* Bruce Rauner said recently that his term limits proposal group had already collected 250,000 signatures. 300,000 signatures are needed to get this on the ballot. He said he’d like to collect 400,000 by the May 4th deadline to make sure he has enough valid signatures.

Back in November, Rauner said his group had gathered 150,000 signatures.

Of course, his proposal will also likely have to be vetted by the courts first.

* Rauner’s term limit comments start around the nine-minute mark…

* Meanwhile, we’re coming a bit late to this, but former Gov. Jim Edgar has joined up with those pushing redistricting reform…

Today I want to announce my support for redistricting reform in Illinois. Now is the time for Democrats and Republicans to come together to get it on the ballot.

I served as your governor from 1991 to 1999. The process of drawing state legislative maps was broken even then, but partisanship has now reached an extreme. It harms communities across the state and creates a system where we, the people of Illinois, are no longer choosing our representatives. This is a bipartisan problem, and it calls for a bipartisan solution.

* Matt Dietrich…

Edgar is well steeped in the intricacies of the Illinois map-drawing process — which really is more a lottery than anything else. As a young staffer, he was the point person for the Illinois Senate Republicans in the map-drawing talks that followed the 1970 census.

That was the only time since the adoption of the 1970 state constitution that Democrats and Republicans actually worked to forge a compromise on a map. In 1981 and 1991, the parties deadlocked. When that happened, the right to draw the map went to the party that won a drawing. In 1991, the Republicans won, and drew a map that helped them remove Michael Madigan as speaker of the house for two years. Democrats have controlled the map since then.

“I did redistricting for the Senate Republicans in ’71. I was the point guy. And that was the first time where the constitution actually worked; where you had a compromise because nobody wanted to go to the draw. Nobody ever thought they’re ever be that foolish to take a chance on the draw but they proved them wrong. . . .

“And I think whatever party’s out of power, like the Republicans right now, they’re in favor of something like that. I am convinced that if they got back in power they would not be in favor of it. But it’d be nice because we have too many districts now where there’s not a general election. I think what results then is you get members who are very far to the right or far to the left because there’s no need to reach over and be able to deal with people in the other party.

“I’ve never wanted to be Don Quixote and go tilting at a windmill. I think if you’re going to rely on the Legislature to give that up, you’re tilting at a windmill.”