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Adventures in tracking
Thursday, Jul 13, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller * In late June, Chris Kennedy called out what he believed at the time to be a Republican “tracker” at one of his events. But he did it in a pretty unusual way. Kennedy said people need to “show up” in politics and get involved, “like this young fella over here,” he said while pointing at the young man tracking him. The audience laughed, but Kennedy said, “At least he’s showing up, he’s doing something.” Video… The campaign didn’t share the video at the time because, a spokesperson said, “We weren’t sure it was a Republican tracker, but have since confirmed that he is.” * Last night, Kennedy ran into the tracker again at the Independent Voters of Illinois’ Independence Day Dinner Candidate Forum. They reportedly chatted for a minute, with the tracker asking if Kennedy could hold an event in Malibu so he could get a free trip out there. Kennedy asked the tracker if they could take a pic of Kennedy posing as a tracker. “He was nice enough to go along with it,” a Kennedy campaign spokesperson said… 
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- Highland Il - Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 9:47 am:
Nice to see Carrot Top has a second career.
- Curl of the Burl - Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 9:50 am:
That kid looks like Robert Smith’s (of The Cure) child.
- Come on man! - Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 9:51 am:
CK has a sense of humor
- A guy - Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 9:51 am:
== “He was nice enough to go along with it,”===
Is there anything left to say after that?
- Michelle Flaherty - Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 9:52 am:
I was wondering what Juan Epstein did after high school
- downstate commissioner - Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 9:53 am:
Wish this civility was more common in the current administration…
Your turn to comment, Mr. Rauner…
- Doofman - Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 9:53 am:
There must be really crazy stuff happening on Stranger Things Season 2 if that kid aged this quickly.
- Curl of the Burl - Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 9:54 am:
All kidding aside I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Kennedy when he was the U of I board chair. I really like the guy. I also appreciate that he is a bit more measured than some of the other Dem candidates.
- Phil King - Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 9:54 am:
And this tracker will get fired.
Who wants a tracker who everyone recognizes? Posing for the picture was a bad career choice.
- Saluki - Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 9:55 am:
good stuff
- Not It - Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 9:55 am:
Haha. Cool.
- lake county democrat - Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 9:55 am:
Like Rich’s comment yesterday about the House Reps’ administrative assistants and aides bearing the brunt of suffering when some PAC stirs up its membership to call and complain, trackerguy is just doing his job and it’s nice that CK seems to recognize that. Sure beats George Allen Jr.
- Ahoy! - Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 9:55 am:
Kind of makes me like both Kennedy and the Tracker, that is kind of fun and it’s good to see people being human.
- Anon - Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 9:55 am:
===Is there anything left to say after that?===
I’m pretty sure he either gets assigned to a different candidate now or a different position depending on the size and scope of the operation that’s hired him.
- Stones - Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 9:56 am:
Good for Kennedy. Turning a negative into a positive by playing along.
- Anon - Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 9:57 am:
It’s also nice to see a tracker being professional — in the 2014 cycle I saw many that interpreted their job as a tracker as being to disrupt an event.
It’s a political reality and it’s nice to see a candidate have a mature and humorous response to that reality.
- illini - Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 9:57 am:
It is good to know that a deserving college student is getting a paid internship with the ILLGOP.
He will go far.
- VanillaMan - Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 10:00 am:
Bravo Chris!
This is exactly what you need to be doing. Sow yourself having fun and having a sense of humor. Your presentations are dry, your charisma is dryer and you have to show a side of you that voters can relate.
Now start making fun of Rauner’s fake cosplay. Show up in a cowboy/biker/grandpa-slob outfits Bruce is always cosplaying in and let voters know that you might be the dullest in this race, but you are serious, knowledgable, experienced and mature as well as fun.
Look like you are having fun Chris. We know you are serious. Now show us more of this side of you too. A little humor against your opponents is a good thing for you to show us.
If I was on your team I’d be looking for a trash van to mock Rauner with as well.
- Leatherneck - Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 10:00 am:
It’s Herb Tarlek’s son!
- Henry Francis - Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 10:03 am:
That is a far better way of appealing to someone with different ideas than constantly demonizing them.
- Quiet Sage - Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 10:05 am:
I like Kennedy.
- Liberal Elite - Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 10:05 am:
This is the most impressive thing Kennedy has done so far in his campaign.
- JPC - Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 10:05 am:
In the spirit of playing along, if it were me I’d insist on more of these guys. For one, it keeps you honest, knowing there is in the audience someone who fervently disagrees with you. Besides, the more of these people there are the less likely you’ll have some grainy video of you saying something about God or guns or something that will run in black and white downstate.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 10:07 am:
===And this tracker will get fired.
Who wants a tracker who everyone recognizes? Posing for the picture was a bad career choice===
And…
===I’m pretty sure he either gets assigned to a different candidate now or a different position depending on the size and scope of the operation that’s hired him.===
(Sigh)
This isn’t a “double O” operational assignment here.
Each side may find the same trackers doing the same thing, at the same events.
It’s not about the “he doesn’t know we’re here” gotcha, it’s the being there for a lapse or misspoken word(s)
What, they’re going to calm the “kid” in and the trap door under his feet leads to sharks with lasers on their heads?
Take a breath.
- Arsenal - Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 10:11 am:
That’s a pretty good way to disarm the tracker, but the pic ends up making Kennedy look pretty creepy.
- Ducky LaMoore - Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 10:12 am:
If Kennedy would have squinted a little bit and looked like he was trying to avoid a puddle of water, he would look exactly like Mike Pence.
- downstate commissioner - Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 10:14 am:
I doubt that he will get fired; the backlash would hurt too much. May end up with another job…There may be a lot of R jobs available soon…
- filanges - Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 10:14 am:
Good for Kennedy, a sense of humor and treating people like human beings. Even those who are in the other party. Like others have said - more like this please.
- Bigtwich - Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 10:19 am:
“CK has a sense of humor”
I thought CK left for Texas?
- sulla - Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 10:23 am:
This is the first likeable thing that Kennedy has done on the campaign trail so far.
Up till now, I just couldn’t get past the fact that when he smiles he looks like a cenobite from the first Hellraiser film.
Yes, I’m shallow.
- Amalia - Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 10:23 am:
this is very fun. And very Chris Kennedy.
- Undiscovered country - Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 10:32 am:
love this approach. I’d routinely put the kid on the edge of the stage to “get a good vantage point”. Not let folks beat up on him, but to highlight that 1) that you’re not afraid and 2) that the opposition IS afraid or else they wouldn’t use these “dirty tricks”. in other words, hang a lantern on it.
- Louis G. Atsaves - Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 10:35 am:
Trackers are pretty easy to spot. They record everything they can, which makes them stand out. Congrats to Kennedy for having a sense of humor about it.
- BigLou - Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 10:43 am:
Leatherneck with the Herb Tarleck reference nails it
- Anonymous - Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 11:03 am:
It’s got me chuckling.
- walker - Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 11:12 am:
And that’s how you handle trackers. We used to always offer them coffee and food. They have a thankless job.
- ArchPundit - Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 11:35 am:
Don’t mess with the other candidates’ events and everyone should get along.
This is like when I worked in retail for Best Buy and Circuit City in the early/mid 90s. We went an shopped each other every day and you went about your business and made sure not to bother the others customers while getting the pricing.
If you do it professionally, they are very nice when you have to ask to use their phone because you locked your keys in your car.
===ho wants a tracker who everyone recognizes? Posing for the picture was a bad career choice=
There isn’t a tracker professional organization. It’s the kind of a job you do before moving along to something else. Usually the campaign gets to know the tracker and other than a few paranoid jerks, gets along with them as long as they don’t mess with the events.
- Northsider - Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 12:58 pm:
Leatherneck @ 10 a.m. wins the thread.
But those clothes are far too … stylish.
- Mama - Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 2:55 pm:
I want to know who hired that tracker. Does anyone know who hired him to track Kennedy?
- Veil of Ignorance - Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 4:47 pm:
Funny story and great move by Kennedy. As for the tracker, based on his Malibu request it sounds like he’ll be really torn up if they take him off tracking duties.
- Reformed Public Servant - Friday, Jul 14, 17 @ 8:44 am:
What’s the OVER / UNDER on this tracker flipping over to be CK’s body man for the rest of his campaign?