* Hannah Meisel…

Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey on Tuesday said he’d prioritize eliminating “critical race theory” and “egregious” sex education standards from Illinois schools if elected to replace Gov. JB Pritzker in November, courting a relatively new coalition of voters radicalized during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bailey made those comments to a small rally outside the state Capitol building in Springfield organized by activist group Awake IL, which in recent weeks has come under fire for its social media posts, including a tweet in June that called Pritzker a “groomer” for signing new sex education standards into law.

Awake IL also took credit for “blast[ing]” a planned drag show targeted at families at a bakery in Chicago’s far north suburban Lake in the Hills in July, calling it “perverted,” and warning, “they’re coming for your kids, McHenry County.” But after UpRising Bakery was vandalized the night before the scheduled event — including broken windows and graffiti that said “f*gs rape kids” — the group distanced itself from Joseph Collins, the alleged perpetrator with ties to the Proud Boys.

Awake IL founder Shannon Adcock on Tuesday reiterated to NPR Illinois that her group “had nothing to do” with the vandalism and doesn’t condone violence. The day before the scheduled show, Awake IL’s Twitter account praised the pressure campaign that forced UpRising to make ticket information harder to find. […]

Bailey declined to speak to reporters while departing from the rally

This messaging emphasis and associating himself with that group won’t ever get him close to 50 percent plus one in Illinois. Maybe, I dunno, in Mississippi, but not in Illinois. I mean, it’s mid-August and he’s still publicly pandering to the micro-base of the base of the base. The object is to depress the other side’s base and appeal to the middle. All he’s going to do with stuff like this is further fire up the other side’s base, which is considerably larger than his, and frighten the middle.

* Jeremy Gorner and Dan Petrella…

Under signs that read “GENDER IS NOT INTERCHANGEABLE! GOD CREATED MALE/FEMALE,” and “dad /dad/ noun a human male who protects his kids from gender ideology,” Bailey on Tuesday stressed the importance of fighting for “these freedoms that are being taken away from us.”

“Children are our most valuable asset but our children and our rights as parents, they’re being stripped from us,” he said during an eight-minute speech.

He acknowledged the small size of the crowd, which he blamed on economic conditions that prevented some from traveling to Springfield.

“Some of you had to make the decisions today, and some of you had to sacrifice whether or not you even come here,” said Bailey, a state senator from Xenia. “And I’m going to contend that may be one of the very reasons why this crowd size is smaller than we know it ought to be because people in this state are now making decisions whether we put food on our table or whether we fill our gas tanks up.”

C’mon. The gathering was small because the real-life crowds generated by that social media group are, as far as I can tell, pretty much always small. This isn’t a presidential race. Counties don’t vote.

* Meanwhile, here’s Mark Maxwell…

The campaign for Darren Bailey, the GOP nominee for Illinois governor, is once again publicly distancing itself from a suspect charged in the attack on the U.S. Capitol after new video emerged showing the man campaigning alongside a paid Bailey campaign staffer.

So far, the FBI has charged 28 people from Illinois for alleged crimes at the Capitol on Jan. 6. One of them is Lawrence Ligas, who was charged last December with three criminal counts for storming the Capitol. Ligas has signaled he intends to face the charges at trial. He’s scheduled to appear in court again next month. […]

Bailey’s campaign lists Corrigan’s name in campaign finance documents under the category “staff salaries.” On Tuesday, Bailey campaign officials downplayed Corrigan’s role in the campaign, describing him as a 17-year-old paid intern who was not authorized to speak on behalf of the campaign.

Still, if Bailey intended to put distance between his campaign and Ligas, it’s clear Ligas never got the message.

“I believe in Darren Bailey so strongly that I’m out here trying to wake up the people that don’t get it,” Ligas said into the camera.

“He does not represent the campaign and anyone who breaks the law should be held accountable for their actions,” DeBose reiterated on Tuesday. […]

Ligas is not the only avid Darren Bailey supporter who was seen at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

5 On Your Side has also confirmed the identities of an Illinois couple seen in a video outside the Capitol on January 6th. Because they’re private citizens, not listed on campaign payroll, and have not been charged with a crime, we are not publishing their identities. But the comments they broadcasted on Jan. 6 reveal how strongly they felt when the crowd of rioters learned Mike Pence certified the election results:

“Do your (expletive) job or swing!” the man shouted, an apparent reference to the common chant from Trump supporters on that day, “Hang Mike Pence.” […]

“Darren does not condone this kind of language,” the Bailey campaign responded.

Does Bailey believe Mike Pence did the right thing on Jan. 6?

“Mike Pence followed the constitutional process,” DeBose said. “Joe Biden is the duly elected president, and he and JB Pritzker are failing Illinoisans.”

It’s one thing for a spokesperson to say something like that. But Bailey has a very bad habit of quickly and forcefully backtracking after his campaign issues official statements. Put the candidate himself in front of reporters on a regular basis and let him speak to all of this. Politico…

Darren Bailey has made a major pivot. His team told reporter Mark Maxwell that “Mike Pence followed the constitutional process” and “Joe Biden is the duly elected president.”

Patting Bailey on the head because his spokesperson (not the candidate himself) admitted the bare minimum is what used to be known as the soft bigotry of low expectations. If Bailey himself had made those remarks during his speech to that tiny right-wing group, then that would’ve been a “major pivot.”