* It’s probably too late for Republican attorney general candidate Erika Harold campaign to run an ad about this, but it will likely dominate her fly-around on Monday…
If you click the link you’ll see Speaker Madigan made the contribution to Sen. Kwame Raoul’s campaign fund on Halloween. Kinda fitting. Not everyone is happy about this behind the scenes, I’m told, with one calling it “Clearly a power move.” Madigan could’ve washed that cash through the Democratic Party of Illinois, but for whatever reason chose to give directly to Raoul. Since Raoul could really use the money for late TV, he took it.
* This Tribune story from earlier today didn’t include the Madigan contribution…
Harold, an Urbana attorney, bought limited broadcast TV advertising time in the Chicago market for the race’s final weekend. Her campaign late Friday also purchased cable advertising time in the Chicago market. […]
From Oct. 23 through Friday, Raoul has taken in more than $1.3 million in cash and assistance for his campaign. Oct. 23 marked two weeks out from the Nov. 6 election. The donations to Raoul included nearly $445,000 worth of phone banking assistance plus another $55,400 in cash from the Democratic Party of Illinois, $103,867 worth of mailings from the abortion-rights advocacy group Personal PAC, $200,000 from the Laborers’ union and $50,000 from the Teamsters union.
Over that same home stretch of the campaign, Harold reported taking in $166,850. Of Harold’s overall haul of $5.4 million, $3.5 million — or 64 percent — has come from Rauner and Rauner ally Ken Griffin, the founder of Citadel. Rauner has contributed $1.8 million while Griffin has given $1.7 million. […]
Raoul allies acknowledged privately that the contest would likely be among the closest of statewide races on the ballot, though they dismissed concerns that their candidate could be in danger. Internal polling, though, has shown that Raoul has consistently trailed behind the larger leads held by other Democrats seeking statewide office, particularly Pritzker, party operatives said.
…Adding… Harold campaign spokesperson…
