Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Thursday, Sep 17, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Patterson has wise counsel…

The political lesson that I’ll take away from these last few months is that until nominating petitions are filed at the Illinois State Board of Elections, there are no official candidates. […]

We got another example of this with Matt Murphy deciding he wasn’t running for governor but will now pursue lieutenant governor. […]

At the moment, anyone can be an unofficial candidate for anything.

Somebody asked me yesterday to help her figure out which Chicago legislative races would be the most intense. For a variety of reasons, including the fact that many people who are now circulating petitions won’t be on the ballot, and some of the big players have yet to make a decision on where they’re going.

And other than the fact that few people care, one reason why I haven’t written much about the lieutenant governor candidates is that I doubt all of them will successfully file.

We don’t know what it’s gonna look like yet.

* Having said that, Cheryle Robinson Jackson kicked off her US Senate campaign yesterday. Jackson was not a popular person with reporters when she worked for Blagojevich. Some found it difficult to get her on the phone. I rarely ever had that problem. Still, keep an eye out for a bit of payback in upcoming stories.

The Sun-Times was more than fair today I thought…

Stressing her focus on economic development and supporting entrepreneurs like her late father, Chicago Urban League President Cheryle Jackson today formally launched her candidacy for U.S. Senate.

The contrast with her main rivals couldn’t be clearer in the venue Jackson chose: a neighborhood restaurant at 87th and Stony Island.

B.J.’s Bakery owner John Meyer said Jackson’s Urban League helped him grow his business. Democratic front-runner Alexis Giannoulias launched his candidacy from the Hilton Hotel downtown, and Republican front-runner Mark Kirk launched his from his boyhood home in Kenilworth.

State Sen. James Meeks said “I think Cheryle Jackson is the only person who can beat Mark Kirk.”

The Daily Herald was pragmatic…

Chicago Urban League president Cheryle Jackson launched a campaign Wednesday that could make her the only black member of the U.S. Senate if she manages to overcome concerns about her former boss, disgraced ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

ABC7 was positive…

The first thing Democratic party voters will notice about Cheryl Robinson Jackson is that she’s the only woman in the race. Her campaign signage has a definite feminine color and look about it and she’s going all out to make herself the favorite of female voters who make up 53 percent of the statewide electorate.

“If it takes a woman to be in Washington to fight for parity and make certain that we don’t lose ground and speak up boldly on behalf of that, then I’m happy to be that woman,” said Jackson.

The channel also included a big applause line at the end of their piece…

* Meanwhile, Democratic US Senate hopeful David Hoffman was on Chicago Tonight yesterday. Go have a look. It was a relatively brief interview and he came off pretty well.

* Related…

* Ill. AG seeks Burr Oak control

* Ill. Senate legislation could shake up Board of Trustees

* Quinn reverses some probation services cuts

* Quinn to restore funding for probation services

* Press release: Quinn finds probation money

* State seeks stimulus cash to reduce rail jams

* Press Release: Cheryle Robinson Jackson Formally Kicks Off Campaign for U.S. Senate at Small Business

* Krishnamoorthi pledges online info - Comptroller candidate cites Texas program as approach that can save money

46 Comments

“It has nothing to do anymore with black or white”

Thursday, Sep 17, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Delmarie Cobb, Roland Burris’ chief media strategist, wins our rarely bestowed Quote of the Month award. Cobb was interviewed for an ABC7 story about Cheryle Robinson Jackson’s US Senate campaign. Have a listen…

In case you can’t watch videos where you are, this is the text from that ABC7 story…

“When you dig one grave be careful you don’t fall in. And the Democrats dug a grave in terms of Roland and now we have fallen in as the Democratic party because the Republicans are going to take this race. It has nothing to do anymore with black or white,” said Delmarie Cobb, political consultant.

Now she tells us that race shouldn’t matter and that the Roland Burris disaster dug a “grave” for the Democratic Party?

I really don’t know what to say.

Should we take a walk down memory lane? Let’s do it…

Now, Cobb says, Burris’ enemies are trying to bloody him up and weaken him with mounting legal bills.

“And then it won’t be called racism,” said Cobb.

And then there was this gem…

Veteran political consultant Delmarie Cobb is a top adviser to Exhibit No. 1 of the old strain, Sen. Roland Burris. I visited her Bronzeville office last week during a pause in her winning battle to keep Burris in office.

“All of a sudden, we’re into this young thing, and anybody who’s been out here needs to be put out to pasture,” she vented. Cobb resents “that somebody would take this kind of knowledge and put it out to pasture.”

And who could forget this one?

“They keep trotting out these marquee names to scare Roland,” said Delmarie Cobb, the senator’s media and political adviser, adding that some Democrats are out to “lynch” Burris and turn him into a “whipping boy.”

I could go on for a long time, but I’d rather not.

* Ms. Cobb is very good at what she does. She fights like the devil for her clients. She kept Sen. Burris in place and untouched by the Illinois powers that be. And even though I think she may have been saying that it was the Democratic Party’s fault that the Burris thing got out of hand, I hope she’s finally realizing that there are limits when doing one’s job.

This state was needlessly divided over the Rod Blagojevich’s Burris appointment and the resulting racial morass. There were wrong people on all sides, but the record is clear that Ms. Cobb did her very best to fan tiny embers into massive flames.

* Now, a warning to commenters. Do not use her past quotes as an excuse to go all racist on us in comments. I’m in no mood.

…Adding… Related…

The appeals court in Chicago will hear arguments today on why there should still be an election to replace Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate. Roland Burris has Obama’s old seat but that could change if Marty Oberman has his way. He’s suing the Governor because Pat Quinn hasn’t called for a special election. Oberman says the 17th amendment to the U.S. Constitution requires Quinn to call a special election despite an Illinois state law that allows the governor to appoint people to the Senate

21 Comments

« NEWER POSTS