68 Comments - AlfondoGonz - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 6:44 pm: I have an intramural kickball game to compete in this very chilly Chicago evening, so I’ll offer my thoughts on the debate preemptively. Rauner looks terrible and is one of the most unappealing people I’ve ever seen “grace” my t.v. screen. JB is hardly a leader of men, but he played keep away very nicely. No one actually answered a question. The moderators did the best they could. Needle hasn’t moved; JB in a landslide, and thank everything sacred for that. - btowntruth from forgottonia - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:01 pm: My guess is he tacks further rightward to try to get votes away from McCann and Pritzker. Expect a lot of “Madigan” and Chicago badmouthing from Rauner since he is downstate. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:03 pm: Rauner begins sounding like a challenger. Not great. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:05 pm: Pritzker talks future… better. - Chicago Cynic - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:07 pm: Rauner seems nervous. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:09 pm: Rauner answers Veterans Home question, says sorry to families for their loss… Pivots to Pritzker tax fraud. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:11 pm: Pritzker answers Vet Home question, follows up on keeping the facility… - Arthur Andersen - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:11 pm: Neither one impressive on the Veterans’ home issues. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:12 pm: Rauner pivots again… “Scheme to Defraud”… no answer on Veterans Home. - Arthur Andersen - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:14 pm: Oh Come On, Bruce, JB didn’t steal from the “taxpayers of Illinois.” Property taxes are statewide? - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:14 pm: Gross campaign negligence by Pritzker now has Rauner on tangent… starts into Pritzker… Blago tapes too. - wordslinger - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:15 pm: –The governor says that families were immediately notified when residents became ill. That’s just plain false, according to the families.– Gee, I wonder who I should believe? Rauner lies so much — is it pathological, he can’t help it, he’s sick? Rauner must know that the families are going to be interviewed and expose this lie. He must know that his own administration’s records reveal it is a lie. Yet he does it anyway. - Lucky Pierre - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:15 pm: Lisa Madigan finally gets around to doing a criminal probe of an Illinois political , Governor Rauner 24 hours after the inspector General’s report is leaked. Coincidence to deflect the heat from JB to Governor Rauner? - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:16 pm: Pritzker takes down Rauner by going “Failed Governor”… but starts to clarify property tax issue. - Grandson of Man - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:16 pm: The audience is with Pritzker. I thought could tell when they laughed the first time. They laughed and cheered when Pritzker said Rauner is in his last hour as a failed governor. - Arthur Andersen - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:18 pm: We can lower K-12. Good luck with that, JB. Still trying to spend the same new dollar four different ways. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:19 pm: Pritzker has more wish list than budget… vague… as Edgar suggested. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:21 pm: Rauner talks Indiana like he’s the challenger, or the incumbent. Not great to make the case for re-elect. - Arthur Andersen - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:23 pm: Finally, Sterigenics. - Mittuns - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:25 pm: Indiana has a state and county income tax. On average, over 6%. 7% state sales tax. - low level - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:26 pm: Good for JB. Absolutely correct about the propery taxes. I honesly dont know what is wrong w Rauner at this point. Looks and sounds awful. Maybe it was the papers w Maze? - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:26 pm: Pritzker won’t answer progression income tax question. Rauner - Pritzker dodge question like he dodges taxes. - Mittuns - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:27 pm: Just say a tax rate. Use Ohio as a guide on the rates. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:31 pm: Pritzker says Rauner never called Durbin to help IL farmers… - wordslinger - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:31 pm: –I honesly dont know what is wrong w Rauner at this point. Looks and sounds awful. Maybe it was the papers w Maze?– Maybe his conscience is attacking him for telling lies about Quincy all day. For crying out loud, how can you do that to the families? - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:33 pm: These are two candidates playing to the lowest of lows, without much “feel” to what voters are wanting to hear. Either prep work is gawd awful, or no plan by either to discuss what people might want to hear. Not great. - Grandson of Man - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:35 pm: Rauner rippin’ off Manar on education reform. - wordslinger - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:37 pm: –”This baloney about Andy Manar” says Rauner after Pritzker gave Manar the credit for passage of the education funding reform proposal.– Unbelievable, this guy. Literally. - Arthur Andersen - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:38 pm: Rauner ain’t gonna have much of a capital bill with those “revenue sources.” People love tollways downstate. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:39 pm: Pritzker ticks of the laundry list of Rauner failures and how those are hurting economic growth. This is better - Grandson of Man - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:41 pm: Rauner going full gaslight on blaming Madigan for the budget crisis and full not in charge by blamin’ the Democratic supermajority. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:42 pm: Rauner starts droppin’ Gs… that’s fun. - wordslinger - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:44 pm: Christian Mitchell is a rapid-response dynamo. Bit of a change at DPI. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:46 pm: To the Christian Mitchell tweets… Rauner has not given a reason for his re-elect off his record. That’s where Rauner falls flat in these forums. - Lucky Pierre - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:47 pm: JB says illegal immigrants are not illegal because they are human beings. Do human beings ever break the law? - Lucky Pierre - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:49 pm: Why is very business organization in Illinois endorsing Governor Rauner if JB’s “plan” is so great? - Arthur Andersen - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:51 pm: Oh, that consideration model again. Too bad the legal version saves no money. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:52 pm: Did I miss it, did Pritzker mention the Crain’s endorsement to counter the “bidness” endorsements of Rauner? Hmm. - Ole' Nelson - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:53 pm: Got in late, but seems like the best run debate so far. - Pundent - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:53 pm: Why is Rauner’s approval rating at 30% if his “plan” is so great? - Pundent - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:55 pm: Rauner needs to be likable angry Bruce is not likable. - Lucky Pierre - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:56 pm: JB blaming Governor Rauner for the pension debacle in Illinois and not the politicians still in office who have underfunded them for decades. Talk about Chutzpah - btowntruth from forgottonia - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:56 pm: “not pitting one part of the state against the other.” BINGO. There is what Pritzker needed to say. - wordslinger - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:57 pm: –JB says illegal immigrants are not illegal because they are human beings. Do human beings ever break the law?– Where would Rauner be without you? Keep up the good work. You’ll show that McCann who’s boss. - Can - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:58 pm: J.B. smoked him. - Grandson of Man - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 8:00 pm: Rauner went back on the attacks again in the close. He almost sounded hysterical. I just listened to the words without watching. It’s not working, but he’s triplin’ down. - Ole' Nelson - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 8:00 pm: Hey LP Guess what? Rauner is now a part of the pension problem. He has underfunded pensions during his term and kicked the can like the others. Quinn was much more responsible regarding pension payments than Rauner. Own it. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 8:00 pm: Closing? Pritzker talks future… Rauner rambles, stumbles, looks angry and flustered. Pritzker walked ALL the way across the stage to shake hands, Rauner looks less than collegial. - btowntruth from forgottonia - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 8:03 pm: “Why is very business organization in Illinois endorsing Governor Rauner if JB’s “plan” is so great?” That’s a lie.Not every one of them is. The Illinois Retail Merchants Association (IRMA) represents over 20,000 stores in Illinois and they say they aren’t endorsing any candidate for Governor. - Fixer - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 8:03 pm: Andy Manar launching some snark at Rauner on his comments. I like it. More. - btowntruth from forgottonia - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 8:04 pm: Pritzker colored inside the lines. Rauner complained about the crayons and the drawings. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 8:06 pm: Good thing that Pritzker Crew let fester that property tax thingy… otherwise Rauner woulda lost a 1/3 if his talking time. Gross campaign malpractice by Pritzker is helping JB… it makes Rauner ramble #LemonsIntoLemonade - Pundent - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 8:12 pm: Tax cheat seems to have replaced Madigan. But Rauner ends up sounding like an old LP (ironic) stuck in the same spot. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 8:14 pm: Good stuff on the Veterans Home, the property tax stuff still hanging around, nothing changed tonight, horrible news for Rauner, he needed to make up some ground, it didn’t happen here. - Real - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 8:26 pm: Pritzker walked ALL the way across the stage to shake hands, Rauner looks less than collegial. -If you look at all the past debates it was Pritzker who always went to shake Rauner’s hand. Rauner is slack at everything that doesn’t include cutting worker wages and busting Unions. See Quincy and Janus for examples. He couldn’t handle Quincy, but he waited in Washington D.C. days before a decision was made.. - A Jack - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 8:38 pm: Quincy has to be one of the friendliest audiences in the state for Rauner, but they weren’t really enthusiastic for him tonight. - Rauner jr - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 8:38 pm: Don’t worry Lucky Pierre, I’m sure in January when you lose your taxpayer funded gig dad will put you into a sweet PE gig somewhere. Save all your screenshots. - Illinois Resident - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 9:12 pm: Rauner is desperate and it showed in the debate. He just has zero accomplishments to run upon. So he constantly talks about about a tax assessment that has nothing to do with anything. - Illinois Resident - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 9:14 pm: Pritzker went out of his way to talk about cannabis legalization; how it will help our state in many ways (tax revenue, industry, criminal justice). Finally a politician who has a clue. - Illinois Resident - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 9:17 pm: Trying to pin Pritzker down on the exact progressive tax rates is ridicules. It is the concept. Progressive tax rates are not new. Surrounding states and our federal government have them. - Grandson of Man - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 9:24 pm: My favorite moment that got me out of my seat was when Pritzker said he supports marijuana legalization. That is a way to do a lot of good: create businesses and jobs, reform criminal justice and save tax dollars, gain state and local tax revenue, personal freedom, etc. - Illinois Resident - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 9:28 pm: Grandson of Man - My favorite part too. He gets it. - Baloneymous - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 9:29 pm: Rauner as the incumbent did a horrible job and terrible finish. Pritzker did just enough and nothing great but was at least positive. Rauner is so bad at this when he can’t say “Pat Quinn failed”. he has nothing after 4 long years and came across worn out and sad. - wordslinger - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 9:46 pm: Rauner getting lost and choking on his “racism” accusation is an instant classic. The dead air, point to the panel member and “what did he call him?” plea for help was priceless. - Lucky Pierre - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 10:17 pm: Ole Nelson Check your facts pension contribution has gone up every year https://www.civicfed.org/iifs/blog/proposed-state-illinois-pension-contributions-increase-nearly-7-fy2019 - AnonAnon - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 10:37 pm: Lucky P … Two things … First, still waiting on your answer to OW’s reply to your all of the business comment. OW is correct as usual,but you don’t want to acknowledge that. Second, go away. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 10:47 pm: Rauner’s lacking in the Veterans Home answer and Rauner’s fabrication (let’s make it one, for brevity) of the entire legislative process and his role in it these four years sunk Rauner, and the dishonesty with school funding… and Manar… only reinforced that all the lacking and fabrications, Rauner failed this state… and he knows… voters know too. The takeaway is Rauner has nothing positive to say for four years… - XDNR - Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 11:16 pm: Word - That deer in the headlights pause was truly priceless, I had to do a double take. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.