* Greg Hinz…

When gubernatorial candidate Chris Kennedy sent out his first email to supporters last night, he mentioned incumbent Bruce Rauner’s name—twice. But President Donald Trump’s name appeared three times.

When I asked a top Rauner strategist if they’re worried, he had a two-word reply: Mike Madigan. […]

“Rauner is a failed governor who has made Illinois worse by dividing people and failing to fix the mess,” says Kennedy strategist Eric Adelstein. “There are a lot of parallels with President Trump and his stubbornness and failure to bring people together.”

When I asked Adelstein if voters should expect to hear a lot more about Trump from the Kennedy campaign, he had a one word answer: “Yes.” […]

“Mike Madigan is in far worse shape with voters than Trump,” says [a Rauner source]. And to the extent that Trump is disliked: “Voters understand he has different views from Trump” on issues ranging from abortion rights to abolishing Obamacare and converting Medicaid to a block grant.

I seriously doubt that many voters know the governor is opposed to converting the Medicaid program to a block grant system, but otherwise it’s not a bad point.

Elections are referendums on the incumbent. The idea by the Republicans has always been to make Madigan the incumbent in voters’ minds. Rauner is an outsider, he just got here two years ago. Madigan is the entrenched insider stopping all progress. You know the drill.

It’s like the old story about the two guys around a campfire seeing an approaching bear. One puts on his running shoes. The other says “You’ll never outrun a bear even in those shoes.”

“I don’t have to outrun the bear,” the first guy says, “I just have to outrun you.”

That right there is what Rauner has been doing to Madigan. Yes, the governor is unpopular, but Madigan is more so. He just has to outrun Madigan.

The Trump card wasn’t played much here last year, so we don’t know how effective it’ll be, but, for now, it doesn’t hurt the Democrats at all. Likely primary voters are fired up like we haven’t seen in a long while, so it’s a smart move at the moment.

* Meanwhile, this is from one of Kennedy’s fundraising e-mails…

States controlled by the radical right are losing people and jobs. Banks and investors are reluctant to fund new investments. Meanwhile, Republican legislatures have cut government services for thousands, including kids who are disabled, the sick and elderly, and wounded veterans.

Governor Rauner has supported the same alt-right, anti-woman, anti-immigrant, anti-worker agenda that Donald Trump has promoted. With this election, we have the opportunity to reject that agenda and send a message from Illinois that this behavior won’t be accepted anywhere in the country.

With redistricting coming up soon, this race takes an even bigger importance. We can’t let Governor Rauner and his allies try to gerrymander our maps to elect more Republicans from Illinois who will blindly support President Trump.

With the right leadership, we can oppose the worst of the Trump agenda and embrace the best of economic success and opportunity.

OK, well, that first paragraph could be about Illinois and the Democratic legislature, which hasn’t approved a real budget and has therefore effectively cut lots of services.

That second graf may be over the top, but it’ll probably resonate with Democratic primary voters at this point in the game.

And I’m kinda surprised that the Republicans haven’t whacked Kennedy yet for that third paragraph, because that might possibly imply he wants Madigan to draw the next map. He should’ve probably insisted on remap reform.

…Adding… Another heavily edited video from the ILGOP…

Press release is here.

*** UPDATE ***  The predictable press release…

Another day, another sign Chris Kennedy is a Madigan lap dog.

In a fundraising email sent out Wednesday, Kennedy said that “With redistricting coming up soon, this race takes an even bigger importance.”

Governor Rauner believes that the legislature should pass redistricting reform to take the decision out of the hands of politicians.

By refusing to stand for reform, Kennedy is backing Mike Madigan’s position that the legislature he controls should decide how to draw districts.

Illinois’ Madigan-drawn districts are some of the most gerrymandered in the country.

In fact, 2/3 of candidates for the General Assembly faced no opponent in the 2016 election.

That’s not democracy, that’s a rigged system. And Chris Kennedy wants to perpetuate it.