Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Quinn sends “bus loads” of workers to Wisconsin

Posted in:

Illinois

* Buried in this piece about Gov. Pat Quinn’s absence from the campaign trail the past several weeks was this nugget…

“Over the past two weeks, the governor sent bus loads of Quinn volunteers to Wisconsin…” [Quinn spokeswoman Brooke Anderson] said.

With all the competitive races here at home, the governor sent “bus loads” of people to Wisconsin?

He’s not the only one, of course. A bunch of city Democrats have platooned to Iowa and Wisconsin and other parts unknown for the president. But maybe Quinn could’ve sent “bus loads” of volunteers to help Lance Tyson defeat former Rep. Derrick Smith. Quinn lives on the city’s West Side, so it’s not that far of a drive.

Quinn has endorsed Tyson, and he showed up at a recent Tyson rally, but the guy could probably use some more precinct help.

* By the way, check out Smith’s blitz piece…

Apparently, indicted and expelled House members can’t afford grammar and spelling checkers.

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Nov 5, 12 @ 2:30 am

Comments

If they wrote a book on politics this is one to wonder about. You’ve got 5 congressional races that are ice thin and you send people to wisco-a state most democrats say is out of reach for romney. Both sides have done this.

Comment by shore Monday, Nov 5, 12 @ 3:55 am
Clearly another Quinn untruth. Ask him for the names of the folks on the bus and where the bus left from and when it went.
Those are the questions reporters are supposed to ask rather than accepting his statement at face value.
Do you really believe Quinn was doing anything other than distract from the fact that he can’t help the President because he is politically toxic?
Actually Quinn could have helped Illinois Dems the most by getting on the bus and going to Wisconsin himself.

Comment by truthteller Monday, Nov 5, 12 @ 7:05 am
FWIW, Quinn has had bodies in several legislative races this cycle,

Comment by dave Monday, Nov 5, 12 @ 7:21 am
I hope he didn’t send them up there to vote! Glad to see some stories up here early Rich. I hope you have plenty of caffeine ready to. It looks like you are in for some late nights!

Comment by Holdingontomywallet Monday, Nov 5, 12 @ 8:00 am
Hey — Brooke should ask Abby Ottenhoff what happens when the Governor’s press people comment on presidential politics while they’re on the state dime.

Comment by Goo goo Monday, Nov 5, 12 @ 8:33 am
Illinois Dem congressional candidates might not want to have any connection to Quinn that could be used against them.

I’m not sure why Illinois GOP workers would go to Wisconsin. They have work to do here.

The Wisconsin GOP won the governor’s election and recall with their own ground troops (and a lot of Koch money). If the Preibus/Walker crew and the Ryan connection can’t drag Romney across the finish line in Wisconsin (and it won’t), it seems a waste of time for Illinois operatives to be up there.

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Nov 5, 12 @ 8:53 am
God and the internet stand witness that I am not Gov. Quinn’s biggest fan, but come on. Who cares whether Smith gets back into his seat for a bit before he goes to jail? Is this going to disrupt any legislative agenda that is not already thoroughly disrupted?

And as far as the congressionals…the House is Republican. It’s going to stay Republican on Wednesday. And the rules have changed; in terms of federal appropriations and policy it would probably be WORSE for Quinn’s interests to have more D members in the delegation as long as Boehner still has the gavel.

On the other hand keeping Obama in the White House means a lot of real benefits to the state generally and the Quinn administration specifically. To the extent that he controls any political resources it makes every bit of sense to send them to Obama and not down-ballot races in IL.

Comment by Will Caskey Monday, Nov 5, 12 @ 9:04 am
We need to clean out our state government. Madigan, Quinn, and all of those associated with Blago. Unfortunately, Obama is part of that group. He needs to go too. We have the most mismanaged corrupt state in the nation, and the nation is being run by someone who came from that group. Don’t you see that there is something is wrong there.

Comment by jericho Monday, Nov 5, 12 @ 9:09 am
It is not terribly difficult to find volunteers willing to go to Wisconsin to help Obama. Finding volunteers to go to the west side to help Tyson? That’s a tough sell.

Comment by 47th Ward Monday, Nov 5, 12 @ 9:10 am
Part of Illinois must be on Standard Time; here in central Illinois it is 8:15 AM.

Comment by capncrunch Monday, Nov 5, 12 @ 9:16 am
Rich controls time and can hold back the tides. (This is why we have so few tsunamis in Illinois. Thanks, Rich!)

Comment by soccermom Monday, Nov 5, 12 @ 9:22 am
Rich is promoting the sadly departed Indiana model of allowing every county to decide whether they’re in the Eastern or Central time zones, and whether or not they observe Daylight Savings.

New! By Subscription Only: whattimeisitinillinois?.com

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Nov 5, 12 @ 9:33 am
Election day is tomorrow and we’re talking about if Quinn helped send volunteers to Wisconsin or legislative races? Because there no way to do both? Is there nothing more interesting happening this election?

Comment by Victor Kingston Monday, Nov 5, 12 @ 9:47 am
===Is there nothing more interesting happening this election? ===

As I write this there are seven other posts on this blog today. Plus an advertisement.

As far as the time stamp goes… Oops. Too late to fix it today. Doing so would mess up comments. Will have to fix it tonight.

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Nov 5, 12 @ 9:51 am
My bad Rich I didn’t see the advertisement. I retract my earlier statement and issue a full apology. May the sun always shine upon your luscious and glorious beard.

Comment by Victor Kingston Monday, Nov 5, 12 @ 9:59 am
Aw, c’mon, Rich. If the grammar and spelling were checked & corrected the district voters getting the mailers might think they came from someone else.

Comment by Brendan Monday, Nov 5, 12 @ 10:26 am
And when they are done with that they are going to get all ‘grass rooty’ on pension reform

Comment by OneMan Monday, Nov 5, 12 @ 10:57 am
The grammar makes me cringe….not to mention the candidate.

Comment by former state employee Monday, Nov 5, 12 @ 11:06 am
You know an ad is serious when it unleashes the fury that is Comic Sans.

Comment by Dirty Red Monday, Nov 5, 12 @ 11:13 am
Presidential race is the only sexy thing for a lot of volunteers. Don’t blame them for wanting to go where the action is.

Comment by just sayin' Monday, Nov 5, 12 @ 11:52 am
I’ve not seen Quinn’s organization anywhere. Here or out of state.

I’ll take Dave’s word for it. Maybe I just missed the bus.

Comment by walkinfool Monday, Nov 5, 12 @ 11:54 am
Good grammar and spelling are so elitist.

Comment by Cheryl44 Monday, Nov 5, 12 @ 11:55 am
This time last year, I was a Democratic Committeeman in the 10th Rep. District. And I have to say, that I’m still happy to be the only Democrat in the area that didn’t endorse Smith prior to the indictment. I’m also proud to have been supporting Lance Tyson since his announcement. His head and heart are in the right place. The outcome of the race will have a bigger impact on the residents of the district than it will on either Lance or Derrick.

Comment by Hon. John Fritchey Monday, Nov 5, 12 @ 12:30 pm
Perhaps Quinn is trying to find a pawnbroker to run as an independent at the last minute.

Comment by OneMan Monday, Nov 5, 12 @ 12:31 pm
Why does the top mailing say Lance Tyson “can’t vote for himself”? What is Smith referencing?

Comment by Just Observing Monday, Nov 5, 12 @ 12:32 pm
walkingfool - was a Mega bus and Pat was given the $1.00 seat.

Comment by Irish Monday, Nov 5, 12 @ 12:43 pm
“…bus loads of Quinn volunteers…”

What state did they actually end up in?
___ Iowa
___ Nebraska
___ Indiana
___ Missouri
___ Michigan
___ Canada
(Check all that apply)

Comment by Judgment Day Monday, Nov 5, 12 @ 12:52 pm
There is a joke here about the size of the Pat Quinn bus..

Comment by OneMan Monday, Nov 5, 12 @ 12:53 pm
Quinn should stay outta Wisconsin! He can’t even manage his own state. Illinois is a sad desparate state.

Comment by Kenosha Will Monday, Nov 5, 12 @ 1:01 pm
Romney will be in win Wisconsin hands down.

Comment by Kenosha Will Monday, Nov 5, 12 @ 1:04 pm
Does any of this 10th district fall under JJJ’s district?

Comment by Wumpus Monday, Nov 5, 12 @ 1:08 pm
Quinn sent bus loads of volunteers and I heard Romney sent binders full of women. Sounds like a wash.

Comment by And I Approved This Message Monday, Nov 5, 12 @ 1:22 pm
Only Fritchey and 1 response about Smith/Tyson tells of the complete apathy about this race. What path to victory does Tyson have? None, I guess, but either way Madigan still wins.

Comment by Hacks Monday, Nov 5, 12 @ 2:08 pm
The Congressional races in Illinois matter more than people think. Illinois was placed directly in the DCCC crosshairs after the 2nd map was passed and signed into law. The Dems could have conceivably picked up six seats (8th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th & 17th). Granted, that’s a stretch, but given the lack of major Congressional races happening across the Midwest, this is the main battleground state for Congressional races. Quinn has a small army of double-exempt staffers in Chicago and Springfield (direct staff and agency honchos) who have been there and done that. Deploy them here. Send them to the Quad Cities. Belleville. Lake County. Champaign-Urbana. Anywhere. The GOP has brought people in from all over America to help in all six of those races. If the GOP sweep those six - not likely but not a shocker either - the mapmakers will have egg on their face and Quinn will look silly.

Comment by Team Sleep Monday, Nov 5, 12 @ 2:15 pm
Sorry - I know the 12th is already represented by Congressman Costello. I lumped that in to mean they could have kept it, which is (in a weird, roundabout way) picking up the seat. My apologies.

Comment by Team Sleep Monday, Nov 5, 12 @ 2:17 pm
I’m sure President Obama would be thrilled to have his name on a Smith mailer.

Comment by Demoralized Monday, Nov 5, 12 @ 2:33 pm
Want to hear something weird? I just got email from the Romney campaign, asking for a last minute donation. And when I sent it to the spam file, Google asked if I wanted to unsubscribe and mark it as spam.

This was the first time I’ve ever gotten anything from the Romney campaign and I don’t think I’ve so much as looked at their website, much less logged in and subscribe to anything.

Comment by Cheryl44 Monday, Nov 5, 12 @ 3:32 pm
Lance cant vote for himself because he does not live in the new district. Lance wont win, he has burned too many folks who could have come out and helped him. Lastly like like the lady said INSIDE the polling place. “Unity Party? Oh no! Anybody who is not a democrat will not get my vote”. My prediction Smith 65 Tyson 35 and thats reaching.

Comment by 10th district voter Monday, Nov 5, 12 @ 3:38 pm
Poor Kelly Krapf. Having to walk precincts in Milwaukee in Jimmy Choos.

Comment by Arthur Andersen Monday, Nov 5, 12 @ 3:58 pm
—They are not Democratic Candidate’s on the ballot.

This is really something new–instead of forgetting the apostrophe, the writer threw one in for no apparent reason.

Now because I always complain when the Republicans do it–it’s Democratic Candidate not Democrat Candidate. Democrat is a noun, Democratic is the adjective form of the word.

Finally, using your mailer to complain about lawn signs being stolen? How did this guy win the first time.

Comment by ArchPundit Monday, Nov 5, 12 @ 4:11 pm
Hopefully Tyson WONT win!! He will resign as State Rep. just like he resigned as COS because he CANT handle it & he doesn’t know how to talk to people.

Comment by Church Lady Monday, Nov 5, 12 @ 5:47 pm
I think the most important thing about this blog post is to note that Quinn HAS people. He has a field team who I personally know was involved in many state legislative races as well as congressional races. In fact, in my opinion, they are quite a formidable force. I’d put their bodies up against any campaign any day. And yes, Quinn had bodies to spare. He had 25+ people in Iowa this weekend and 20+ in Wisconins… AND still had people in all the major congressional districts. Heck, some people walked for Foster in the morning & Obama in the afternoon. That’s called dedication.

Comment by Bus Driver Monday, Nov 5, 12 @ 7:03 pm