* Sen. Jason Barickman had been one of Gov. Rauner’s staunchest allies. But check out his interview with Eric Stock at WJBC…

State Sen. Jason Barickman, R-Bloomington, said he believes some in the GOP have lost faith in Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner after he told them and other pro-lifers he would veto a bill to fund abortions before he signed it.

“In our house, that’s a lie,” Barickman said. “You certainly don’t want to do that to the public, to (Chicago) Cardinal (Blase Cupich), a representative of the Catholic church. I think his credibility really got tarnished on this.” […]

“He had already been identified as one of the most – if not the most- vulnerable governor in our 50 states that was up for election next year, This issue, I think, makes him more vulnerable.”

I’ve been talking to rank and file Republicans this week and their anger is so real you can almost feel the heat through the phone.

* If you listen to the full interview, you’ll hear Stock asking Barickman about a possible GOP primary opponent for Rauner…

Some Republicans are floating their names. Rep. Ives is certainly one of them… And I truly believe what they’re doing is looking for someone to commit to them some large campaign contribution to make them a viable candidate.

* And how much would this sugar daddy(ies) have to pony up?…

I would guess that if someone had $5 million bucks they’d put a credible challenge to Bruce Rauner in the primary. […]

It could be someone from Texas, you know, calls ‘em up and says, ‘I’m so angry that Bruce Rauner did this, I’m going to write you a check for $5 million, 2 million, 10,’ I don’t know. And then, suddenly, you’ve got a real primary going. And as much as Bruce Rauner has unlimited money, I don’t see that unlimited money as quite as impactful in a primary when he’s a known quantity.

* Barickman said Rauner would use much of his own money to attack the other candidate…

The fundamental question will be is there a match. A match between some wealthy contributor and some candidate who could withstand the negative scrutiny… That’s a really ugly election to go through.

Rauner and Pritzker have fundamentally changed politics in this state. I’m not trying to pick on Sen. Barickman here because what he said is being said by lots of others. But Republicans have become so addicted to their BVR ATM that they are currently looking for a magical replacement rather than doing the work of raising that money on their own. Raising $5 million in this climate is not insurmountable, particularly since the caps are off.

The Democrats should keep this predicament in mind. What happens when their sweet cash machine becomes too toxic or simply goes away?