“Out of town stupid”
Thursday, Oct 26, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* “Gregory Krieg is a New York-based reporter at CNN Politics. His beat is the offbeat, writing and reporting on politics, culture, and political movements. He also produces interactive projects and feature video.” Here’s his take on Illinois…
A billionaire, a Kennedy, and a little known, progressive state senator are the three to keep an eye on as Democrats gear up for a fight with the wildly wealthy incumbent Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner.
J.B. Pritzker is the Hyatt heir and venture capitalist with a name familiar to everyone in the region (and a sister who served as President Barack Obama’s commerce secretary). Chris Kennedy, son of the late Robert Kennedy, had some practice jabbing at Rauner, assailing his “so-called turnaround agenda” as a sleight of hand, and “part of the narrative that government doesn’t work so he has to privatize it,” in remarks at the Democratic convention in 2016.
Kennedy is the early, if narrow, favorite, but Pritzker’s overstuffed pockets will allow him to spend (and spend and spend) all the way up to the vote.
State Sen. Daniel Biss might be the most interesting (and left-most) of the three, but his campaign is struggling to break through. In part, that’s a money issue. Pritzker and Kennedy are awash in it. Biss is not, and he tripped out of the gate when he brought on Chicago Alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa as his running mate, then promptly parted ways with him after Ramirez-Rosa’s support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against the Israeli government grabbed some headlines. The decision dampened Biss’ progressive cred — Ramirez-Rosa, a Democratic Socialists of America member, never hid his support for BDS — and raised questions about the campaign’s vetting process.
* Mark is right…
Exactly. Biss outraised Kennedy two quarters in a row and doesn’t have Kennedy’s ridic burn rate. And a recent poll had Pritzker over Kennedy and Biss 39-15-6, respectively.