* Gov. Rauner was at a Rainbow PUSH breakfast honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. yesterday along with five possible Democratic opponents. From Charles Thomas’ report..
“As I’ve always said I don’t ever close any doors,” [Sen. Kwame Raoul] said.
Raoul was palling around with possible Democratic primary opponent businessman Chris Kennedy. “I have friends before I ventured into politics and I consider Chris to be one of those friends,’ Raoul said.
“I’ve talked to an awful lot of people. I’m convinced that our state is on the wrong path,” Kennedy said Monday. […]
“It means that whoever is going to run against him better have the resources to run against what probably is going to be more like $100 million,” [JB] Pritzker said [about Rauner recently putting $50 million into his campaign fund]. “I’m going to do my best. I certainly do have money but more importantly I’m willing to step up because we’ve got to win.”
Kennedy — no pretender himself when it comes to wealth — said it’s about more than money.
“This most important thing that occurs in this election is to listen to people,” Kennedy said.
The other possible candidate was former Gov. Pat Quinn, who didn’t rule out a 2018 run.
* More from the event…
KENNEDY: I mean I’m convinced at this point that the state of Illinois is on the wrong track.
Democrat JB Pritzker joined Rev Jesse Jackson and a handful of elected officials on stage to sing We Shall Overcome.
PRITZKER: Oh I have to say I’m exploring it, I’ve talked to an awful lot of people to get their input, this is a process.
As the breakfast ended, former Governor Pat Quinn was spotted shaking hands in the lobby.
* One more…
Billionaire businessman JB Pritzker says he hates that money has become so important in politics. Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner has said he’d run for a second term. Last month, the wealthy Republican governor put $50 million of his own money into his campaign fund. And that’s left some Democrats wondering if they’re going to need a wealthy candidate to run against him - and JB Pritzker is one of the possible names on the list.
“I’m not a guy who thinks we should turn politics into a playpen for people who are wealthy, but I’m also somebody who believes we’ve got to win in 2018.”
* If Pritzker’s comments sound to you like he’s about to jump in, you’re not alone. His sister, outgoing Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, had this to say to Lynn Sweet…
GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner has fueled his political rise with his own tens of millions of dollars. He is up for re-election in 2018 and Pritzker’s younger brother, J.B. is considering a run.
Though the two have had their differences over the years, when it comes to running for governor, “J.B. and I have been very much aligned on this. I very much support him. I think he’ll make a terrific governor. So I am all in to help him.”
The two have “talked about it on many different levels…he’s a man who has committed himself to early childhood (education) and to helping build businesses, start ups and manufacturing businesses. I think he’ll do a great job. …I told him I’m all in to help him.”
J.B. is prepared to pour his own multiple millions into a governor run. Having his sister on board – with her extensive fundraising networks as well as her own deep pockets – is a considerable plus.
“All in” is a whole lot of money. Just sayin…
* But Rauner has some deep-pocketed supporters, too…
Chicago billionaire philanthropist Ken Griffin has paid $85 million for an oceanfront estate in Palm Beach, Florida, that neighbors property he already owns there.
It’s the second most expensive single real estate transaction in the area, according to the Palm Beach Daily News. First was a 2008 deal by President-elect Donald Trump, who sold a mansion for $95 million.
Griffin, the founder of the Chicago-based hedge fund company Citadel and the market-maker Citadel Securities, plans to build a massive estate. His vacation home will be designed by architect Ugo Sap.
Griffin reportedly now owns more than 12 acres of contiguous land with about 871 feet of oceanfront. The tab for all that gorgeousness: $229.85 million.
Amazing.
* Back to the Democrats. Here’s Sneed…
Here’s a question: Will Chris Kennedy, an heir to the Kennedy dynasty’s dynamism, have announced his candidacy for governor before he is honored at a Special Olympics Chicago reception at the Carnivale restaurant on Feb. 27?
Or at it?
Created originally at the Chicago Park District by a young [Illinois Supreme Court Justice] Anne Burke, it was Kennedy’s aunt, Eunice Shriver, who made the Special Olympics concept and ran it into an international institution.
Stay tuned.
- Loop Lady - Tuesday, Jan 17, 17 @ 8:47 am:
I think JB is the best chance to beat Rauner.
A wealthy man who gets what government is about and hasn’t forgotten about regular folks and the welfare of the state and its citizens.
- Stones - Tuesday, Jan 17, 17 @ 8:56 am:
And Pat Quinn was seen shaking hands at the event…
Will that guy ever go away?
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jan 17, 17 @ 8:57 am:
Rauner’s best chance, not his only chance, but his best chance, of winning is a contentious, expensive Democratic primary, that Rauner himself will meddle and wade in to keep all sides targeting (and spending) against each other.
Heck, Pat Quinn could be Rauner’s “Hero” in the end, lol
- Bobby Catalpa - Tuesday, Jan 17, 17 @ 9:03 am:
It’s disgusting on both sides. The money wasted is incomprehensible.
All this money would do a whole lot of good elsewhere — social services, higher education, for example.
- AC - Tuesday, Jan 17, 17 @ 9:04 am:
==Gov. Rauner was at a Rainbow PUSH breakfast honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. yesterday==
It’s too bad the governor’s actions aren’t also honoring the legacy of Dr. King regarding striking AFSCME Memphis sanitation workers.
- jono - Tuesday, Jan 17, 17 @ 9:06 am:
Does anyone think Chris Kennedy’s anti vaxxer brother will cause him any trouble?
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Jan 17, 17 @ 9:10 am:
===All this money would do a whole lot of good elsewhere===
Nice sentiment. Reality is starkly different.
- John Rawl - Tuesday, Jan 17, 17 @ 9:10 am:
Loop Lady - Billionaire from birth really understands the “regular folks”
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Jan 17, 17 @ 9:18 am:
–Billionaire businessman JB Pritzker says he hates that money has become so important in politics. –
Meh, if it weren’t, the likes of Rauner and JB wouldn’t even be in the ballgame for elected office.
It should be noted that Rauner wasn’t the first self-funder in Illinois, just the first to win office, vanquishing the Mighty Quinn 1.82M to 1.68M.
Compare Rauner’s 1.82M in 2014 to Bill Brady’s 1.71M in 2010. The Rauner/Griff bankroll didn’t produce a runaway train at the polls.
As it stands right now, Rauner could commit to spend $100 billion, and he still doesn’t have the content to produce a :30 positive spot on his tenure. Incumbents are held to a different standard then “shake ‘em up” faux-outsiders.
- A guy - Tuesday, Jan 17, 17 @ 9:19 am:
There are card sharks everywhere who’d love to play poker with these guys.
- Downstate Dem - Tuesday, Jan 17, 17 @ 9:37 am:
Chris Kennedy is positioned very well for 2018.
- Precinct Captain - Tuesday, Jan 17, 17 @ 9:40 am:
- John Rawl - Tuesday, Jan 17, 17 @ 9:10 am:
Oh yeah, is much rather have someone who was only born with a silver spoon, say the son of the vice president of Motorola.
- Sigh - Tuesday, Jan 17, 17 @ 9:42 am:
John Rawl- have you ever met JB? Or were you implying that Rauner understands the regular folks? When Rauner campaigned, he said he would be driving his garbage can to work. I work in Springfield and haven’t spotted that vehicle once at the capitol or anywhere downtown. I did see it pull into the mansion when he moved in and once on a Facebook video when he said he was packing up and moving to the fairgrounds. But after this post, I’ll bet $$$ that we will see him zooming around Springfield in it now.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jan 17, 17 @ 9:42 am:
===Chris Kennedy is positioned very well for 2018.===
(Sigh)
Chris Kennedy’s assets are his name and his alleged family money.
Until Kennedy shows he’s going “all-in” like Pritzker, who actually has his own millions upon millions, Chris Kennedy is no different than Bill Daley.
That $50 million Rauner put up was to make your statement ring hollow… until Kennedy shows he’s “all-in”.
Until then, Kennedy is closer to having elevator doors close on him then being an any position, good or otherwise, for a run.
- A guy - Tuesday, Jan 17, 17 @ 9:45 am:
True that OW. The family safe won’t open for this.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jan 17, 17 @ 9:47 am:
===The family safe won’t open for this.===
I don’t know if it will.
Neither do you.
Don’t latch on to “my thoughts” that aren’t my thoughts at all.
- A guy - Tuesday, Jan 17, 17 @ 9:49 am:
It won’t.
I agreed with you (rare). I didn’t “latch” onto your thoughts (extinct) Heaven forbid.
You don’t know what I know or don’t know. You just think you do. #youdon’t
- Henry Francis - Tuesday, Jan 17, 17 @ 9:51 am:
I thought Governor Rauner’s words at the event were very moving. “The Good Lord did not make us Democrats or Republicans. The Good Lord put us on this earth to do His work.”
Honeybear, what’s that word again . . .
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jan 17, 17 @ 9:57 am:
===You don’t know what I know or don’t know. You just think you do. #youdon’t===
Unless you’re Jay Doherty, you don’t speak for a Kennedy it the Kennedy family
You don’t agree with me if you are clueless at what I’m saying and using your own meanings as the reasoning.
To the Post,
When Rauner manipulates the Democratic primary, which will only need $10-12 million for a 9-month period, starting with State Fair, the Crew best able to reach the hearts and minds of Democrats to win the primary, and fend off Rauner’s meddling will have the best shot at winning in November.
Refusing to see the primary for Democrats as a multi-front, multi-level free for all is ignoring the $50 million chip to set the pace.
- Commonsense in Illinois - Tuesday, Jan 17, 17 @ 10:02 am:
While JB Pritzker would give Governor Rauner a run for his money, I think we’re looking at the wrong Pritzker.
Penny Pritzker has done a terrific job as Secretary of Commerce and is far better know than her brother. Her name recognition alone would put her ahead of JB Pritzker giving her room to attack issues far sooner.
- Precinct Captain - Tuesday, Jan 17, 17 @ 10:02 am:
Ted Kennedy had to mortgage his property to compete against Mitt Romney in 1994. The Kennedy fortune isn’t a gamechanger for self funding a state wide versus the likes of Rauner and the right-wing billionaire boys club.
- Enough Said - Tuesday, Jan 17, 17 @ 10:04 am:
The residents of Evanston and the 9th Congressional District have J. B. Pritzker to thank for making Jan Schakowsky a member of Congress during his last self funded campaign.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jan 17, 17 @ 10:10 am:
===Ted Kennedy had to mortgage his property to compete against Mitt Romney in 1994. The Kennedy fortune isn’t a gamechanger for self funding a state wide versus the likes of Rauner and the right-wing billionaire boys club.===
This is true. The question isn’t if Kennedy will get $20-30-40 million for himself, by himself or family.
The question is will Kennedy blow the caps, for everyone, with his seed money and use a national network (if it’s even up for Chris Kennedy) like Rauner did to get through the primary season to win.
The question is “will Kennedy put 8-figures in to start the process for real money”
The red herring is Kennedy self-funding. The blowing of the caps to trade off the name and be in position to do so, that the ball game.
With respect.
- A guy - Tuesday, Jan 17, 17 @ 10:26 am:
==Unless you’re Jay Doherty, you don’t speak for a Kennedy it the Kennedy family===
I’ll solve this one for you. I’m not. But, believe it or not, I know him. lol.
- A guy - Tuesday, Jan 17, 17 @ 10:28 am:
OW, you crack me up.
What National network does Chris have?
You’re mixing up your Kennedy’s.
- Robert the Bruce - Tuesday, Jan 17, 17 @ 10:34 am:
Why doesn’t J.B. simply fund his sister’s campaign for governor?
With her experience in the Obama administration, she might be a more qualified and popular choice.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jan 17, 17 @ 10:36 am:
Reading is fundamental, - A Guy -
===What National network does Chris have?===
“The question is will Kennedy blow the caps, for everyone, with his seed money and use a national network (if it’s even up for Chris Kennedy) like Rauner did to get through the primary season to win.”
Reading ===(if it’s even up for Chris Kennedy)===, makes clear, it’s not exposed as existing, today, publicly.
Please, read what I type. Your comtinued misunderstanding…
- Old Shepherd - Tuesday, Jan 17, 17 @ 10:38 am:
The 2018 Democratic primary may resemble the 1998 Democratic primary…if too many Chicago-area candidates split up the vote, it may create an opportunity for a downstater like Sen. Manar.
Winning the General Election, however, will be a much greater task. Just ask Glenn Poshard.
- Ron Burgundy - Tuesday, Jan 17, 17 @ 10:49 am:
–The 2018 Democratic primary may resemble the 1998 Democratic primary…if too many Chicago-area candidates split up the vote, it may create an opportunity for a downstater like Sen. Manar.–
Or you’ll get Pat Quinn again and (not) like it.
- Arsenal - Tuesday, Jan 17, 17 @ 10:55 am:
==The 2018 Democratic primary may resemble the 1998 Democratic primary…if too many Chicago-area candidates split up the vote, it may create an opportunity for a downstater like Sen. Manar.==
Maybe, but it’s unclear that, say, Pritzker and Pawar are going to compete at the same level. Frankly, it’s unclear that they’re both running for the same thing.
- Joliet Gram - Tuesday, Jan 17, 17 @ 11:34 am:
Enough Said. YOU are wrong. Former Senator Howard Carroll was the REAL spoiler in that race. HE chose to be the interloper and caused the election of Jan. Get your facts straight.
- Downstate - Tuesday, Jan 17, 17 @ 11:35 am:
In all seriousness - What makes us believe that Madigan’s relationship with Pritzker, Kennedy, et al will be any different than his relationship with Blago or Quinn.
What Governor did Madigan work the best with?
- stagman - Tuesday, Jan 17, 17 @ 11:47 am:
I can’t wait to vote for Pat Quinn again in 2018.
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Jan 17, 17 @ 11:48 am:
In 2008, 2.9 million voted for Kerry in the presidential. In 2006 and 2010, Blago and Quinn got 1.7 million votes, respectively, a spread of 1.2 million.
That gap between Dem votes in prez/non-prez years widened in the subsequent elections: In 2016, Clinton at 3.1 million received 1.4 million votes more than Quinn at 1.7 million did in 2014.
Conversely, the GOP vote is much more reliable in non-prez years, but the ceiling and spread is much lower. In 2016, Trump got 2.1 million votes, in 2014, Rauner got 1.8 million votes, a spread of just 300,000.
Obviously, the one and only question that should matter to Democrats is how to get a big chunk of that presidential vote to show up off year. Get just a third of them and you win.
- Huh? - Tuesday, Jan 17, 17 @ 11:55 am:
“The Good Lord put us on this earth to do His work.”
As a recovering Presbyterian and currently an atheist, I am offended by this remark. If 1.4% thinks that his destructive actions and behavior are “God’s work”, I pity what is in store for us.
- Levois - Tuesday, Jan 17, 17 @ 12:56 pm:
Quinn had his turn, time for someone else to step up to the plate on the Democrat side.
- Rabid - Tuesday, Jan 17, 17 @ 12:58 pm:
Who would you vote for a venture capitalist or a job and business creator?
- Oneman - Tuesday, Jan 17, 17 @ 2:31 pm:
Sneed always has to work in the Burkes…
- A guy - Tuesday, Jan 17, 17 @ 3:34 pm:
==Sneed always has to work in the Burkes…===
But only on the days she’s invited over for dinner.