: Wonder what Rauner EVER knew about “Slip and Sue”… - Percival - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:33 pm: Rauner: great answer on Workmen’s Comp. (!), then he lames it out about the running mate lawsuit. For a supposedly consummate businessman, this guy sure is conveniently erratic on what he knows. - Arthur Andersen - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:33 pm: Willy, you might say that was Bruce’s first “slip.” - Arthur Andersen - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:35 pm: Is Rauner wearing an “Illini” tie? - Percival - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:36 pm: Geez Bruce, term limits are nothing compared to redistricting change, over the long term. - PoolGuy - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:37 pm: agree Percival - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:37 pm: “Regrets, I have a few…” - Arthur Andersen - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:40 pm: Thank you Dan Rutherford for the only honest answer on the Obama library question. - PoolGuy - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:40 pm: I guess Rauner has too few to mention??? - Percival - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:43 pm: Mr. Rauner, ducking social issue questions entirely is not leadership. The issues exist, and you will have to deal with them as Governor. People have a right to know what you think before you are elected. It’s not like Obamacare. - PoolGuy - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:44 pm: Dillard thinks pension reform will be unconstitutional, but he wants REAL pension reform. what does that mean????? drive me nuts when he keeps saying that. - Percival - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:48 pm: Rutherford nailed it on his private service experience being ignored. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:48 pm: “I know how to use leverage” - Tom Hagen(?) - ZC - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:48 pm: Rauner wants major transformational change in Springfield. He will explain what that means after we elect him. - Wensicia - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:49 pm: “I know how to negotiate and use leverage.” Sounds like an insider to me. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:51 pm: Now focus on Rauner… - PoolGuy - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:51 pm: OW need your Illinois is not Indiana or Wisconsin here now - Norseman - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:52 pm: === Dillard thinks pension reform will be unconstitutional, but he wants REAL pension reform. what does that mean????? drive me nuts when he keeps saying that. === The real reform is to bump up the pensions of legislators who leave office after losing his 2nd gubernatorial primary. - Percival - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:54 pm: Line of the night from Dillard: “He has more business friends in federal prison than we have Governors.” - PoolGuy - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:55 pm: lol Norseman - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:55 pm: I was hoping one of the others would have said it… - PoolGuy - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:55 pm: decent debate but no clear winner, so that’s a plus to Rauner I guess - Percival - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:56 pm: Same as the rest of the debates: interesting, the candidates spoke well, nothing changed. Rauner in a runaway unless Brady and Rutherford drop. - Pot calling kettle - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:59 pm: Bruce does not seem willing to admit that “transformation” can be good or bad. Will he transform the state like he transformed those nursing homes? (The ads write themselves.) - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 6:59 pm: Rauner unscathed, so win for Rauner. Five days. Too little, too late for Game Changer. - Dan Bureaucrat - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 7:09 pm: The non-Rauner three looked uncomfortable in their skins while their bios were being read. - Cheswick - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 7:12 pm: So, Dan Rutherford doesn’t like beavers? - Dan Bureaucrat - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 7:12 pm: Rutherford says everyone knows how hard the last 6 weeks have been. He basically admits he will lose but he’s there to focus the others. - Dan Bureaucrat - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 7:14 pm: Rauner plays the tough questions pretty well. Reframes the union question to focus attention on public employee unions. - Big Muddy - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 7:16 pm: “Mowing down the beaver” wins the best line ever at a debate. Has something for everyone really. - DuPage Dave - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 7:17 pm: In businessspeak, “transformational change” means “fire everybody who was here before I arrived”. If Rauner wins in November, the first few months of 2015 will be the most entertaining since the “Council Wars” (a.k.a. “Before It’s Too Late”) era of Chicago city politics. Rauner has made it apparent he believes in nothing except that he is way smarter than everybody else. How he expects to govern is a mystery. As many commenters have noted, there is no real way for a governor in Illinois to rule the way Rauner intends to rule. All of his vetoes will be overturned. He won’t be able to issue meaningful executive orders. - wordslinger - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 7:46 pm: –If Rauner wins in November, the first few months of 2015 will be the most entertaining since the “Council Wars” (a.k.a. “Before It’s Too Late”) era of Chicago city politics.– “Before it’s Too Late” was GOP nominee’s Bernie Epton’s tagline in his race against Washington. Subtle. That pre-dated “Council Wars,” which may have made for bad opera, but even worse governing. Absolutely nothing was getting done with the Vrodolyak 29 — Washington 21 split. Basic capital improvements — sidewalks, street lights, etc., were on hold for the first three years as they couldn’t get together on a financing plan. It took federally mandated special elections to cure a rotten ward map to get to a 25-25 split, with Washington as a tying vote and governing coalition. - DuPage - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 7:56 pm: Rutherford said he would save money by combining the treasurer and comptroller into one position. I saw something that said that’s how it used to be. One person in charge of the state’s money. Then the state realized it had been Dixoned. They then split the position so the two offices would make it harder to get away with state money. I wonder if Rutherford knows about that. - Arthur Andersen - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 7:56 pm: If I didn’t have so much ah, legacy as AA I would change my blog handle to Mow Down the Beaver in a heartbeat. - Arthur Andersen - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 7:57 pm: DuPage, Google Orville Hodge. - Anonymous - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 8:06 pm: Game. Set. Transformational Change. - an innocent observer - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 8:25 pm: Dupage - I am pretty sure Rutherford “knows about that” This is even better tho - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Powell_(politician) - wordslinger - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 8:44 pm: As an aside, I’d encourage everyone to tune into “Chicagoland” on CNN. A real tale of two cities, two worlds really. Rahm comes off as a supercilious dilettante. I wonder if he knows or cares. - Oh Come On! - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 8:45 pm: In fairness to the late Bernard Epton, a liberal Republican, who represented the same Hyde Park district in the General Assembly as did Harold Washington (Epton’s seat was eliminated due to Quinn’s Cutback Amendment stunt), the slogan “Before It’s Too Late” was the work of the political consultants who jetted into Chicago after the mayoral primary. I think Deardourff was the genius who launched it. Epton had a good career record on civil rights, but he was vilified during the campaign (as was Washington). - Silent Majority - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 9:11 pm: Washington’s slogan was “it’s our turn now.” Not much different than Epton’s “Before it’s too late.” - Just The Way It Is One - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 9:11 pm: Nice final try Kirk. Way to keep your chin up, Bill, but since this 3rd time has NOT, aGAIN, been the ‘Charm,’ can ya maybe just finally call it quits after this–ya know, for this particular Job? And Danny–well, thanks for your agonizing, public honesty about having no chance now–and yet, in true, democratic fashion, refusing to throw in the towel…! - DuPage - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 9:26 pm: @Arthur Andersen7:57PM @an innocent observer8:25PM Interesting reading. Thank you - Upon Further Review - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 9:34 pm: It pains me to say that in Chicago and Cook County government when you question why there is so many idle employees and overstaffing, the frequent answer in some departments is “It’s our turn.” - wordslinger - Thursday, Mar 13, 14 @ 9:47 pm: –It pains me to say that in Chicago and Cook County government when you question why there is so many idle employees and overstaffing, the frequent answer in some departments is “It’s our turn.”– LOL, really? How often do you hear that, and in which departments? Geez, struck a nerve. Harold’s been dead 27 years, you know. - wordslinger - Friday, Mar 14, 14 @ 12:10 am: Rick Pearson goes with Rauner-as-Sgt. Schultz in his debate story. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/clout/chi-rauner-wont-rule-out-taxing-retirement-income-20140313,0,4029287.story?track=rss - wordslinger - Friday, Mar 14, 14 @ 12:38 am: From Dave McKinney’s story: –And they all agreed about the religious principle of creationism.– Didn’t see the debate, and wouldn’t call creationism a “religious principle,” but was there much on this? That would be a first for an Illinois GOP primary for governor, wouldn’t it? Could the candidates expand on their views of “creationism.” Stuff like is the planet 6,000 years old? Did humans and dinosaurs live together like The Flinstones? Methuselah lived to 969? Solomon had 700 wives and 300 friends with benefits? And you all want to be the education governor, too, right? Can we leave down in Dixie the crazy that faith and science are somehow incompatible? You can hold onto them both, it ain’t that heavy a lift. - Snucka - Friday, Mar 14, 14 @ 7:51 am: The evolution answers were pathetic. You know none of them really believe that creationism is valid, but they had to tiptoe like little cowards. Rauner was actually the exception, he just correctly said “No” when asked if creationism should be taught. I guess he’s in 100% general election mode. - Downstate GOP Faithless - Friday, Mar 14, 14 @ 8:15 am: Talked to a couple people from different camps last night. Brady people were please but know they need a late Rauner misstep to pass Dillard. The Rutherford guys were stunned when Rutherford essentially thru his staff under the bus for his problems. The Rauner guys don’t say much anymore which I take as a sign they are not going to be confident to a point of arrogance. - Dan Bureaucrat - Friday, Mar 14, 14 @ 10:41 am: Admittedly, I couldn’t watch the whole thing, but I found that Rauner has a polished air and sense of confidence and directness that might help people buy the idea that he is a leader. He also manages to have fairly quick answers that roll the real question into a hamburger. Even in the desperate hour, the do or die hour, his opponents didn’t try to challenge him or put a stake in his heart. They had the vibe of losers. Awful to watch. - Upon Further Review - Friday, Mar 14, 14 @ 11:08 am: @Wordslinger: Dorothy Brown’s office is the worst offender in terms of these type of activities. Given the numerous published stories about Brown’s ethical lapses, this ought not to come as a surprise. - Upon Further Review - Friday, Mar 14, 14 @ 11:10 am: I omitted to add that during Todd Stroger’s reign similar behavior was quite obvious. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.