* Press release…
Pritzker Campaign Introduces Tick Tock The Budget Clock
Tick Tock Will Join Bruce Rauner For Breakfast Today At A Private Golf Course, Rich Harvest Farms, Then Later At An Orland Park Press Conference
Chicago, IL – Today, on day 695 without a budget, the Pritzker for Governor campaign is introducing Tick Tock the Budget Clock. Tick Tock joins Crisis Creatin’ Rauner, a multimedia campaign designed to highlight the budget crisis of Bruce Rauner’s own making and the families, schools, and social service agencies that continue to pay the price.
As the hours and days tick up, Tick Tock’s presence will serve as a constant reminder of the damage Rauner’s crisis is creating in Illinois. The fact is, it is past time that Illinois families receive a budget from their failed governor and Tick Tock won’t let Rauner forget it.
“Time is running out for Bruce Rauner to take responsibility for the crisis he has created and even though he runs away from reporters, Bruce Rauner won’t be able to hide from Tick Tock the Budget Clock,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “As the clock counts up, this historic budget crisis of Rauner’s own creatin’ is doing irrevocable damage to our state. Rauner deserves a constant reminder of how his failed leadership has hurt working families across Illinois – and Tick Tock will remind him of the alarming mess he has created every step of the way.”
* The accompanying, um, Tick pic…
* Politico made Tick the lead story today…
It’s an anti-Bruce Rauner move right out of the Rauner playbook. Rauner’s campaign team, some of whom worked for former Sen. Mark Kirk, love these characters. During Kirk’s 2010 campaign, they sicced a shark to follow around his opponent, then-state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, to remind him of a loan to the mob-associated Michael “Jaws” Giorango. In 2014, the Rauner campaign came up with “Quinnochio” to badger then-Gov. Pat Quinn outside of events. That character was dressed up as Pinnocchio. If you’ve forgotten, here’s Quinnochio on youtube. They also slapped a mask on another staffer who dressed in an orange jumpsuit to represent imprisoned ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich. […]
We’re confident the Rauner camp will come up with a rebuttal caricature in short order. But, gee, we can’t imagine what this race will look like when we’re actually within the same calendar year of an election.
…Adding… The Pritzker campaign seemed quite pleased this morning at all the attention their new mascot got from the TV types (those teevee people love them some visuals, no matter how silly they might be). But the Republicans sent me their own Tick pic…
True, but so was Quinnochio and they did it anyway. This stuff works.
…Adding More… Heh…
…Adding Still More… Check out the video clip to see how the Chicago TV cameras gravitated to the new mascot today. Like I said, this stuff works, even if it is goofy…
- LogansRun - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 9:13 am:
Someone needs to update the’Giant Meteor 2016′ bumper sticker for the IL gov race.
This is….
- Montrose - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 9:16 am:
JB clearly isn’t using his billions to hire professional costume designers.
- Skeptic - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 9:17 am:
Why does this make me think of the episode of “WKRP in Cincinnati” when the WKRP carp mascot got into a fight with the WPIG pig mascot?
- weltschmerz - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 9:18 am:
He needs a derby, a knit tie and a partner named “Abbott”.
- Oswego Willy - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 9:19 am:
Welp…
For Skyhook to work in reverse, you have to run… Skyhook.
The “challenge” (I can’t actually believe we here will be discussing and critiquing caricatures, but… ) will be to have the Pritzker irritant be as effective annoying a sitting governor as challenger Rauner “did” with Quinnochio.
The only “good”, seriously this isn’t good, but Skyhook is Skyhook”, is that the battle is being taken, finally, to Rauner.
It needs to be 24/7/365… Never letting up.
Double down when there’s negative news against JB, triple down when hay can be made and the target is producing results.
Skyhook is gonna Skyhook
- Anonymous - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 9:23 am:
Skeptic, you have hit on the perfect analogy.
- Curl of the Burl - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 9:25 am:
I much prefer The Tick who wears giant blue tights, fights crime and yells “SPOON!” as his rallying cry.
- slow down - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 9:26 am:
The focus on the catastrophic failure to enact a budget will be an albatross around Rauner’s neck. The tick tock gimmick works for that reason alone.
- so.... - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 9:33 am:
The clock looks a bit like a pastry. Which I’m sure was a selling point with the candidate
- Shytown - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 9:35 am:
Everytime I see another effort to pound away at Rauner and the disaster that’s unfolded under his watch, I say more please. And it’s far from the first time a campaign or advocacy org has used this kind of gimmick to put pressure on an opponent or pols for either their actions or inactions. The Dems as a party need to be more proactive with Rauner in keeping him on the defense.
- Anonymous - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 9:46 am:
Outside of inheriting great amounts of wealth and getting pummeled by a no name in a 90’s congressional race, has JB accomplished anything?
- PJ - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 9:47 am:
If anyone was concerned about JB running a tight ship with his campaign money, this should put that to rest. They definitely bought this stupid thing off of Amazon.
I hope attendees at Rauner events read capfax, because otherwise they’re going to wonder what this mournful pastry is doing there.
- Grand Avenue - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 9:51 am:
Rauner could have a toilet follow around JB - to signify the toilets he ripped out of his side mansion to get the tax break
- zatoichi - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 9:54 am:
Which high school Disney play is this from? Aren’t there good ad people in the state capable of putting together a professional presentation. Squeezy, Quinnochio, Rauner’s woodshop, and now this. Maybe they can do a nice powerpoint presentation?
- DuPage Bard - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 9:58 am:
Going to be interesting to watch Rauner get his own playbook slapped back at him. How do the Superstars handle when JB starts really going after them, this is just the tip of the iceberg.
- Barrington - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 9:59 am:
Simple and inexpensive costume that I would love to see deployed at Rauner appearances with hundreds of clocks.
- Barrington - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 10:02 am:
I would also like to see the clocks memorialize the closing of each social service agency, school, business, and most alarmingly university.
- Hit Em With the Hein - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 10:09 am:
You plan to spend 150 million on your campaign JB and you can’t get a better clock costume?
- Michelle Flaherty - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 10:10 am:
It’s nice to see Quinn campaign people land on their feet.
- Saluki - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 10:12 am:
That is just horrible looking. Maybe wanna go back to the drawing board on that design.
- SAP - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 10:14 am:
Wouldn’t a calendar be a better mascot? The budget problem has been going on for months and years, not minutes and hours.
If you’re going to do a clock, at least make it a doomsday countdown deal.
- AlfondogGonz - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 10:15 am:
It’s a great way to repackage the costume used by Steve Reick when campaigning against “Captain Flapjack Franks”
- Oswego Willy - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 10:16 am:
Sometimes when I reference an Easter Egg type reference it leaves more yoke on my face than what I may be trying to connect to the happening.
I looked at that Skyhook reference and while I may know why it works, I’m not making it too clear why it’s a point of reference for me.
So, I’ll explain this obscure reference, with my apology.
“In Harms Way” is a 1965 World War II film set in the South Pacific, starting on December 6, 1941, Pearl Harbor.
The Pacific Theatre war begins, and with it comes a stalling of victories for the US, due in part to a lack of decisive thinking and action to turn the tide that could lead to an American victory in the Pacific.
A plan was needed, the name of that plan was “Skyhook”
If Skyhook was executed perfectly, the tide in the Pacific would change and this plan would cripple the entrenched Japanese forces and lead an unstoppable march (albeit by a navy) towards Tokyo.
Seeing a sitting governor as the entrenched forces of the Japanese, a plan, that if executed perfectly, could defeat those entrenched forces and a final victory would be possible, winning the election.
Skyhook works, the United States blows the Pacific Theatre wide open, the beginnings of a possible US victory is now possible.
That’s the first plot point.
About a 1/4 of the film is this fear of “Skyhook in reverse”, that the Japanese could use the very same maneuver against the United States and it would allow the Japanese to again be right where they were before Skyhook.
Rauner, now the US forces, successful in using a well executed plan to defeat a sitting governor, faces the strong possibility of facing the same strategy he used from a challenger, given his own incumbency, and given that the same arguments Rauner used against Quinn can now “easily” transfer to Rauner, if a campaign executes the Rauner blueprint perfectly.
By copying the proven plan, the Rauner Plan, the “Skyhook”, I see that in Pritzker’s approach a few times now;
Bruce Rauner fails
Caricatures
The cataloging of pieces to one theme of Rauner
In many ways, I see “Skyhook in reverse” being the best blueprint to defeat Rauner, as Rauner’s “Skyhook” defeated Pat Quinn.
It’s beyond presumptuous for me to think my thoughts or ideas on this are being used by Pritzker’s Crew or even in the thoughts of any other campaign too. I’m approaching this exactly as an observer in real time to the happenings of what I’m seeing, not as someone suggesting these thoughts, in any way, are an accepted strategy.
So, I hope that makes clearer the reference. I recommend the movie, the novel too that the movie is based. It’s not a flag-waving, everyone is a hero type novel or film, lots of very flawed characters, but they both are worth your time.
I hope this helps. Now I’ll be cleaning the yoke off my face…
- DeseDemDose - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 10:19 am:
695 days without a budget and getting harder everyday to for Rauner to falsely blame Madigan. Rauner owns it. Rauner Failed. Rauner Lied.
- Anonymous - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 10:19 am:
Where is his stop on Orland does anyone know?
- Responsa - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 10:27 am:
People running the campaigns need to look up the definition of cognitive dissonance. The fiscal state of our state is dire and serious and needs adult responses/solutions on both sides. As long as the crisis is presented to voters as a joke represented by insulting-to-their intelligence cartoonish characters and slogans, the voting public will *never* be able to accept the depth of the problems or believe that pols are serious about fixing things.
- 37 - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 10:35 am:
Thanks Willie. I had gotten too far into the details of the original Skyhook strategy to get the simplicity of your analogy. I was in the process admitting my thickness and debating asking you for a dumbed down explanation when you came through on your own.
Bullies don’t like it when you strike back with the same tactics they’ve employed. They are cowards at heart.
- JS Mill - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 10:41 am:
The clock is kinda funny and maybe a not totally subtle dig at both Rauner and Scott Drury? No?
I also enjoy the “campyness” of the homemade costume.
- Reality Check - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 10:47 am:
Looks more like Biggie Bagel. https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1566604040/bb.JPG
- Oswego Willy - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 10:51 am:
- 37 -
You’re very welcome.
It was on me, not you, I needed to make better an explanation. I’m glad I could help with that.
OW
- Markus - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 10:55 am:
Cheap costume, hundreds of high school and college students lookin’ for summer work……..
- Rich Miller - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 10:56 am:
===They definitely bought this stupid thing off of Amazon.===
lol
You’re probably right. But what many commenters fail to understand here is that TV reporters eat this stuff up. They love visuals, no matter how silly. That’s why the Rauner folks have been doing this since their Mark Kirk days.
It works.
- DuPage Saint - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 11:12 am:
OW thanks for explanation. I was trying to figure out reference. I thought it had to do with Kareem Abdul Jabbar and his Skyhook. Maybe like slamming something in
- City Zen - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 11:31 am:
Time for pancakes!
- Oswego Willy - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 11:33 am:
Which is worse…
Being the person in the clock, with a face hidden…
… or the “operative”… that has to hold a sign… towards a costume caricature… that says “Lame”
I’m 1,000 times more embarrassed for the fellow holding the “Lame” sign…
Yikes, man.
- Oswego Willy - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 11:34 am:
- DuPage Saint -
You’re welcome. Kareem never got his due after retirement…
- City Zen - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 11:35 am:
==Rauner could have a toilet follow around JB - to signify the toilets he ripped out of his side mansion to get the tax break==
Better yet…Joe the Plumber.
- walker - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 11:39 am:
Sure hope Clock and Lame become friends, and keep each other well hydrated,
- Arsenal - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 11:40 am:
==They love visuals, no matter how silly.==
In fact, sometimes, dopier is better. Look, Quinnochio wasn’t exactly straight outta a Tim Burton movie. But every time Quinnsters highlighted how dopey he looked, they highlighted…well, him.
- Juice - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 11:40 am:
“At least Pritzker’s paying for something” says the people who owe vendors 14 billion dollars.
- Arsenal - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 11:47 am:
==I thought it had to do with Kareem Abdul Jabbar and his Skyhook.==
This was my first guess, too, LOL.
- 37B - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 11:55 am:
37 @ 10:35 was me, 37 with a B. Thanks for your 10:51 graciousness Willy (with a Y).
- Reality Check - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 11:57 am:
To the update: Which character is in costume? Because “prematurely balding white dude in khaki shorts and loafers, no socks” is some perfect Republican Hack satire.
- Hit or Miss - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 12:02 pm:
Tick Tock needs a name tag or something so that people better understand better what he is all about.
- Grand Avenue - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 12:04 pm:
Please Please Please Rauner people follow JB Pritzker around with a toilet - it’s the perfect way to remind people what a greedy SOB he is. VISUAL! MEDIA! TV!
Let’s think of a name together - Tommy the Tax-dodgin’ Toilet?
- Rich Miller - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 12:07 pm:
===follow JB Pritzker around with a toilet===
Not a pleasant image.
If I had to bet, it’d be a silver spoon.
- Grand Avenue - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 12:25 pm:
Not pleasant, but media will eat it up (I apologize for that turn of phrase).
Plus it’s a Two-For-One - it highlights the fact he disconnected his toilet, plus it brings up the bizarre tweet he sent out saying men should use women’s bathrooms to protest Trans rights being rolled back.
- Anon221 - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 1:06 pm:
To further annoy Rauner, one could do a flash mob kinda of deal at his events by synchronizing the playing of this site over and over again on their smart phone speakers.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Bv_J0j9hr0E
- Arsenal - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 1:38 pm:
Sending Mr. Flip Flop out there to stand next to the clock was just embarrassing. Congrats, geniuses, you got everyone to take even *more* pictures of an attack on your candidate, and the “At Least Pritzker Paid For Something” made me think of the bill backlog.
- Flip357 - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 2:11 pm:
Someone on the Pritzker team has been watching West Wing again.
- Say What? - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 3:07 pm:
How about a calendar that reminds people that it has been more than two decades since Madigan was not calling the shots in the legislature?
A weak looking clock costume that looks like Mom fashioned it out of junk from a thrift shop. Bob Creamer street theater worked so well in 2016.
- G'Kar - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 3:16 pm:
“Eh, it’s a job.”
- Arsenal - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 3:52 pm:
The fact that everyone’s writing fanfic about Rauner’s response tells you a lot about this.