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*** UPDATE - 1:09 pm *** Dillard’s press release has just arrived…
Republican candidate for Illinois Governor Kirk Dillard today said that the ballot counting process in the GOP Primary must continue, “until all of the legal ballots have been counted and verified.”
With a little more than 400 votes separating Senators Dillard and Bill Brady, Dillard put the difference in perspective. “With over 750-thousand votes cast, this is a .0005 of a percent difference. So, in a race this close, it’s important that every vote count.”
Dillard said campaign estimates, based on contacts with all 110 election authorities across the state, show there are as many as 5,000 provisional ballots still uncounted. In addition, there are about 1,000 absentee ballots that have been delivered but not yet counted.
Dillard also said as many as 5,000 absentee ballots could still be in the mail, not yet delivered to election authorities. “I wish we could resolve this today,” said Dillard. “But the reality is that it takes time for election authorities to do their job and for these votes to be counted.”
Some election officials have told the campaign that they will wait until February 15 or 16 to count their absentee and provisional ballots. “So, we will have to wait awhile longer before those votes are counted,” Dillard explained. “When you have a race this important, it’s essential that every vote count. That’s what Senator Brady and I want, and we know that’s what the people of Illinois deserve.”
Dillard also said the GOP remains committed to defeating Governor Quinn in November. “The Republican Party is unified behind balancing our budget, putting people back to work and cleaning up Springfield. Senator Brady and I are absolutely committed to this goal, regardless of who’s the nominee.”
He said the two campaign staffs have been staying in touch. “So, we must allow the process to continue until all of the legal ballots have been counted and verified.“
[ *** End of Update *** ]
* Sen. Kirk Dillard isn’t going away quietly yet…
Dillard, the state senator from Hinsdale, previewed a press conference he scheduled for 1 p.m. today, saying 5,000 to 10,000 absentee and provisional ballots remain to be counted, and the state elections board does not have to certify the results before Feb. 16.
“Let’s get all the votes in, let’s get a final count,” he said.
Asked how long the process might take, he said: “It will be a while.”
Sen. Bill Brady, however, is starting to crank up the rhetoric, saying on WGN this morning “It’s up to Mr. Dillard how long he wants to drag this out.”
* Check out this Google Insights chart to see how searches for Bill Brady started soaring in late January…
Brady’s “search surge” pretty much started around the same time that his “real” surge began in the Dillard campaign’s polling.
* Stu Rothenburg has moved the Illinois governor’s race from “Clear Advantage” (for Democrats) to “Toss Up”…
In Illinois, Gov. Pat Quinn’s (D) narrow primary victory exposed some significant weaknesses heading into the general election. State Comptroller Dan Hynes surged late but didn’t have enough time to overcome Quinn and now Republicans are happily repeating Hynes’ attack ads and themes. Quinn will face state Sen. Bill Brady (R) or state Sen. Kirk Dillard (R) in the general election, but the overall political environment may be Quinn’s toughest foe.
That’s pretty breezy and light, but that’s how he is. There are a million variables here and many of those are bad for the Democrats. Quinn’s people are hoping that Brady survives any possible recount, but even that is no guarantee. Yes, Brady is ideologically far to the right of this state’s center. He’s a guns, gays and God conservative who wants to cut taxes and borrow our way out of the pension mess. But he’s also a true happy warrior in the Reagan mold. He’s telegenic, decent on his feet, and will likely tear into Quinn on issues that Illinois actually cares about.
Dillard is the candidate the Quinn people fear most, and for good reason. But I wouldn’t count out Bill Brady - unless the national Democrats get their act together (and that’s probably hopeless) and Quinn stops making stupid mistakes and finally takes action on firing Blagojevich holdovers and that Dept. of Corrections Director. Quinn is easily definable in a general election. Take a look at his Downstate numbers from Tuesday and you’ll get a preview. His only real avenue is to scare moderates into viewing Brady as an unacceptable risk.
Thoughts?
* Related…
posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 11:35 am
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I’m all worn out. Can we beer blog today?
Comment by Out There Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 11:39 am
Good point. The Department of Corrections Director now has 5 new staff members surrounding him at 115,000 dollars a year. What a debacle this is costing the tax payers. Plus the parole officers are scrambling to violate the PUSH parolees thus running up the overtime and potential law suits. Quinn has to make this right or the next few months it will drown him.
Comment by retired doc Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 11:40 am
lol
It has been a week, no? I’m pretty sure we broke a single-day comment record yesterday on a single topic: SLC. If I remember right, it was well over 700.
Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 11:41 am
Yes, Brady is far to the right, like his opposition to abortion rights even in the cases of rape and incest. But Quinn’s best attack against Brady is a frontal assault:
1) Brady oppposed raising the minimum wage;
2) Brady voted against a Jobs Bill to put 439,000 Illinoisans back to work;
3) Brady voted against making sure corporations receiving government help use that money to create jobs here in Illinois.
Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 11:41 am
Dillard’s comment is prudent and not inflamatory. There are quite a few ballots potentially out there. If Feb. 16 passes and all the absentees and provisionals haven’t moved the numbers THEN he should throw in the towel.
Brady has to resist the temptation to push Dillard. He can’t start out firing at other Republicans. Anyone who got 20% of the vote needs to tread carefully with respect to his fellow party members.
The GOPers need to stay cool, let the Dem freak show continue, and get united once there is a clear winner.
Comment by Adam Smith Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 11:44 am
===I’m all worn out. Can we beer blog today?===
*raises wine glass to toast an excellent idea*
Comment by The REAL Anonymous fka Anonymous Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 11:46 am
How many moderate GOP women are going to vote for Brady given some his stances? If Quinn is smart, and he gets the chance, he should convince the state committee to pick a woman.
Comment by Niles Township Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 11:54 am
I just don’t see Brady winning. He can be charming and telegenic, and he can be a good old Reagan candidate - but a Brady win will require a real change of thinking in Illinois that didn’t even occur during the Reagan era.
Brady is just too countryfied for Chicagoland. He will have to make being a country bumpkin an asset, and use a lot of charm and humor to get voters to even consider him.
A Brady win would be completely shocking to me. He is too easily pigeon-holed, too colloquial, too far to the right.
As a conservative, Brady is supposed to find voters like me enthused over him. I’m not. If voters like me are not on board, he is going to have to do an awful lot of convincing to even build up a base here.
Right now, I have no plans to vote for either gubernatorial candidate. When I vote, I skip over races between candidates I don’t like. I see myself voting for my favorites again, White, Madigan, Miller, and going for Kirk or Dillard, (if Dillard somehow ends up winning).
But not Brady. And he needs voters like me to be at his side already. And I am not there.
As a matter of fact, if the Brady people want to do some good work regarding how to reach out to conservative Democrats and independants, they ought to reach out to me. I would be willing to help them do just that.
The same goes for Quinn. If they want to know why I voted for Hynes and why they’ve disappointed me so thoroughly over the past year, I would be willing to help them figure out how to get me, and thousands of others like me to support the Governor this fall.
Comment by VanillaMan Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 11:57 am
Brady’s lead will hold, and Dillard should forget about calling for a full recount. Dillard lost because of Dillard.
And then, yes, it will be easy to paint Brady as an unacceptable risk. He’s also a lightweight. It doesn’t help that he starts out knowing that even 80% of Republicans wanted someone else.
The GOP looks to blow a big opportunity. The statewide ticket is in fact very weak.
Comment by just sayin' Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 11:59 am
I think Rich left off one-maybe two things about Brady—One he works his butt off. From his first race against Ropp he puts all his efforts into his races.
Second, he’s the only guy who seems to have run a field operation of any note this cycle and it paid off. In a close election, these are big deals.
Comment by ArchPundit Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 12:06 pm
Agreed.
Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 12:06 pm
1. the media has egg on its face for missing scott lee cohen. have they FIRED all the courts reporters? Reminds me of the scene in season 5 of the wire, where the Baltimore Sun reporter calls to ask the court why they didn’t get a heads up on a media availability and the court flak tells him they sent it to a guy that was fired 5 layoff rounds ago.
2. There’s clearly a blind spot in illinois statewide political media. I am sure people that cover the state down near the kentucky end knew that brady had something up, or that andreski was making moves, but no one up here reads those papers and unless the tribune has someone down there it doesn’t get reported.
3. rothenberg has 50 states and about 500 races to cover from d.c. 2 feet from the dubliner he did better than rollcall which said that dick green was viable, politico which bases all of its analysis on who it has lunch with.
4. You haven’t done your post primary readout and what you think. I would say jim edgar has lost his catchet-it did not help coulson or dillard, my friend mr. kirk barely got above 50 percent againsst 5 people no one has heard of.
5. brady helps mark kirk big time by helping with the downstate conservatives.
6. I didn’t vote for dillard and the way he has conducted himself after the race-bashing jim ryan who I thought handled himself like a great statesman, he sounds like a total brat and while I don’t agree with brady on most things, I am happy to see dillard and his arrogance gone.
Comment by shore Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 12:11 pm
Arch makes a good point. Also, Brady has seriously upgraded the talent on his campaign team. He’s got some very experienced nuts and bolts guys, good media people and some very good policy help. If Brady listens (a big question mark) and works hard (again ???), he can compete.
Let’s remember Fitzgerald. He was the most conservative candidate to win Illinois since Dirksen, but voters didn’t care because he ran a disciplined race and faced a disorganized, mistake-prone opponent. Sounds pretty familiar.
Comment by Adam Smith Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 12:12 pm
[…] I think Brady is a lot better for Democrats and I don’t have a ton of great things to say about him, but Rich points out some of his characteristics that could make him dangerous in the general election to Democrats: […]
Pingback by ArchPundit | Why Brady Won’t Be A Cakewalk Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 12:16 pm
What type of candidate just won in Virginia ? Bingo. He was far to the right on social issues but he managed to win in this political climate. He ran against a weak opponent. Stuck to jobs, cutting taxes, cutting government, etc. Rich’s comments were dead on about Brady. Brady ” was TEA PARTY before it was cool “. Don’t count this guy out. If Dems do it will be at their peril.
Comment by Anonymous Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 12:21 pm
If he “works his butt off” in every race, you can bet he knows, or will do his best to find out, what he needs to do to win this one.
What he needs to do more than anything is simply persuade voters that they can trust him to do what’s right for the state. I suspect that a field operation that relies on real people, and not just slick TV/radio/internet advertising, etc., might go a long way toward doing so.
Comment by Secret Square Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 12:23 pm
Of course this race is a toss-up. If Quinn can right some of the ship - even with a tax increase - Rothenberg will have to slide his prediction into “Narrow Advantage for Incumbent Party”. The state still has way too many problems for Mr. Rothenberg to “Clear Advantage for Incumbent Party” or “Currently Safe”.
My guess is that an inability to force Cohen off the ballot and a continued budget stalemate will place this race into “Lean Takeover”.
Comment by Team Sleep Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 12:24 pm
i see a long list of electeds supporting Brady. anyone have names of electeds who are women? cause I did not see any
in my fast look.
Comment by Amalia Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 12:26 pm
Using his own numbers - which he’s probably inflating - there are at most 10,000 outstanding ballots. County clerks are on the record saying those generally trickle in at a rate of less than 20%, and good provisionals are generally close to that as well, if not less. So give Dillard 20% return rate, and you’re at 2,000 still out to be counted - assuming he’s talking only about REPUBLICAN ballots.
To close the gap, he needs roughly 400 more votes than Brady, or 20% of that total without Brady getting ANY of those. If Brady gets only 10% in the absentees, Dillard needs over 600, or 30% of the total. Brady gets, 15%, Dillard needs 700, or 35%. It just doesn’t look doable. Be the smart, party loyalist and get out before it’s proven you should get out.
Comment by Time to quit Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 12:27 pm
if brady runs the bob mcdonnell campaign, I think he could do well. Shut up about social issues. talk about economic development, fighting corruption and jobs. Wear a moderate republican’s clothing and make sure you dont have a thesis from bob jones u like mcdonnell did. Mcdonnell btw destroyed his opponent in virginia’s version of mark kirk’s district against a dem who was far more moderate than quinn.
Comment by shore Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 12:29 pm
I am curious exactly what VMan means by Brady being “too countryfied” for Chicagoland.
Jim Edgar somehow won two terms as governor in this state and he was more countryfied IMO than a millionaire real estate baron product of private schools like Brady could be.
Maybe I’m looking at him through my own “countryfied” glasses having grown up in an Illinois town a lot smaller than B-N, but I don’t see how Brady was all that different from the rest of the rich white guys running other than he got ignored by the Chicago media.
Comment by Hisgirlfriday Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 12:32 pm
Quinn has been governor for a year and has done worse than nothing. He has 9 more months to show he can be a minimally effective governor. If he can’t do that, independents have good reason to say, “the dems have had everything for 8 years and look at the mess. Ryan was better than this.” Following that reasoning, even a right winger you don’t agree with looks pretty good as governor, if only to restrain the spend-but-don’t-tax GA.
Comment by Excessively Rabid Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 12:39 pm
social issues
I have a theory. I think that most voters in IL don’t necessarily support the hard to port stances of Dick Durbin. He gets re elected for other reasons.
So, I dont think (esp in this year) that Brady, given a decently run campaign, is vulnerable there.
And if he gets a real budget expert like former Sen. Rauchenberger on board, his plan can be “tweaked” to be pretty solid.
Also, for many conservatives, this is the first real conservative candidate they could vote for since Rep. Poshard ran for governor.
Its not a slam dunk, but it’s not a hail Mary pass for Brady to win, either.
Comment by Pat collins Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 12:41 pm
Dillard isn’t such a strong candidate. People aren’t looking for a Republican version of Blagojevich who’s vague on issues and has a history of consulting Bill Cellini when dolling out jobs and contracts. That will all come out if he’s the nominee.
Don’t underestimate the central Illinois swing vote. It helped sweep in Blagojevich in 2002. It could sweep in Brady.
Quinn didn’t do well against Hynes in downstate. He should be worried about where he stands in counties where state government or universities are the top employer (Sangamon, Champaign, McLean, Jackson, etc). Those are downstate swing voters who can decide elections and they may choose a sincere candidate that lives a lot closer to them than Chicago.
Comment by SangoDem Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 12:51 pm
>Dillard is the candidate the Quinn people fear most, and for good reason
What reason would that be? Another matchup of Democrat vs. Democrat-light? I’m saying it again, people ARE NOT gonna vote for a pretend Democrat. They will vote for the real Democrat. This time we have a REAL Republican running against a Democrat. Quinn should fear Brady a lot more.
Comment by Segatari Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 12:52 pm
The stars may have aligned for Brady. Quinn will continue to be a walking disaster & his running mate will only add to the folly. Brady is a likeable guy & economic issues are topping social ones in the minds of the voters. It will still be a tough campaign, but I say he comes out on top.
Comment by Anonymous Coward Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 12:55 pm
Dillard is just as far to the right on social issues as Brady.
Dillard needs to give this up as soon as the ballots are counted.
Comment by How... Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 1:05 pm
Brady didn’t really run hard on socon issues in the primary so he is not about to do it now. Yeah, Quinn is going to try to use agnaist him (that would likely be Quinn’s tact in a Dillard race because they have the same opinions on most socon issues) because at 25% approval there really not that much else for Quinn to run on. Brady is a smart guy and is going to take a page out of the Brown/Christie/McDonell playbook and run on jobs, compentant goverance and ethics.
Comment by Lewis Grad Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 1:14 pm
Pat Quinn could don a Michael Myers hockey mask and it still wouldn’t be enough to scare moderates into “not” voting for Bill Brady. If Dan H. had won the Democrat Primary rather than Pat Quinn, then Bill Brady might possibly have been concerned.
Brady simply has to point out the list of accomplishments (or lack of same) of Pat Quinn since becoming the “accidental” Governor of Illinois. Brady can sit back and watch the Quinn “sinkhole” keep growing in size. Here is hoping that Brady will announce that his first act as Governor of Illinois is the replacement of Michael Randle as head of the Illinois Correctional System. Brady can ship our current Director of the Illinois Correctional System back to Ohio where deaf, dumb, and blind Pat Quinn somehow managed to find him. The citizens of Ohio and the Ohio Inspector General will probably be there waiting to throw him a “Welcome Back Party”.
Comment by Donovan Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 1:15 pm
Sango Demo,
It would be financial suicide for state workers and university staff to vote for Brady. He wants a $1 billion tax cut!
Comment by So Blue Democrat Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 1:15 pm
VanillaMan, I couldn’t disagree with you more. And don’t be so quick to rule Brady out, he just might surprise you. I think you are overlooking the fact that there is some dem fatigue out there and all dems all the time in cook county and chicago and illinois has not been pretty or very helpful. too much of one thing all the time is never good? the dems have become a bit tired and stale.
Being from the part of Will County I am, I consider myself a little bit county and a little bit rock ‘n’ roll.
I think and hope that Bill Brady is smart enough to leave the Honky Tonk for the downstaters and bring the rock ‘n’ roll to the NE region of the state.
I also think it will be very helpful for Brady to have well positioned surrogates who can help him deliver his message strategically throughout the state.
One of the things that I remember about him from the primary 4 years ago, in which he lost to Topinka, was that he seemed to dwell too much on the second amendment and guns. For those of us in the Chicago metro area of the state, that’s not a hot-button issue for us (and by us I’m including repubs etc.).
Brady should also take a few plays out of dan proft’s book when courting the Chicago area, but most importantly Dillard has got to be one of his biggest assets.
My take on the Dillard/Brady recount is that Dillard is right to want a recount and Brady is right not to begrudge him. Assuming Brady’s lead holds, the last thing he needs to do is run the risk of alienating Dillard or cause Dillard to think that he may have been cheated somehow. Brady needs Dillard help to court moderate dems and independents in the Chicago area. Brady needs Dillard as a surrogate, as well as the others who ran against him in the primary, as each has that unique something “special” that brady lacks.
earlier this week I thought Mark Kirk might be hurt by too conservative of a repub guv nominee, but after reading some of the posts on this thread maybe not.
Comment by Will County Woman Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 1:19 pm
Rich,
You summed this up about right.
If Brady is the Republican nominee, Quinn becomes governor twice by default.
Seems like we should be able to program a computer for default mode.
Is that mercury fallout from all our coal burning in all our blood streams? Or do we just act like it?
Dang, lets get back to the pension and budget deficits and have some real laughs.
Comment by vole Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 1:21 pm
Dillard’s math is wrong. It’s a 0.05 percent difference. (They need to multiply .0005 by 100 to get the percent.)
Comment by Pot calling kettle Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 1:26 pm
ooops, I forgot…
My main concern about Brady is his economic/budget plan. I think his economic/budget policy advisors need to start thinking more realistically about Illinois’ finacial crisis and how it can best be solved. I agree with that the problem has been spending. I also agree with cuts, cuts, cuts on the front end, but I think the door has to opened to the idea of a tax increase as well, unfortunately. The fact that a tax increase is needed is the fault of the dems and their poor fiscal management over the last 8 years.
Quinn wants to make “investements,” which is a nicer way of saying spending.
Comment by Will County Woman Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 1:31 pm
Amalia, with due respect worrying about Brady’s social issues position is kind of a red herring.
Most women you and I know who are personally and ideologically pro-life, never-the-less respect the views of their sisters who think differently, or feel that they must make other choices with their pregnancies. Most women in 2010 do not want abortion criminalized or want Roe V. Wade gone–and obviously it won’t be gone no matter who is elected governor of Il. Also, I think most responsible women believe there should be fewer abortions and most object to late term and partial birth abortions–procedures they find troubling if not abhorrent. So there is plenty of common ground for pro choice ladies and pro life ladies to agree on. Letting a few paid fringe nuts on BOTH sides of the issue define the debate with fearmongering, hysterics and hate, as they have been doing for decades, has been bad for women in general. Really, don’t we know this, and aren’t most of us sick of listening to the shrillness?
Comment by Responsa Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 1:48 pm
So Blue Democrat,
Just to play devil’s advocate though, why should downstate Dems employed at the state’s public universities trust Quinn any more than Brady to have their back?
Was Quinn fighting on the side of the universities when Blago was slashing their funding and pouring all the money into his pet programs? Or was he silent?
Comment by Hisgirlfriday Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 1:58 pm
We are going to hear many suggestions for fixing problems arising in this election cycle. Here is my idea.
No candidate receiving only 20% should win a primary. If a candidate can’t receive a significant percentage (35-40%) among multiple candidates, then there should be a runoff involving only the top 2 vote getters to determine a winner. The early primary date leaves plenty of time for a runoff. I think this would be an improvement.
Comment by BigBob Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 1:59 pm
The spread is such that there is no reason for Dillard to go anywhere quickly or quietly, and there is no urgency for an immediate decision since the election is not for another 9 months.
The miniscule spread demands a wait and see approach; and the unity message assuages any immediate concerns about a divisive effect for the time being until more information is known.
It might be different if the election authorities would provide a zip code/precinct match for the votes in, but not yet counted, or the absentee ballots out, but not yet in.
With a 400 vote spread however; and without some insight into the ballot geographic origin, all we can do is guess rather than speculate.
Comment by Quinn T. Sential Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 1:59 pm
Respona,
Brady is part of the “shrillness.”
Comment by So Blue Democrat Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 1:59 pm
HisgirlFriday,
I agree they should also not trust Quinn, but Brady is wanting more cuts in state budgets and a $1 billion tax reduction. This position is more of a threat to state workers and universities. He, of course, is taking the conservation pro-business position of the REpublican Party.
Comment by So Blue Democrat Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 2:05 pm
http://wlsam.com/sectional.asp?id=18672
listen to the interview. Dillard’s continued whining and bashing of jim ryan, and brady and mckenna is sad and arrogant.
Comment by shore Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 2:07 pm
@BigBob The parties should reserve full right to establish whatever rules they want for determining their nominees.
Incomes are flat or declining all across the state. If state workers have a good ideas as to how to balance the budget without taking more money from the declining pockets of private workers then please share them.
Comment by Brennan Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 2:14 pm
NBC Chicago carried the live stream of Dillard’s 1 PM press conference. Blah blah blah, nothing really new.
But Kass or someone asked Dillard something about Bill Cellini’s support of him through the Sangamon County GOP organization in Springfield.
Dillard pretended not to know anything about Cellini’s involvement. And specifically said he didn’t see the recent story on that topic.
Dillard can be a real hoot when he tries.
I think a big part of Dillard’s problem is he’s actually started believing his own spin. Dillard’s not going to pull this out and he’s got no one to blame but himself. He lost too much support and just didn’t work hard enough to get the votes.
Comment by just sayin' Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 2:22 pm
Brennan,
Brady’s positions on the budget will have more of an impact than state workers. He has no plan except the standard GOP BS (the NO Party).
Comment by So Blue Democrat Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 2:25 pm
Quinn will not fire the Blago holdovers due to the fact that they are all on his campaign staff/bandwagon especially in Springfield. Mike S., Billy E. etc…. all on TV for his final primary flyaround, but I’m sure they had their time slips turned in.
Comment by The Not So Mighty Quinn Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 2:26 pm
I am curious exactly what VMan means by Brady being “too countryfied” for Chicagoland.
Jim Edgar somehow won two terms as governor in this state and he was more countryfied…
Edgar was an known commodity before his first gubernatorial run. Voters saw his work at the statewide level for years before. The major issues being debated in 1990 are different. Since 1990, Chicagoland has shifter further towards the Democratic Party. The older ring of suburbs is now navy blue Democratic. The outer burbs are now purple, instead of red. Edgar was “Little Jim” to Thompson’s “Big Jim”. Illinoisans, due to Thompson’s years in office, felt they could relate to the GOP.
At the end of Edgar’s first term, the GOP takeover of the US Congress occurred and brought into scope an entirely new kind of GOP image. Southern and Rural. Edgar didn’t have to deal with that kind of label after his successful first term in office.
Edgar’s success brought in Ryan. So the last batch of GOP governors didn’t have to deal with the current Post-1994 GOP image.
Brady does. He fits.
And that is going to be a problem for a majority of Illinoisans living in NE Illinois. Brady is going to have to break through their idea of what a downstate GOP candidate is. Brady WON on that image, so he isn’t going to be easily shifting away from it.
Comment by VanillaMan Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 2:33 pm
This primary election reminds me of the title of the book about IL governors. “Mostly Good and Competent Men” It was written before Ryan and Blago.
We have Quinn (good since he cares about human needs, but incompetent).
We have Brady (not good since he does not care about human needs except the standard GOP BS about tax cuts, and he is not really very competent).
When the author updates his book, he probably should change the title with Ryan, Blago, and our future governor.
Comment by So Blue Democrat Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 2:36 pm
=Brady is part of the “shrillness.=
I recognize that as a partisan you may disagree with Brady on some issues. However, for those who know him, have worked with him, and met him over the course of his campaign I suspect that “shrill” is not a description of him that readily comes to mind.
Comment by Responsa Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 2:58 pm
Respona,
So your earlier response was not objective. It was based on your support of Brady. I knew it. Brady is part of the shrillness of the rightwing. You obviously are also part of it.
Comment by So Blue Democrat Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 3:00 pm
Brady has major conservative votes (minimum wage that support single mothers, health care for children, etc.). This are issues that do have a major impact on women.
Comment by So Blue Democrat Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 3:02 pm
Pat Collins:
EVERY poll I’ve seen shows that a solid majority of Illinoisans support keeping abortion legal, reasonable gun control laws, even equal rights for gay Americans.
Brady is clearly out of the mainstream on every social issue.
Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 3:02 pm
To the “Not So Mighty Quinn” and Rich - Just because someone was hired by the bumbling Blago or on his watch does not mean they don’t do a good job for the State. Sure, the handpicked ones that actually have a say in policy-making or oversee a large budget should be booted but is it really necessary to fire every secretary, clerk or pencil pusher just so a “friend of a Legislator’s friend” can be hired? What’s the point?
Comment by Consider This Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 3:07 pm
Responsa, i’m sorry you conflate my advocacy with the shrillness of Brady and his supporters. as a person who believes deeply in choice, the choice to have a child, adopt a child, give up a child for adoption, create a child with assisted reproductive methods, avoid having a child by using birth control, and, yes, to have the ability to have an abortion, Brady and his anti choice advocacy buddies stand for everything which I oppose. we will not stand by quietly when a governor can act on legislation, administrative rules, and funding for health care matters. Plan
B, infertility insurance, stem cell research. these things and more are all part of the choice issue and are not part of those two anti choice groups that back Brady. and guess what? i have no involvement whatsoever with Planned Parenthood or NARAL or Personal PAC. have not even donated in 15 years. i’m a very reasonable person but Brady’s positions make me very angry.
and there are lots of women out there not involved in pro choice
groups who feel exactly the same way. and who will speak up.
Comment by Amalia Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 3:13 pm
oh, and one more thing Responsa. my comment on this thread was questioning whether there were any Republican women elected officials on Brady’s endorsement list. cause all I saw going through his releases was a bunch of men. you may
know my positions on choice but that was not my point above.
Comment by Amalia Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 3:18 pm
Amalia,
Ditto. Additionally, Brady’s economic position will also have a major impact on women. This is how I define “shrill”.
Comment by So Blue Democrat Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 3:20 pm
So Blue Democrat: rock on!
Comment by Amalia Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 3:21 pm
Brady is a good person, sincere in his beliefs. He would make every effort to govern on the platform he campaigned on. He isn’t shrill, he listens and pays attention. On social/cultural issues he is simply more conservative than the average Illinois voter. That doesn’t make him a bad person, anymore than the fact that President Obama is liberal makes him a bad person. Please disagree with him, but don’t demonize him. Not only is it unfair, it is inaccurate.
Comment by steve schnorf Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 3:27 pm
Amalia, I don’t think I equated or conflated you with any sort of shrillness in my earlier post–I certainly didn’t mean to. I’ve seen your posts on here for weeks and respect them– and you. If you took it that I was attacking you in some way I sincerely apologize. I was trying to point out common ground that I genuinely believe most women share not start a fight. It appears you and I have nearly identical views on the subject. Peace, please.
Comment by Responsa Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 3:29 pm
Brady’s positions will have a major negative impact on individuals with real human needs in society. He may be sincere in his principles, but they are not mainstream. We need leadership that can resolve the budget issues with the least amount of promoting human suffering. $1 billion in tax cuts are not the answer. No reasonable individual agrees with this position.
Comment by So Blue Democrat Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 3:35 pm
I think someone else pointed this out about Brady, but the 2 things I just don’t get are when people are making the 80% argument…because that would be true of Dillard as well…and that he is a lightweight who won’t work…he’s always worked hard-maybe it didnt always work, but don’t question his abilities-that is simply unfair. He has been around a while, so obviously he has done something right…
Comment by Kane Conservative Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 3:59 pm
So Blue-
Getting a little blue in the face are we? We’ve had about enough. Pretty clear where the bias (and the BS) is coming from. Can it.
Comment by Northwest Chicago Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 4:02 pm
First of all, let’s count every vote. If Brady were behind, he would be doing the same thing.
Brady was tucked in 4th place and lucked out. Ryan had no money and tanked. McKenna put 2000 rating points in certain markets against Dillard solely in the last 10 days. Nobody hit Brady and he got more of the undecideds.
Unless Mr. McKenna plans to drop another $2.7 million to unilaterally slam Quinn, I don’t see it happening unfortunately.
I was a Dillard backed and now wholeheartedly endorse Brady as the GOP nominee.
Comment by Bob S Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 4:07 pm
Northwest Chicago,
You must be another Republican that does not like the principle of free speech except if it agrees with your conversative positions.
Comment by So Blue Democrat Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 4:11 pm
Yes, he’s just wrong on the budget.
Comment by steve schnorf Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 4:14 pm
Bill Brady has plans to bring Jobs to IL. Cutting taxes in the state, and providing benefits to companies will bring more people and more jobs to our state. This means more revenues. It is simple math. He wants to stop government employees from getting pension plans that are 120% of their salaries.
I don’t understand why you are so against keeping the min wage constant. Have you ever heard of something called inflation? If you raise the min wage our cost of living will go up.
As for the social issues. They will not be a big factor bc people are more worried about good meaningful (private jobs) in IL, and balancing the budget.
Comment by Brady since 2005 Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 4:32 pm
To quote ronald reagan who would be turning 99 tomorrow, “government is not the solution to our problems, it is the problem”
IL needs to make the government only as big as it needs to be. We need to cut out all unessessary spending. If the Government stops giving hand-outs to people that do not deserve it, the people of IL will be in much better shape.
Im not saying dont help those that need it. Im saying that the government should not give people the option for a free ride.
Comment by Brady since 2005 Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 4:38 pm
BS2005 Everyone has plans to bring jobs to Illinois. Cutting taxes will mean we will go one and a half years without paying our bills, instead of just one. Cutting the budget by 10% doesn’t even begin to address the problem, that’s only about $2.6B GRF. You will probably find this a shock, but people actually disagree over what is necessary and unnecessary spending. I personally don’t care much about the minimum wage, since very few actually earn it, and not many of them are going to be voting for Bill.
I am interested, though. How much do we give out in handouts to people who don’t really deserve it? You and I probably agree we should stop doing that.
Comment by steve schnorf Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 4:49 pm
I’d bet money that - So Blue Democrat - is a Cub Fan, she seems to have that perpetually depressed demeanor, poor thing. I almost feel her pain.
Comment by A Citizen Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 4:52 pm
Handouts are just for the poor. Handouts are State contracts to companies that won’t do the best job at the best price, Pensions instead of 401ks, and unessessary construction projects.
We spend $3 for Every $2 we take in. We need more people to come to IL.
The Population trend of IL is not rising as fast as the average state. This is bc IL is one of the worst state for employers.
The State Budget Should be like a family Budget, as revenues go do so should the expenses. Yes some poeple will lose government jobs, but hopefully they will take on more meaningful jobs in the private sector that contribute to progress in our economy.
Comment by Brady since 2005 Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 5:38 pm
Bill Brady will be an attractive candidate. He is personable and connects with people. Issues, since when did voters vote on issues. Quinn will have trouble beating him. As someone said yesterday, “Quinn is a fart in the wind.” good one.
Comment by jaded voter Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 5:40 pm
Dillard NEEDS to go, quietly or otherwise. At least Hynes did the right thing by putting his personal ambition aside and putting his party first.
Speaking of party, why isn’t the State GOP trying to help solve this? Oh that’s right, Pat Brady was/is in the tank for Dillard.
Comment by Whatever Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 6:28 pm
Responsa, thank you for your kind words.
Comment by Amalia Friday, Feb 5, 10 @ 7:51 pm