51 Comments - 47th Ward - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 5:01 pm: If you have “blind trust” on your debate bingo card, I think you’re going to win big tonight. - Curious - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 5:05 pm: Any bars or watch parties in Springfield playing it? - Left Shark - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 5:11 pm: Looking forward to JB imploding. He is so incredibly bad in these settings. (Or private setting, public settings, indoor settings, outdoor settings, large venues, small venues, etc..) But he does really great at staged photo ops. Had to end on a positive, of course. - wordslinger - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 5:27 pm: –If you have “blind trust” on your debate bingo card, I think you’re going to win big tonight.– Maybe from JB, but I’m guessing “Blagojevich tapes” from Kennedy and Biss. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 6:06 pm: They all look nervous…. - Responsa - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 6:06 pm: Oh brother. Bad start from question one. JB has not come up with a new/improved talking point about Blago and “hundreds of people talking to him”. - Responsa - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 6:07 pm: Carol’s layin’ it down. No filibustering allowed. - Moe Berg - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 6:11 pm: Dr. Marshall is a whacko. He should not be on that stage. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 6:18 pm: What’s up with all the black suits? - Responsa - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 6:22 pm: Oh, Tio. - Arthur Andersen - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 6:31 pm: Maybe it’s just the flu talking, but I would count two that sound more whacko than Marshall at the halfway point. #Tio2020 - Ole' Nelson - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 6:32 pm: Carol is all business. She is doing a great job. - TKMH - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 6:32 pm: Halfway in, and JB is the least worst one on that stage. Barely. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 6:33 pm: Starting to get a little pointed… glad Carol Marin is keeping it in the rails… - TaylorvilleTornado - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 6:33 pm: It’s too bad that Biss is almost as politically inept as Rauner. He is a great candidate otherwise. - Responsa - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 6:40 pm: OK I’ve seen enough. I’ve decided. I’m voting for Carol. - TaylorvilleTornado - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 6:41 pm: Responsa, I’m with you. #Carol2022 - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 6:44 pm: Carol’s patience is waning… can’t blame her feeling that way. - Keyrock - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 6:45 pm: I’m considering a Carol/Responsa ticket. Can we write them in? - TaylorvilleTornado - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 6:46 pm: Oh man. I forgot Biss supports the financial transaction tax. That’s a no-go. Who came up with that inane idea? - Mittuns - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 6:52 pm: Daiber with the best showing, imo. - Lamont - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 6:52 pm: Daiber talking about himself in the third person is not good. Man, a bunch of flawed candidates but I’d take any of them over Rauner…even Dr. Marshall. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 6:55 pm: Kennedy can’t think of ONE thing good to say about Pritzker, but applauds Rauner. Think on that, Dems… - Keyrock - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 6:55 pm: Using the sound off method, so help me, Tio looks best. - Sigh - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 6:56 pm: Can Biss just answer the the question that is being asked? - Chicago Cynic - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 6:57 pm: “Looking forward to JB imploding.” Sorry that didn’t work out for you. - Seats - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 6:59 pm: I got a chuckle when Kennedy went for what felt about 3 seconds with his eyes closed while speaking. - Chicago Cynic - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 7:10 pm: How did Kennedy manage to blow that question about saying something nice? - Little Lebowski Urban Achiever - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 7:15 pm: Pritzker is not good at this. Biss can’t give sound bites. Plus Biss and Pritzker went at each other. Kennedy was pretty much unscathed. Kennedy also finally explained his marijuana answer with clarity. Good night for Kennedy by any measure. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 7:15 pm: Not only did Kennedy come off unlikeable and angry by not saying one good thing about Pritzker, Kennedy seemed to have one goal tonight, to go after Pritzker, no matter how awful he looked doing it. Why go out of your way to be so angry and go after another candidate, no matter how it makes you look? Puzzling. - Little Lebowski Urban Achiever - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 7:17 pm: Anyone watching the press conferences? Kennedy said he apologized to JB for not saying anything nice about him. - Little Lebowski Urban Achiever - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 7:18 pm: OW, always with respect, that was one answer. Kennedy owned up to it just now and apologized to JB on the way off the stage. Biss was the one going after JB. And Carol Marin’s questions to JB about his toilet and Rod are exactly what he’s going to face from Rauner. And he still has awful answers. - Chicago Cynic - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 7:19 pm: “Good night for Kennedy by any measure.” You clearly watched a different debate. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 7:19 pm: ===Anyone watching the press conferences? Kennedy said he apologized to JB for not saying anything nice about him.=== This Just In: Too little, too late. You want to be classless in a debate, you own thatcto who you are. Apologizing now doesn’t take away what was the intent during a debate. In actuality, it’s worse now that he appears logized. Kennedy knew he was doing wrong. Did it anyway. - Little Lebowski Urban Achiever - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 7:22 pm: He said he apologized to JB’s face as he was walking off the stage. But ok. You didn’t like it. Got it. What did you think of JB’s answers to what will be Rauner’s primary lines of attack? Toilets and Rod. Still awful. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 7:24 pm: - Little Lebowski Urban Achiever - With zero disrespect towards you, a commenter I do read and respect. Kennedy apologizing now, after doing what he did, the moment is over. No candidate can go into a forum like this and rationalize that they have nothing good to say about those they share a stage. I hear ya, I really do. It’s important to note that an ap Life happened, but in the debate, that is at the bottom/least thing… absolutely awful form. I respect your take. I hope I made my take a bit clearer too. OW - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 7:26 pm: “apologized” - Sickntired - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 7:26 pm: JB has too much baggage. Kennedy is not a speaker. Biss is not gonna win. The downstate superintendent makes the most sense but doesn’t have the cash. The other 2 scare me. The dems are in trouble. I’ll vote against Rauner but this these guys are not great choices. - Little Lebowski Urban Achiever - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 7:29 pm: OW, I appreciate the kind words. But what CK did is something I’ve seen happen over and over again in multi-candidate primary debates. You villainize your opponent. Your mind is on attacking them. And you get asked to say something nice. It’s not natural to say something nice after you’ve been preparing to go after them. That’s why it’s such a good question. CK did poorly. But I think overall his performance was strong. JB still can’t answer fundamental questions. That’s a much bigger issue IMO. - Arsenal - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 7:32 pm: The headline out of this debate will be Kennedy’s continued nervous breakdown. - Jefferson - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 7:36 pm: OW, well said, as always. CK seems bitter, Biss did not have answer for his PAC participation. Ugh. - Roman - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 7:41 pm: Looking for a drinking game? Take a shot every time someone in the media says “no knock out blows” were thrown the next 12 hours. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 7:42 pm: - Little Lebowski Urban Achiever - It’s all good, much respect. Here’s where I think you may be missing where I’m at… ===But what CK did is something I’ve seen happen over and over again in multi-candidate primary debates. You villainize your opponent. Your mind is on attacking them.=== Here. I would say 7 out of 10 times I’d agree with you, and we’d talk about strategy and being prepared avd all that debate wonky stuff. This is one of those 3 times. Kennedy went out of his way, even clarifying, he (Kennedy) can applaud Rauner, and explain that, but can’t prepare to say something nice about a Dem? Makes me wonder aloud why Kennedy can be prepared to applaud Rauner, but can’t think of a thing good to say about Pritzker? Taking nothing away from you or your thoughts, but this is one of those 3 times, man, what a time to have such bad form after praising Rauner so recently. It’s puzzling. (Tips cap to - Jefferson -) - TKMH - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 7:53 pm: Kennedy’s lack of praise towards JB (or anyone for that matter) was a particularly ugly moment. Even Trump was able to answer the “one positive attribute of your opponent” question gracefully in the second presidential debate. If one brash outsider real estate developer-turned-political-candidate can answer that question, so can another. JB projected the air of a governor, and answered the questions competently (except for the first). Chris and Biss had far greater shortcomings; Kennedy is awkward and so is Biss, but Kennedy was simply much slower on his feet. Biss is just very dry and too politically radical to be taken seriously. The other three aren’t worth even mentioning. Illinois is the bluest state in the Midwest, and Gov. Rauner is facing a midterm year where anti-Trump voters will want to send a message to the Republican Party. JB is the only candidate who could decently comport himself to meet the moment. He needs to learn, however, how to talk adequately about toilets and wiretaps going forward. One quick note: anyone notice that JB only ever went after Biss, and really didn’t give Kennedy the time of day? Wonder what those internals are showing… - blue dog dem - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 7:55 pm: Its hard to find a single good thing to say about JB’s policy positions. Or for that matter Kennedys or Biss. Daiber might be the best. - Hottot - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 8:35 pm: Any time Rauner accuses JB Pritzker of corruption, I take it with a grain of salt. IMHO, he’s the sleaziest governor we’ve had in decades, even sleazier than Blagojevich. He lied about his meeting with Kirkpatrick, and I still think he’s made money of the state’s debt. How he’s not under investigation, I’ll never know! - Chicago Cynic - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 8:56 pm: “It’s hard to find a single good thing to say about JB’s policy positions…” Blue Dog, maybe that’s because you’re a Republican and have been for some time. - blue dog dem - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 9:41 pm: …or Rauner. Hows that. I will admit. I have become much more conservative(fiscally) in my old age. I see everyday how difficult it is for my three kids to live in Illinois with the overall tax burden being what it is. I can only imagine the struggles that the working poor go through. We just cant go on spending and promising. And if you think JB or any of the others are going to follow through with a progressive tax, well good luck. - Andrew - Tuesday, Jan 23, 18 @ 10:32 pm: What do you all think of Dr. Marshall’s proposed plan to break up Illinois into three states (Chicago, suburbs, and downstate). Him actually saying that in the debate seriously makes me wonder what is going on up there in his head. Would love to have someone press his campaign staff on the logistics of that happening. - Odysseus - Wednesday, Jan 24, 18 @ 12:50 am: Wow that was awful. CK failing to say anything positive has pretty much locked in my vote against him. Breaking the state up will not happen, and even discussing it is a worthless waste of time. Not nearly enough scorn was heaped on that. The overall information content was ridiculously low. - Rabid - Wednesday, Jan 24, 18 @ 3:53 am: Chris showed who was the bigger man, I liked tio’s pardon for pot, could the marshall’s plan be three countys Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.