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Brady says he has the votes; McKenna sorta backs Brady; Adlai suggests Quinn form third party; Cohen’s helpers; Adam quotes history; Quinn talks tax hike

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…Adding… I missed this one. I am only sporadically on the Bill Brady press release list…

With the final vote totals now reported, our campaign has a 406-vote lead over Senator Kirk Dillard at the top of the Republican gubernatorial contest. Still to be counted are absentee ballots that were not included in Tuesday’s balloting and provisional ballots that will not be counted for several days. Our legal and political team does not believe those votes will be sufficient to offset our lead.

We’re confident our vote will hold up and we will move onto victory in November.

* Andy McKenna conceded this afternoon and announced that he “stands ready” to support Bill Brady… unless the other guy wins. Check out the press release…

“Now that Democrats appear to be coming together as a Party, Republicans must do the same. There is simply too much at stake in this election to allow Party infighting to distract us from our mission. Based upon the numbers available today, we stand ready to support Bill Brady who appears headed for the nomination, or whoever is declared the eventual winner. We look forward to the process completing itself soon and working with our nominee to win in November.”

Mckenna’s “running mate” Matt Murphy also conceded…

“Congratulations to Jason Plummer on winning the Republican nomination for Lieutenant Governor. He ran a strong campaign on the right ideas. Republicans have a Lieutenant Governor nominee we can be proud to support. I look forward to working with Mr. Plummer and our entire Republican ticket to bring real change to Springfield in 2010.”

* Yeah, this is a good idea. Not…

Former U.S. Sen. Adlai Stevenson — who formed a third party to run for governor in 1986 rather than share the same ticket as two disciples of Lyndon H. LaRouche — said Gov. Quinn faces the same political reality in dealing with running mate Scott Lee Cohen.

“It would be very difficult for Pat Quinn, in good conscience, to run for governor with this fellow tied to him as if they’re joined at the hip,” Stevenson told the Sun-Times today.

“One answer is to do what I did, namely to resign the nomination and run as an independent with a different lieutenant governor candidate,” he said. “Of course, they can try to talk [Cohen] out of it, but I’m skeptical as to whether that would work.”

I agree that Cohen isn’t likely to get out quite yet. Threatening to form a third party could be used to put pressure on Cohen.

But people forget that Adlai was the only Democrat to jump ship that year. Everybody was watching to see what US Sen. Alan Dixon would do, and when he decided to remain on the Democratic ticket, the rest of the “legit” ticket stuck with him. Adlai, who spent almost none of his own money on his razor-thin loss in 1982, had to mostly fund his ‘86 race himself. He got creamed.

* Cohen didn’t get elected by himself. He had some help. For instance, Ald. Dick Mell’s 33rd Ward organization had him on their sample ballot. Click here for the full thing, but I’ve given you a helpfully annotated version…

Check out election results by Chicago ward and Cook township to see who else may have helped out. [Hat tip to a commenter.]

* Adam Andrzejewski’s e-mail to supporters…

THE DAWN OF A NEW DAY [STILL] RISES

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
– Winston S. Churchill

In 1955, William F. Buckley called for us to stand athwart history yelling stop.

1964, President Ronald Reagan called for us to preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness.

In 2009, Tea Party patriots across the country stood against increased government taxation, spending, and intervention and reasserted their individual liberty

And in 2010, the citizens of Illinois called for A New Day. A new day of honest, accountable, and limited government.

Many of you have called, emailed, Facebooked or Tweeted asking, “What’s next?”

Tuesday we learned the road to A New Day in Illinois is longer than we had hoped. However, the fight we waged against the under-performing Illinois establishment has not come to an end and certainly does not end with my bid for Governor.

Over the course of the last year, you have opened a new chapter in Illinois politics and renewed the Reagan revolution that first came to Illinois in 1976. Tea parties, 9/12 organizations and other advocacy groups have re-ignited the consciousness of conservatism. Your passion captured the imagination of thousands of Illinoisans across our great state and drew the support of national and international conservative leaders.

Your hard work and dedication created an unprecedented grassroots movement calling for honest, accountable, and limited government. Tuesday, we may have been delayed, but we have certainly not been denied.   I am committed to rebuilding our party and I am committed to re-laying the foundation with the values and principles our nation’s founders knew to be essential for our Liberty: limited government, free enterprise, individual liberty and traditional American values.   

I still believe that it’s your turn. I still believe the dawn of a new day is rising in Illinois. And I still believe that what you have started over the course of the last year is of epic proportions and has already made history in countless ways. And I am still with you, for the good of Illinois.

* Let’s look at a few videos, shall we? Gov. Quinn talks about a tax hike…

* Congressman Peter Roskam talks about the new Republican video that attempts to connect Alexi Giannoulias to the mob…

* Mark Kirk’s new “Take Back Illinois” video…

* The DCCC has an excruciatingly boring “Illinois Race Review” video, in case you care…

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Feb 4, 10 @ 3:38 pm

Comments

Thanks for the advice, Adlai, but LOL.

Quinn has a real problem, but if he leaves the Democratic Party, he loses. It’s not an option. He won’t do it.

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Feb 4, 10 @ 3:49 pm
I’m shocked Mell didn’t vet this guy better. Bwhahaha

Comment by Phineas J. Whoopee Thursday, Feb 4, 10 @ 4:02 pm
Looks like at least one ward did it right. 42 went big for Art Turner. Whew.

Comment by OdysseusVL Thursday, Feb 4, 10 @ 4:02 pm
Never a dull moment in Illinois Politics.

I was listening to WGN radio on my lunch, and a caller called in to say, we send Politicians to the Capital that turn into criminals, why not send a criminal (Cohen) and have him turn into a politician.

It was pointed out the Cohen had not been convicted.

Comment by Third Generation Chicago Native Thursday, Feb 4, 10 @ 4:04 pm
The Sun-Times has updated the numbers. Brady’s now up by 420 votes.

Comment by Downstate Thursday, Feb 4, 10 @ 4:04 pm
Adam A. forgot to include Gandhi, Charlemagne and Henry V in the eulogy for his fifth-place finish.

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Feb 4, 10 @ 4:05 pm
…about guilt by association. Cohen dropped a TON of mail in my area and not one other LG candidate so much as had a walk piece. If a ward went for Cohen, it doesn’t necessarily mean he got help.

Comment by Be Careful Thursday, Feb 4, 10 @ 4:21 pm
sometimes I got two pieces of mail A DAY from Cohen.

thanks lots Dick. first you give us Rod, now you push SLC.

Comment by Amalia Thursday, Feb 4, 10 @ 4:30 pm
I couldn’t vote for either of the “Fortunate Sons” in 2000 so for the first time I didn’t vote for Prez. George W and his wars, spending, dumbness, and much more drove me away from the Republican party and I snuck in and quietly voted for JFKerry as the lesser of two evils. Obama was refreshing and I still think he can lead us out of the hole W and his corporate clan left us in. But here in Illinois it is “BRING IN THE DEMOCRATIC CLOWNS” time with Blago, Burris, Boland and now on to the “C’s” Cohen…

Comment by Goldwater Guy Thursday, Feb 4, 10 @ 4:36 pm
Two points to note here. First, while a candidate might be on a ward organization’s palm card (among a list of about two dozen contested races), that doesn’t mean that the ward organization was making that candidate a priority. I was in the 33rd Ward during part of Election Day, and you couldn’t see many Cohen signs around, because Mell was pushing his daughter in her State Rep race. Quite frankly, I think Dick Mell would have printed palm cards telling voters to write in the name “Rich Miller” for Lt. governor if it would have brought another 20 votes for Deborah Mell in the 40th District House race.

Second, there were a number of places where the committeeman didn’t event bother to list anyone for Lt. Governor (such as the 45th Ward on the Northwest Side, where Cohen still managed to win by about 6%).

Comment by fedup dem Thursday, Feb 4, 10 @ 4:44 pm
Fedup dem: no, the palm card most often means the organization took money from the candidate and are
giving them advertising space. but it still means
they are pushing them. that is why we all want to know
who was on what palm card.

if SLC was on a palm card, anger should rain down on that
organization.

Comment by Amalia Thursday, Feb 4, 10 @ 4:49 pm
Can we just start over with new elections??

The GOP is looking at having 2 downstate conservatives (Brady-Plummer) with no name ID, no base, & not much money. Not to mention Plummer is a heart beat away from being Gov…that just doesn’t sound good.

The Dems have Quinn, enough said…and this loony Cohen on their ticket??

This state deserves better..

Comment by scoot Thursday, Feb 4, 10 @ 4:51 pm
Well, well, well…Quinn and Cohen have a mutual friend in Dick Mell? Dick Mell contributed $10,000 or so to Quinn last month.

Comment by Quinn-Cohen Ticket Thursday, Feb 4, 10 @ 4:52 pm
Here’s the other thing that happened when adlai formed the 3rd party back in the day.

It was called the Solidarity Party.

Because it met the threshhold of 3rd party requirements under IL’s Byzantine election law, the Solidarity party (much like the Greens under Rich Whitney recently)became a semi-real entity. IIRC correctly, the party was hijacked by some independents who ran candidates for a few election cycles (without the more restrictive petition requirements for minor 3rd parties) until the party slowly faded into oblivion.

Who knows, today’s “Quinn Solidarity Party” could be 2010’s Teabag Solidarity Party.

Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Thursday, Feb 4, 10 @ 4:58 pm
Something tells me any leftover palm cards disappeared real quick yesterday and today.

The schmuck won my Ward, the 1st, albeit narrowly. I really do wonder if my alderman/committeeman supported him, but it doesn’t really matter that much. I was planning on voting against him next time anyway.

Comment by Randolph Thursday, Feb 4, 10 @ 5:01 pm
Hmmm, I think that if it was tried and it failed, then there’s a good chance that doing something similar can only produce similar results. More failure. A sign of insanity?

Comment by Levois Thursday, Feb 4, 10 @ 5:23 pm
–This state deserves better..–

In government, you get what you deserve.

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Feb 4, 10 @ 6:11 pm
I am really disappointed by the Scott Lee Cohen nomination.

It’s just another reason to support public financing, because when money buys government, we all lose.

Comment by Bill-O' the Clown Thursday, Feb 4, 10 @ 6:23 pm
Bill-O’
Public financing wouldn’t prevent wealthy candidates from spending their own money — as Cohen and Plummer did.

Comment by Reformer Thursday, Feb 4, 10 @ 7:41 pm
Public financing of the Clean Elections variety prevents private wealth from being used as a source of campaign money.

Comment by Bill-O' the Clown Thursday, Feb 4, 10 @ 7:48 pm
From Scott Lee Cohen’s website

Endorsements
Carrie Austin, Councilman – 34th Ward
Howard B. Brookins, Jr., Councilman - 21st Ward
JoAnn Thompson, Councilman - 16th Ward
Roberto Maldonado, Councilman – 26th Ward
Bernard L. Stone, Councilman - 50th Ward
Scott Waguespack, Councilman - 32nd Ward
Deborah Sims, Commissioner - 5th District
Joan Patricia Murphy, Commissioner - 6th District
Frank Zuccarelli, Supervisor - Thornton Township
Chris Gonzales, Assessor - Thornton Township
Deyon Dean, Mayor – Village of Riverdale
Terry Wells, Mayor – Village of Phoenix
Stephanie Kifowit, Councilman - Aurora
Brain Wilson, Councilman - Calumet City
Eddy Gonzales, Councilman - Calumet City
Thaddeus Jones, Councilman - Calumet City
Roger Munda, Councilman - Calumet City
Nick Manousopoulos, Councilman - Calumet City
Charles Levy, Clerk - Niles Township
Charles Hernandez, Cicero Township Democratic Committeeman
Don St. Germaine, Kankakee County Democratic Party Chairman
Reverend Johnny L. Miller
Reverend Marvin Hunter
Personal PAC Illinois
Illinois Committee for Honest Government
Ilaz Kadriu, President of the American Albanian Organization
Planned Parenthood Illinois

Comment by what the heck Thursday, Feb 4, 10 @ 10:23 pm