[Comments are now open on this post.]

* Mark Maxwell’s Tuesday night story gained some traction over the holiday…

Arthur Jones, a 70-year-old perennial candidate who openly admits his racist and anti-Semitic views, collected the required amount of petition signatures to clinch the primary GOP nomination for the Third Congressional District back in March, although he was uncontested.

In February, Governor Rauner said about Jones, “There is no room for Neo Nazis in American politics. I condemn this man in the strongest possible terms.”

This weekend, Jones cleared another technical hurdle on his way toward almost certain defeat in November when no one, including the Illinois Republican Party, challenged the validity of his petitions to the State Board of Elections. That gave J.B. Pritzker’s campaign an opening to demand Rauner take action.

“Days of silence from Bruce Rauner tells Illinoisans all they need to know: this failed governor can’t find the courage to call on an avowed Nazi to drop his bid for Congress,” Pritzker spokesman Jason Rubin wrote in a statement. “This is no time to cower. Rauner must call on Arthur Jones to drop out immediately.” […]

“What a crock,” Rauner guffawed when he heard the Pritzker campaign demanded to know if he thought Jones should drop out of the race.

“Yes, and I said so immediately,” he insisted. “This is another lie from the Pritzker camp. The guy can’t run on the truth because the truth is so bad for him. That guy [Jones] has no place on the ballot. We tried to kick him off. I called him to get out and he should be out. We should have somebody run against him. There is no room, as I said right immediately when he snuck on there, there is no room in our politics for a person like that.” […]

Some Republicans have suggested voters in the Third Congressional District should punch the ballot for Democrat incumbent Dan Lipinski. The governor, however, would not endorse the pro-life Democrat.

“No,” he said. “The one thing I will say is the person, that guy, Johnson or whatever his name is, should not be on the ballot.”

* Clickbait headlines ensued…

Rauner Won’t Endorse Democrat Over Nazi https://t.co/A95DYSZmPf

— Taegan Goddard (@politicalwire) July 4, 2018

Illinois governor breaks with @TedCruz over Nazi candidate https://t.co/V08xnMlNFD via @politico

— natasha korecki (@natashakorecki) July 4, 2018

Ouch.

But he didn’t actually fully “break” with US Sen. Ted Cruz because Cruz tweeted that voters should write someone in and Rauner told Maxwell he wants another candidate in the race. I’ve already told you that the ILGOP says it’s looking for a write-in candidate.

* Rauner responded to the imbroglio on Twitter…

To the voters of the 3rd Congressional District: vote for anybody but Arthur Jones. Nazis have no place in our country and no one should vote for him. For the media or anyone else to suggest I think otherwise is offensive and irresponsible.

— Bruce Rauner (@BruceRauner) July 5, 2018

* Notice how he blames the media even though the governor specifically said he wouldn’t support the Democrat. Maxwell asked: “Would you endorse Dan Lipinski in that race?” Rauner replied: “No.” And since Lipinski is the only other candidate in the race, the governor put himself on the record saying exactly the opposite of what he tweeted today. Here’s the full video…

Full exchange with @GovRauner regarding the @ILGOP and their inability so far to remove a Nazi from the November ballot. pic.twitter.com/ZOV9p0ZM47

— Mark Maxwell (@WCIA3Mark) July 4, 2018

OK, so maybe Rauner was referring to some of the more egregious clickbait headlines in his tweet today. But he said what he said and now he’s reversing himself.

Last week, you will recall, the governor said his disparaging remarks about Champaign-Urbana were taken out of context. That simply wasn’t the case.