Today, the Rauner campaign is releasing a new digital video featuring Governor Bruce Rauner outside his childhood home in Deerfield.
In the video, Bruce talks about his old home, growing up in the neighborhood, and fond memories with his family and friends. Bruce says it’s these kind of wonderful neighborhoods with great schools that we need to have all across Illinois and he’s fighting hard to lower taxes so every community can thrive and grow.
* I was just messing with the governor a bit with that headline. I actually like this video…
* Script…
This is the house I grew up in here in Deerfield. I have very fond memories of this house. Two-and-half bedrooms. My little baby sister had the tiny room, my two cousins and I shared a room. About 10-by-10, it was a pretty wild place, not a lot of sleeping going on in there.
But wonderful neighborhood. That was the Claremore’s house, that was the Baker’s house. Every house had between three and six kids in it. Lot of fun memories playing with everybody. My mom in the evenings to get us back home for dinner, she used to come outside, she got a boat horn, and squeeze and blow it out the back kitchen door. Every kid on the block in the neighborhood knew it was dinner time when my mom blew the boat horn, so we’d all run home and go get dinner.
This is what we want in every community in the state of Illinois. Wonderful neighborhoods for children with outstanding schools. And we need to make sure government is efficient so we can bring down the property taxes. I know even back then my parents used to talk about property taxes. They’ve always been higher, and boy they’ve grown a lot in Illinois. We need to find ways to bring those down, that’s what we’re working for every day.
I guess the campaign is looking for anything that will connect. That’s pretty hard when you started as an upper middle class upbringing and never really knew how the other half lived.
–… and over there, that’s where that Madigan kid used to hide before he’d light the paper bag of dog-doo, leave it on our porch and ring the doorbell….
… I never caught him in the act, but I know it was him. I swore, on my Swedish immigrant grandpa, that one day I’d get my revenge….
- The Real Captain - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 11:50 am:
So the sitting governor of the state couldn’t convince the owner to use the inside or better yet back yard of the house for the ad? Instead they stood by a busy street and shot from the sidewalk … wow.
- Chris P. Bacon - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 11:52 am:
Deerfield less than 1 percent black according to latest census. 90% white.
Yep, that’s Rauner’s world.
Good they found a couple of black folks for the ad though.
- Way South of I-80 - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 11:52 am:
If this was the guy who had been Illinois governor for the last four years he might have had a chance to win a second term. Not only too little, too late, also too disingenuous.
- Henry Francis - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 11:53 am:
Deerfield Guv doesn’t drop his g’s.
He has to know he is going to lose the election and this won’t change that fact at this late date. This has more to do with trying to repair the Rauner name so he and Di still get invited to all the best parties.
In the WTTW biodoc, the house is described as having bedrooms for each sibling. Also, he states he shared one bedroom with his cousins, not his brothers??? What’s up, and what’s the truth???
OK- the script should say “brothers” not “cousins”. I read the script before watching the video. But still, the two bedroom claim isn’t jiving with the WTTW backgrounder.
I saw that reference to cousins; there’s either more of a story there, or more madeup stuff. He has spun so many yarns already.
- The Dude Abides - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 12:05 pm:
Nice friendly ad that makes Rauner seem likeable. Is the comment about the boat horn true or is it made up like the grandparents being immigrants story and so many other lies he’s been caught in?
As for property taxes being too high almost everyone would agree. Back in the Spring Rauner proposed a pension cost shift to local governments which would result in raising property taxes. Now a week before the election he says that he wants to lower them.
- Anon E Moose - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 12:05 pm:
“Wonderful neighborhoods for children with outstanding schools. And we need to make sure government is efficient so we can bring down the property taxes.”
And how do you think those outstanding schools were paid for? Term limits?
How do you attend Lake Forest High School if you live in Deerfield? Or was this before his dad became General Counsel at Motorola and he acquired his expensive tastes? This is part of the vacuum of his life he always skips over between “My Swedish immigrant grandfather lived in a double-wide in Wisconsin” and “I’m running for governor now as a regular guy (with 9 homes) to lower my, er, your taxes…”
I really don’t care if he lived at the North Pole, and played with elves. I just want him to lose and be gone. He has been a disaster from start to finish. Illinois deserves better.
From the WTTW interview: “She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder early in his childhood and he spent most of his childhood with a mother who was often institutionalized, often medicated.”
From the ad: “My mom in the evenings to get us back home for dinner, she used to come outside, she got a boat horn, and squeeze and blow it out the back kitchen door.”
Which is true? Such a disparity of images. Not sure which to believe. Parsing of memories?
Last week I commented that something Wordslinger said on a post was probably the funniest thing I’ve read on this blog. I’d like to amend that. His comment @ 11:50 has me rolling.
- Henry Francis - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 12:27 pm:
The poor guy is always alone. Other than Di, no one stands with him. Or speaks with him.
Couldn’t he get one of the Clamore kids to join him? What about one of the Baker boys?
- ChanceMcCall - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 12:33 pm:
I’m not sure this ad will do him any good, but it is such a relief from all of the attack ads that all R and D are running.
I was born and raised in Deerfield
In a split level next to the woods
I was so ragged Mike M. Used to call me Patches
So I said one day I would fix him good!
The WTTW bio-doc also points out that the Rauner’s Deerfield home was featured in a Chicago Tribune home-and-garden profile — so it ain’t exactly a shingle-sided bungalow in Stickney.
Then again, Deerfield is “slumming it” compared to where the Rauner’s later moved — Lake Forest and Scottsdale, AZ.
- NickFromWTTW - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 12:55 pm:
@Anon221 This was shot in front of the house he lived in for the first few years of his life — per the Tribune on 12/7/1963, the Rauners moved into a 10-room, five-bedroom house in Deerfield in the fall of that year.
This ad fails to tell me what he’s done to earn reelection. It fails to tell me what he’ll do for me if reelected. It fails to tell me that he knows we all suffered during his term.
He’s already governor, he’s a failure, and I already moved on. Talking about his childhood home is assuming that I just need to know him better. We all know him. That’s why he’s going to come in third place next week.
- Louis G Atsaves - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 1:05 pm:
Missing is JB’s ad standing in front of his childhood home and talking fondly about playing with the neighborhood kids.
Deerfield is a nice town. Why are so many critical of it here?
Don’t worry gang. Just messing with you.
- Paddyrollingstone - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 1:06 pm:
Nick - so that would mean that Bruce moved out of that house before his 7th birthday. He’s got great recall for the times he was 4-6 years old. Knows the names of all the neighbors and who lived where. Good stuff.
He is so painfully gaunt. I would feel sorry for him — but then I think about Sterigenics… and Quincy… and the devastation of the state’s human services safety net…
- Robert the Bruce - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 1:32 pm:
The Baker and Claremonts are reading this right now saying to themselves “I don’t remember any boat horn from the Rauners, do you?”
Rauner and I are exactly the same age. We share a birthday. The one and only event I remember from 1963 was the assassination. It makes me wonder if he even remembers living in this house.
-I’d sell my soul to see Pat Quinn in the background mowing the lawn wearing short and black socks with sandals.
Might be even funnier swapping out Quinn for Pritzker; rocking the photo bomb while mugging for the camera.
- Little Changes - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 2:27 pm:
Too late to sell the “I’m human” stuff. Sorry Bruce. You had four years to be real. You weren’t. You were so determined to find some goofy way to appeal to whatever audience you thought you’d encounter. You failed, dude. This video is good stuff, though. Should have used it, I’d say….like four years ago.
Where are the laid off university employees and the bankrupt vendors being evicted from the house next door? Where the finger pointing that will surely start again if he wins… AFscamy… remember that?
==From the WTTW interview: “She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder early in his childhood and he spent most of his childhood with a mother who was often institutionalized, often medicated.”=
A missing mother is rough. Medication works for bipolar disorder, but not if you don’t take it. Bipolar disorder is hereditary by the way.
Losing all that weight, my wife says I’ve never been happier, could our governors be suffering from mania? People seek help for depression, not so much for mania. And in a maniac state people make really bad decisions. I know I’m being an armchair psychiatrist but I’m starting to feel sorry for him.
- Da Big Bad Wolf - Thursday, Nov 1, 18 @ 6:20 am:
- Maestro - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 11:44 am:
I guess the campaign is looking for anything that will connect. That’s pretty hard when you started as an upper middle class upbringing and never really knew how the other half lived.
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 11:44 am:
Dear Rauner Crew,
I told ya, like 7 months ago… make Rauner likable,
Now 7 days out you roll out a pretty nice piece that has early voting underway, and Bruce’s approval under water, maybe by 20 points?
Where was this in April?
No, seriously, where was this in April…
- Arsenal - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 11:45 am:
This would be really effective if it wasn’t put up 6 days out.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 11:47 am:
This was a beautiful peek into the childhood of a man who was to become the real life incarnation of Montgomery Burns from The Simpsons.
- wordslinger - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 11:50 am:
–… and over there, that’s where that Madigan kid used to hide before he’d light the paper bag of dog-doo, leave it on our porch and ring the doorbell….
… I never caught him in the act, but I know it was him. I swore, on my Swedish immigrant grandpa, that one day I’d get my revenge….
- The Real Captain - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 11:50 am:
So the sitting governor of the state couldn’t convince the owner to use the inside or better yet back yard of the house for the ad? Instead they stood by a busy street and shot from the sidewalk … wow.
- Oof - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 11:51 am:
== Where was this in April? ==
Idea was shot down… because Madigan.
- Chris P. Bacon - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 11:52 am:
Deerfield less than 1 percent black according to latest census. 90% white.
Yep, that’s Rauner’s world.
Good they found a couple of black folks for the ad though.
- Way South of I-80 - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 11:52 am:
If this was the guy who had been Illinois governor for the last four years he might have had a chance to win a second term. Not only too little, too late, also too disingenuous.
- Henry Francis - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 11:53 am:
Deerfield Guv doesn’t drop his g’s.
He has to know he is going to lose the election and this won’t change that fact at this late date. This has more to do with trying to repair the Rauner name so he and Di still get invited to all the best parties.
- Moe Berg - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 11:54 am:
About half an hour ago he was tweeting out a video of him and Diana talking about his favorite movies:
“Bruce’s favorite movies? The Godfather and My Cousin Vinny[exclamation point, for some reason]”
So humanizing. He grew up in a house in Deerfield and played outside until dinner. He likes movies.
Until JB can assure us he grew up in a house, played outside until dinner, and likes movies, I’m votin’ for Bruce.
- Anon221 - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 11:55 am:
In the WTTW biodoc, the house is described as having bedrooms for each sibling. Also, he states he shared one bedroom with his cousins, not his brothers??? What’s up, and what’s the truth???
https://news.wttw.com/2018/10/30/race-illinois-governor-2018-bruce-rauner
- Anon221 - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 11:59 am:
OK- the script should say “brothers” not “cousins”. I read the script before watching the video. But still, the two bedroom claim isn’t jiving with the WTTW backgrounder.
- Molly Maguire - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 12:05 pm:
I saw that reference to cousins; there’s either more of a story there, or more madeup stuff. He has spun so many yarns already.
- The Dude Abides - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 12:05 pm:
Nice friendly ad that makes Rauner seem likeable. Is the comment about the boat horn true or is it made up like the grandparents being immigrants story and so many other lies he’s been caught in?
As for property taxes being too high almost everyone would agree. Back in the Spring Rauner proposed a pension cost shift to local governments which would result in raising property taxes. Now a week before the election he says that he wants to lower them.
- Anon E Moose - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 12:05 pm:
“Wonderful neighborhoods for children with outstanding schools. And we need to make sure government is efficient so we can bring down the property taxes.”
And how do you think those outstanding schools were paid for? Term limits?
- City Zen - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 12:07 pm:
==Deerfield less than 1 percent black according to latest census. 90% white.==
JB grew up in Atherton, CA, a town with a smaller black population than Deerfield.
- Strategy Geek - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 12:08 pm:
How do you attend Lake Forest High School if you live in Deerfield? Or was this before his dad became General Counsel at Motorola and he acquired his expensive tastes? This is part of the vacuum of his life he always skips over between “My Swedish immigrant grandfather lived in a double-wide in Wisconsin” and “I’m running for governor now as a regular guy (with 9 homes) to lower my, er, your taxes…”
- Retired Educator - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 12:13 pm:
I really don’t care if he lived at the North Pole, and played with elves. I just want him to lose and be gone. He has been a disaster from start to finish. Illinois deserves better.
- Montrose - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 12:14 pm:
What OW said. Had he tried this in the Spring, it might have actually helped him.
- Huh? - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 12:15 pm:
From the WTTW interview: “She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder early in his childhood and he spent most of his childhood with a mother who was often institutionalized, often medicated.”
From the ad: “My mom in the evenings to get us back home for dinner, she used to come outside, she got a boat horn, and squeeze and blow it out the back kitchen door.”
Which is true? Such a disparity of images. Not sure which to believe. Parsing of memories?
- Cubs in '16 - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 12:20 pm:
Last week I commented that something Wordslinger said on a post was probably the funniest thing I’ve read on this blog. I’d like to amend that. His comment @ 11:50 has me rolling.
- Henry Francis - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 12:27 pm:
The poor guy is always alone. Other than Di, no one stands with him. Or speaks with him.
Couldn’t he get one of the Clamore kids to join him? What about one of the Baker boys?
- ChanceMcCall - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 12:33 pm:
I’m not sure this ad will do him any good, but it is such a relief from all of the attack ads that all R and D are running.
- Bulbous1 - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 12:36 pm:
I’d sell my soul to see Pat Quinn in the background mowing the lawn wearing short and black socks with sandals.
- Chunga - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 12:39 pm:
I was born and raised in Deerfield
In a split level next to the woods
I was so ragged Mike M. Used to call me Patches
So I said one day I would fix him good!
- Keyrock - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 12:45 pm:
I’m waiting for the Harvard Business School video.
- Roman - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 12:53 pm:
The WTTW bio-doc also points out that the Rauner’s Deerfield home was featured in a Chicago Tribune home-and-garden profile — so it ain’t exactly a shingle-sided bungalow in Stickney.
Then again, Deerfield is “slumming it” compared to where the Rauner’s later moved — Lake Forest and Scottsdale, AZ.
- NickFromWTTW - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 12:55 pm:
@Anon221 This was shot in front of the house he lived in for the first few years of his life — per the Tribune on 12/7/1963, the Rauners moved into a 10-room, five-bedroom house in Deerfield in the fall of that year.
- VanillaMan - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 1:00 pm:
This ad fails to tell me what he’s done to earn reelection. It fails to tell me what he’ll do for me if reelected. It fails to tell me that he knows we all suffered during his term.
He’s already governor, he’s a failure, and I already moved on. Talking about his childhood home is assuming that I just need to know him better. We all know him. That’s why he’s going to come in third place next week.
- Anon221 - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 1:04 pm:
Thanks for the clarification Nick🙂
- Louis G Atsaves - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 1:05 pm:
Missing is JB’s ad standing in front of his childhood home and talking fondly about playing with the neighborhood kids.
Deerfield is a nice town. Why are so many critical of it here?
Don’t worry gang. Just messing with you.
- Paddyrollingstone - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 1:06 pm:
Nick - so that would mean that Bruce moved out of that house before his 7th birthday. He’s got great recall for the times he was 4-6 years old. Knows the names of all the neighbors and who lived where. Good stuff.
- Soccermom - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 1:14 pm:
He is so painfully gaunt. I would feel sorry for him — but then I think about Sterigenics… and Quincy… and the devastation of the state’s human services safety net…
- Robert the Bruce - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 1:32 pm:
The Baker and Claremonts are reading this right now saying to themselves “I don’t remember any boat horn from the Rauners, do you?”
- Cheryl44 - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 1:43 pm:
12/7/1963
Rauner and I are exactly the same age. We share a birthday. The one and only event I remember from 1963 was the assassination. It makes me wonder if he even remembers living in this house.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 1:44 pm:
Surprised we didn’t get to see one of his many costumes in an ad released on halloween.
- 37B - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 1:45 pm:
“This is the house I grew up in here in Deerfield.”
So you stopped growing once you moved to Lake Forest?
- 37B - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 1:48 pm:
@ Bulbous1: 12:36 pm:
-I’d sell my soul to see Pat Quinn in the background mowing the lawn wearing short and black socks with sandals.
Might be even funnier swapping out Quinn for Pritzker; rocking the photo bomb while mugging for the camera.
- Little Changes - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 2:27 pm:
Too late to sell the “I’m human” stuff. Sorry Bruce. You had four years to be real. You weren’t. You were so determined to find some goofy way to appeal to whatever audience you thought you’d encounter. You failed, dude. This video is good stuff, though. Should have used it, I’d say….like four years ago.
- Barrington - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 3:11 pm:
Nice ad. Interestingly Deerfield has very high property taxes that pay for those great schools.
- jim - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 5:28 pm:
Rich, you never fail to generate the hate for Rauner.
- James Knell - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 6:32 pm:
Where are the laid off university employees and the bankrupt vendors being evicted from the house next door? Where the finger pointing that will surely start again if he wins… AFscamy… remember that?
- Cubs in '16 - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 8:43 pm:
===Rich, you never fail to generate the hate for Rauner.===
Bruce does just fine with this on his own. He doesn’t need Rich’s help.
- cc - Wednesday, Oct 31, 18 @ 11:38 pm:
No dogs in his childhood home?
Speaking of dogs…where are the Rauner dogs? And weren’t there chickens back in the day?
- Anonymous - Thursday, Nov 1, 18 @ 6:20 am:
==From the WTTW interview: “She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder early in his childhood and he spent most of his childhood with a mother who was often institutionalized, often medicated.”=
A missing mother is rough. Medication works for bipolar disorder, but not if you don’t take it. Bipolar disorder is hereditary by the way.
Losing all that weight, my wife says I’ve never been happier, could our governors be suffering from mania? People seek help for depression, not so much for mania. And in a maniac state people make really bad decisions. I know I’m being an armchair psychiatrist but I’m starting to feel sorry for him.
- Da Big Bad Wolf - Thursday, Nov 1, 18 @ 6:20 am:
Anonymous 6:20 was me.