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Thursday, Oct 14, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Let’s use this post to discuss tonight’s gubernatorial debate. The festivities begin at 8 o’clock. Live video is here and live audio is here.

In the interim, do you have any drinking game phrases we could choose? “Land of Lincoln” and “Deconstruct and reconstruct” seem two likely choices for the two main party guys. Anything else?

Also, Gov. Pat Quinn was asked today about the puppy killer Intertube video he has up now, which is just a trimmed down version of an earlier video…

“It has to do with a world-view,'’ Quinn said today, when asked about the appropriateness of the ad, during a meeting with the Post-Dispatch editorial board. Mass euthanasia of animals is “very cruel . . . It’s revolting to the people of Illinois.'’

* The Southern is also liveblogging.

* 8:00 - And here we go.

* It’s so fun watching them dodge questions about the budget. Actually, it’s not fun at all. Quinn: More jobs will balance the budget. True, in a few years, yes. If, that is, we get those jobs. And that’s a big if.

Brady went full circle, talking about funding schools, public health, public safety, social services, but without saying anything about what he’d cut. I hope there’s an opportunity for follow-up because so far it’s just somebody says something and then they move on.

* And, now, on to jobs. Brady: “Level the playing field by being ‘pro job’ by being ‘pro business.” Quinn uses “Ford” and “Navistar” for the kabillionth time, while making the good point that those companies chose Illinois, not Indiana. “The best way to fight poverty, the best way to fight crime” is jobs. No specifics, of course, on how we get those.

* So far, this isn’t a debate, it’s three separate press conferences held together without any real interaction and no follow-ups. It’s all talking points. They’re not even looking at each other.

* Brady actually said “There you go again, Gov. Quinn.” I wrote a while ago that this campaign looked a lot like Carter vs. Reagan, but I wasn’t expecting the guy to actually lift Reagan’s quote.

* Ah, finally, rebuttal.

* Brady, in response to Quinn, just said he claimed there would be a “natural rise in property valuation” not a natural rise in property taxes when questioned at the State Fair by reporters. I’m going to have to find that video soon.

…And here is the video. Brady’s actual quote: “Well, there’s some natural property taxes that will go into effect.” So far, that’s the only news out of this debate except for the fact that Rich Whitney has pretty much outclassed both of the major party candidates.

Brady: “Taking taxpayer dollars to put people to work in the private sector is no solution… Let the private sector deal with creating jobs.”

Whitney: Ethanol is a “delusion,” and more about “enriching Archer Daniels Midland” than helping farmers. Wants more local food production for local use.

* Quinn just called himself “Mr. Soybean” again. Sigh. Is there a talking point not used yet?

* Brady, re tax hikes: “Gov. Quinn has been a politician so long that he can’t remember what he was for and now he is against.”

* Closing statements. Quinn mentions a veteran he spent some time with today. I was wondering how long that would take.

Brady: “If you like the way things are today, then one of these two candidates is your candidate.” He paints his ten percent cuts as “fair” because he won’t single out education and public safety for attack. Very nice spin. Beats the truth, which is that everybody is gonna get whacked hard.

* End.

* If you missed the live debate, you can watch the replay by clicking here.

86 Comments

*** UPDATED x1 - Madigan sounds like a “No” *** “Whitey” and Lisa have different futures

Thursday, Oct 14, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

* I would make a stupid wisecrack about Whitney losing black votes over this, but that would be so very wrong…

The last name of Green Party gubernatorial candidate Rich Whitney is misspelled as “Whitey” on electronic-voting machines in nearly two dozen wards — about half in predominantly African-American areas — and election officials said Wednesday the problem cannot be corrected by Election Day.

The misspelling turned up on touch-screen machines in 23 wards overall. Whitney’s name is spelled correctly on the machines’ initial screens showing all of the candidates’ names, but it is misspelled on review screens that later show a voter his or her choices, said Jim Allen, spokesman for the Chicago Board of Elections.

Whitney went there, however…

“I don’t want to be identified as ‘Whitey.’ If this is happening in primarily African-American wards, that’s an even bigger concern,” Whitney told the Chicago Sun-Times. “I don’t know if this is machine politics at play or why this happened.”

It seems odd that the machines can’t easily be reprogrammed to correct this. But it is only happening on review screens, not the original voting screen, so it isn’t as horrible as it could be.

* On to someone with a brighter political future. As I told subscribers today, there’s a big unaddressed question in this Sun-Times story…

Top tip . . .

Sneed hears rumbles Attorney General Lisa Madigan is eyeing a bid to run for mayor of Chicago.

Consider.

• Fact: The election for statewide offices is Nov. 2.

• Fact: The filing deadline for Chicago mayoral candidates is Nov. 22.

• The kicker: “The day after the Nov. 2 statewide elections, when Lisa is expected to be re-elected, she then … could do anything she wants,” said a top Dem source.

• Lisa’s response (via a press spokesman): “She is focusing on her race for attorney general.

• Sneed’s retort: “Is that a ‘yes’ or a ‘no?’”

• Lisa’s response (via a press spokesman): “She is in Rockford today campaigning. She is focusing on running for attorney general.”

• Lisa Lore: Madigan, a devoted mother of two daughters — who shocked everyone with her new look on the cover of Sherren Leigh’s popular Today’s Chicago Woman magazine, is a top statewide vote-getter and a favorite amongst women voters. Her father, powerful House Speaker Mike Madigan, is head of the state Democratic Party.

• The big question: Will Lisa shock all the boys battling for the mayoral mantle and enter the fray on Nov. 3?

If she wins the mayor’s race, she has to resign her attorney general post. The governor would appoint her replacement. I’m somewhat doubtful that she would want Republican Bill Brady to do that. Stranger this have happened, but I’m just not sure she want that. We’ll see.

*** UPDATE *** WBEZ’s Allison Cuddy interviewed AG Madigan on “Eight Forty Eight” this morning. As a commenter noted, while Madigan’s statement was not exactly Shermanesque, it sure looks like her answer is “No.” Listen…

Transcript…

Cuddy: You have not definitively ruled out whether or not you’ll run (for mayor)

LMadigan: I think I have. I just don’t think it’s been reported that way.

Cuddy: Are you going to run for mayor?

LMadigan: No, my goal is to serve as your attorney general.

* Roundup…

* Whitney wants be included in more debates

* Whitney challenges exclusion from gubernatorial forums

* Hidden Budget Brilliance? Longshot Candidates for Governor Offer Plans

* Red-light camera fight distinguishes AG candidates

* Brown: Nov. 2 candidates in tricky spot if they want to be mayor

* Residency and Rahm Emanuel

* Rahm zaps Daley budget — a bit

* Sneed: Is Lisa Madigan running?

* Sun-Times: Claypool for assessor: a vote for transparency

* Southtown Star: Claypool for Cook assessor

* Berrios v. Claypool debate

57 Comments

*** UPDATED x1 *** Rutherford goes up with what he says is $1 million buy

Thursday, Oct 14, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

* The Dan Rutherford for state treasurer campaign says this is the first shot in a $1 million TV buy. They say the ad is up on Chicago network right now. Rate it…

*** UPDATE *** Democrat Robin Kelly’s state treasurer campaign says that Rutherford bought $600,000 on Chicago TV so far. They also said that they have “six figures” behind this radio ad…

They claim the radio ad started running Tuesday in Chicago, Metro East, Peoria and Rockford.

[ *** End Of Update *** ]

* Mark Kirk’s new radio ad. Listen…

* Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Kilbride’s latest TV ad…

* JUSTPAC has revised its anti Kilbride radio ad which was pulled from some stations last week. Listen…

From the Kilbride campaign…

The following stations reportedly are running the revised ad: WGN-AM, WLS-AM, WFYR-FM, KBKB-FM, and KGRS-FM

The following stations reportedly are refusing to run the revised ad: WRXQ-FM, WMBD-AM, WGFA-FM, and WPBG-FM

* JUSTPAC has another Internet video on Kilbride…

* Justice Kilbride, by the way, was recently endorsed by the NRA and the Illinois State Rifle Association and the Illinois Federation for Right to Life.

* Vice President Joe Biden reportedly spoke for eleven days the other night during a rally for Gov. Pat Quinn. The Quinn campaign gives us the abridged version…

20 Comments

Station: Kelly’s no reporter

Thursday, Oct 14, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

* We all watched a video yesterday afternoon of Republican gadfly William Kelly at a Rahm Emanuel press conference. Kelly repeatedly insisted that he was a reporter for WIND Radio as he shouted at Emanuel and was shoved aside and yelled at by a couple of real live TV reporters. Turns out, Kelly ain’t a reporter…

In July, Kelly debuted a one-hour Saturday evening radio talk show called “The Kelly Truth Squad” on WIND-AM (560). But Kelly buys the air time on WIND and is not an employee of the station — an arrangement that the host argues gives him more leeway in what he can say and do on the show.

But that arrangement caused WIND general manager Jeff Reisman to take issue with one aspect of Monday’s video. “It was wrong for Kelly to call himself a reporter at WIND when he does not work for the station,” said Reisman

* The Drudge Report linked to Kelly’s video with this headline…

Chicago hometown reporters shield Emanuel from outsider’s questions

But the TV stations rightly backed up their guys…

Neither Levine or Thomas were available for comment, but a Channel 7 spokeswoman downplayed any suggestion the video might have captured an unflattering side of Thomas as street reporter: “What the video shows is Charles Thomas trying to get in position so that he could have his question answered,” said the station spokeswoman. A Channel 2 spokeswoman said the station stands by Levine. “Jay is an aggressive reporter, and we let his reporting do the talking for him,” added the spokeswoman.

So, to summarize, we have a loud, odd individual whose greatest claim to fame when he ran for comptroller was his attempt to goad state treasurer and US Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias into a boxing match showing up at a Rahm Emanuei press availability with a video cameraman while claiming to be a radio reporter (notice the problem right there), but he isn’t a radio reporter because he only buys time on the station once a week for his talk show, but he managed to get some national attention because a site that lives to whack Democrats used the worst possible spin in its link. And, boy, does this person have high ambitions…

“I’d like to be the conservative version of Larry King,” said Kelly, referencing the longtime CNN talk show host who is about to retire.

Ah, America.

* Meanwhile, speaking of our nation’s highest journalistic standards, Robert Feder swings at the Tribune editorial board…

Overshadowed by the frat house hijinks detailed in David Carr’s New York Times opus on Tribune Co. last week was a potentially more damaging allegation — that owner Sam Zell tried to use the Chicago Tribune to benefit his other business interests.

Former editor Ann Marie Lipinski recalled a June 2008 meeting at which the billionaire mogul told her the newspaper should be harder on then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich. (“Don’t be a p*ssy,” she quoted Zell saying. “You can always be harder on him.”) Later that day, she learned that Zell was negotiating to sell Wrigley Field to the state sports authority. Lipinski quit the following month.

Up until just a few short weeks ago, anything that even looked like a Blagojevich-related story was big news in this state. But now, we’ve got a potential barn-burner and there’s almost total silence. Strange, that. Apparently, “Rahm” is the new “Rod” for our press corps.