* From a Tribune editorial about Gov. Pritzker’s idea to make Illinois the first in the nation primary…
That would mean shoving Illinois to the front of the line in early February and intensifying the campaign frenzy here, which registers just a hair above dull. Illinois’ primary election is unfashionably late — this year it’s March 17 — and the state’s population losses have translated into dwindling influence nationally. A U.S. House delegation that once had 27 members will, after this year’s census, surely fall to 17.
We had 27 seats in… 1943. The country as a whole has changed a lot since then. California had 23 seats in 1943 and now it has 53.
Iowa, by the way, had 9 seats in 1943. It now has 4.
But, you know, any excuse to talk about the ILLINOIS EXODUS is a good excuse to those fine folks.
* More…
Presidential candidates are not mingling with voters at rural elementary schools or Naperville pancake houses because Illinois isn’t considered a competitive hotbed, not in primary season and not for Electoral College votes in the general election.
Please scroll up to the very top of this page. /s
* The editorial board then argues that a solidly Democratic state like Illinois wouldn’t make a good first choice. Um…
The downside of Illinois corruption, the recent voter registration “glitches” and etc. are also discussed. Those are all valid points, but it almost seems like they copied sections from other editorials and plopped them into this one without stopping to think if it actually made sense.
* And then they focus on the “diversity” argument…
Democrats could have coalesced around Sen. Kamala Harris, who’s of Jamaican and Indian descent. They could have elevated Cory Booker, New Jersey’s first African American senator. They could have boosted Julian Castro of Texas, once the youngest member of Obama’s Cabinet, who is of Mexican descent. They could have rallied around Hawaii’s Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, the first Hindu member of Congress. They could have activated the grassroots for Andrew Yang, whose parents emigrated from Taiwan.
Long before Monday, the candidates who contributed the most diversity to the Democratic field either quit the race or fell behind. Why? Because they didn’t attract the support of rank and file Democrats.
What?
Iowa Democrats turned thumbs down on candidates of color before the candidates could get to more diverse states. And that’s the precise argument Pritzker is making.
- Natty_B - Thursday, Feb 6, 20 @ 12:18 pm:
Trib would only be interested if Libertarian Primary was held in Illinois
- NotRich - Thursday, Feb 6, 20 @ 12:19 pm:
I am not sure that all of the Trib’s 600 readers agree with their editorial..
- Phil H. - Thursday, Feb 6, 20 @ 12:22 pm:
Plenty of newspaper editorial boards are as ideologically driven as the Tribune. But few are as irrational.
- NIU Grad - Thursday, Feb 6, 20 @ 12:28 pm:
I had second thoughts about moving the Illinois Primary up…that editorial just convinced me to support the idea wholeheartedly.
- Moody's Blues - Thursday, Feb 6, 20 @ 12:33 pm:
If I may ask for clarification: The linked headline says “Gov. Pritzker pushes Illinois as first primary of 2024. Chances are, that won’t fly.” It doesn’t say, “And we condemn him.”
Many of the subsequent statements — it’s a long editorial — resemble points repeatedly made here this week. I thought the consensus view of CapFax management was that before we welcome company, we clean house.
So when we now read that, “The downside of Illinois corruption, the recent voter registration “glitches” and etc. are also discussed. Those are all valid points …” doesn’t that pretty much represent opinions already welcomed here? Illinois is a tough sell.
Also, didn’t the minority candidates who quit or fell behind tank well before Monday’s caucuses? The sentence about “they didn’t attract the support of rank and file Democrats” looks like those Democrats were across the country, not just in one state.
If I’m misreading, please correct me.
- Precinct Captain - Thursday, Feb 6, 20 @ 12:35 pm:
Re: a February primary
Like other states, including most of the early states in the presidential primary, Illinois could separate its presidential and non-presidential primaries. There are merits and demerits to this idea, but it’s something that most of the earliest states do. People need to stop saying, “But February!” as if it’s some kind of trump card. It’s not, it just makes you look clueless. Of course, the Tribune editorial board is clueless and there’s apparently nothing they care to do about that.
- Grandson of Man - Thursday, Feb 6, 20 @ 12:37 pm:
Practically anything that doesn’t involve right wing ideology and anti-unionism, the Trib editorial board is going to slam. We’ve recently taken important steps, in a generally bipartisan manner, to make our state more attractive: pro-business reforms, capital bill, full budget, marijuana legalization, graduated income tax on the ballot and tax relief for many, etc. We have a long way to go, but we can count on the Trib and its ilk to “go” on our parade when we do good.
Ill judgment of our state has to be taken in the context of a corrupt president and his national party underlings in the Senate, and in the exploding deficits/growing debt they have a big hand in creating.
- Drake Mallard - Thursday, Feb 6, 20 @ 12:51 pm:
Who cares what the Grandpa Simpson of the journalism world has to say. Move the primary up
- Annonin' - Thursday, Feb 6, 20 @ 12:57 pm:
Once again Katrina & KO demonstrate why they were not offered the buyout. Most of the 600 readers know there is an editorial page
- Dotnonymous - Thursday, Feb 6, 20 @ 12:59 pm:
Can the trib become any more tiresome?
Their motto is, “If it isn’t right…it’s wrong”?
- Lucky Pierre - Thursday, Feb 6, 20 @ 1:01 pm:
Be careful what you wish for
If you think Iowa was embarrassing, wait until the nation sees the dysfunction and corruption in Illinois
- Oak Parker - Thursday, Feb 6, 20 @ 1:08 pm:
Would we have primaries for every office in early February, or would we do what other states do and have a separate Presidential Primary?
If it were up to me, every office would have a jungle primary in September, and if no one gets a majority, the top 2 face off in November.
Every 4 years we could have a partisan Presidential Primary in early February. We could also elect partisan offices like Precinct, Township, Ward, and State Central Committeeperson at that election.
This would take a constitutional amendment however
- 32nd warder - Thursday, Feb 6, 20 @ 1:09 pm:
isn’t the tribune in the process of being gutted?
- Heyseed - Thursday, Feb 6, 20 @ 1:13 pm:
The purpose of primary elections is to choose the parties’ candidates and various party functionaries. Let’s quit pretending they have any other purpose no matter when scheduled.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Feb 6, 20 @ 1:16 pm:
===The sentence about “they didn’t attract the support of rank and file Democrats” looks like those Democrats were across the country, not just in one state.===
Cute.
- Pundent - Thursday, Feb 6, 20 @ 1:18 pm:
=I thought the consensus view of CapFax management was that before we welcome company, we clean house.=
If the editorial was advancing the “clean house” argument I’d agree with it. The problem is the continued laziness of the editorial board. At this point they’ve resorted to simply recycling prior arguments to fit a narrative. And often times the narrative is completely disconnected from the issue at hand.
I say that the State and Tribune would both benefit from a clean house.
- West Sider - Thursday, Feb 6, 20 @ 1:27 pm:
In a Democratic town in a Democratic state- the Tribies bark like right wing hyenas, and wonder why they’re food for vulture capitalists.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Feb 6, 20 @ 1:28 pm:
The thing about the Trib edit board is that they feign an attempt to be thoughtful, but what they do is write around things they want discussed, like the “exodus”
The edit board is wholly disingenuous to honest debate, and as an edit board they can do that, it’s their right, but their takes revolve around simple stances or phony beliefs… then twist thoughts to choose a side of a different issue… to rehash the nonsense they want discussed outside the main point.
If some one could save the paper, but change the ignorance that is the edit board, that works be the miracle even a Hurricane couldn’t bring.
- John Deere Green - Thursday, Feb 6, 20 @ 1:36 pm:
==We had 27 seats in… 1943.==
Exactly. The very year after Mike Madigan was born, the Illinois Exodus began. Coincidence? I think not. And you mock Katrina and her da Vinci Code-like skills. /s
Rambling nonsense, per usual. “Dwindling influence,” they say. Interesting. And I figured the state with the sixth-most electoral votes and its 155 delegates may just be considered a solid get in the primary and general.
- Demoralized - Thursday, Feb 6, 20 @ 1:39 pm:
The Tribune is criticizing a party who got the first African Amercian elected president, and who has had two women on the national ticket (Clinton as president and Ferraro as Vice Presdient) for not being a party of diversity?
As opposed to what? The Republican Party who has never had anything but white males on their ticket.
- SpfdNewb - Thursday, Feb 6, 20 @ 1:43 pm:
-If you think Iowa was embarrassing, wait until the nation sees the dysfunction and corruption in Illinois-
I don’t know, what happened in Iowa was a special form of dysfunction that even I have a hard time believing could happen again. You are too hard on Illinois LP, maybe you should consider joining the “exodus” of retirees leaving for sunnier pastures.
- Thomas Paine - Thursday, Feb 6, 20 @ 1:53 pm:
1) It seems as if the Tribune editorial was lifted almost entirely from the Capfax comments. I feel like Candy deserved a byline.
2) the most remarkable thing about the editorial is not how poorly written it was, but how poorly thought out. An Illinois primary that was first in the nation would presumably give the Chicago Tribune editorial board a national pedestal from which to expound their views. It would have created opportunities for the tribune editorial board to leverage its voice to benefit the businesses and industries vital to the region and its own survival. It presumably would have poured millions of dollars into the Chicago Tribune’s online advertising stream. It undoubtedly would have given The Chicago Tribune incredible influence in selecting the president in 2024.
3) you might want to rethink your position, Mr. Dold.
- Candy Dogood - Thursday, Feb 6, 20 @ 2:08 pm:
If only there were a recent example of a woman or a minority candidate winning the Iowa Caucuses that would serve to negate these claims so that some candidates who withdrew could turn their attention to other potential reasons for the lack of broader enthusiasm for their campaigns.
If only there were an example of a minority candidate that had so handedly won the Iowa Caucuses they were 10 points higher than either of the 2020 folks in a near virtual tie.
I do not believe the only consideration regarding the representation of minorities should be that minorities live in the state, and having a healthy distribution of population demographics showing a lot of diversity doesn’t actually mean that there isn’t cause for concern about the long term impacts of institutionalized racism.
But again this is an opportunity for Illinois to look in the mirror and have a discussion about how the implementation of the Armstrong Act worked out nearly 60 years after the fact and whether or not we need to examine and address legacies from things like sun down towns, or the last 40 or so years of history in Alexander County especially — you know, a place where we(the public) lost a court battle because we (the public) were trying to be really racist.
Institutionalized racism is just that — institutional. It doesn’t go away just because a law is passed, it stops getting noticed, or racism becomes a little less fashionable.
We still have communities that never recovered from the crimes that were committed by mobs of white people.
Illinois wasn’t a breadbasket of civil rights.
First in the nation is a great goal — but lets not pretend that Iowans are racist because their demographics are less diverse and Illinoisans aren’t or haven’t been because we’re a more diverse state.
Some of us live surrounded by the legacy of our institutionalized racism every day and others just get to be blissfully unaware of it because no one forces them to think about it every day.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Feb 6, 20 @ 2:42 pm:
===not how poorly written it was, but how poorly thought out===
When one of the most senior board members is from Iowa, the end may justify the means.
- Pundent - Thursday, Feb 6, 20 @ 2:52 pm:
I second Thomas Paine’s comments. The Tribune Editorial Board is so wrapped up in advancing their “mass exodus” narrative that they can’t see how this idea would be in their best interests. It’s as if they are writing their own epilogue.
- All This - Thursday, Feb 6, 20 @ 2:55 pm:
From the Tribune:”Long before Monday, the candidates who contributed the most diversity to the Democratic field either quit the race or fell behind. Why? Because they didn’t attract the support of rank and file Democrats.”
A gay man, a Jewish man, a woman and a white straight male.
That lineup looks pretty diverse to me.
- Candy Dogood - Thursday, Feb 6, 20 @ 3:39 pm:
If we really want to spice things up, we should make the US Territories go first. Let’s see how it plays in Puerto Rico.
- Da Big Bad Wolf - Thursday, Feb 6, 20 @ 4:11 pm:
=== 3) you might want to rethink your position, Mr. Dold.===
Mr. Paine agree. Is almost like the Tribune would rather not be a success.
- Boog Alou - Thursday, Feb 6, 20 @ 4:16 pm:
==If you think Iowa was embarrassing, wait until the nation sees the dysfunction and corruption in Illinois ==
Apples and oranges. What’s the last seriously disputed election Illinois had? Even the Treasurer’s race in ‘14 was figured out pretty calmly.