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* Sun-Times…
Multi-millionaire venture capitalist Bruce Rauner has sunk another $1.3 million into his campaign fund, state board of election records show. […]
Rauner has donated more than $5 million of his own money to his campaign fund — including $501,000 last week.
This is getting so routine that I didn’t even post about the half mil he kicked in last week.
But, make no mistake, if and/or when Rauner wins the primary, this’ll seem like chicken feed.
posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 2:44 pm
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Rauner will break $50 million if he gets through the primary.
Got to be close to $12 million raised for the Primary(?)
Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 2:46 pm
===Rauner will break $50 million===
You may be thinking way too small, OW.
Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 2:48 pm
Rauner is the political strategists’ DREAM CLIENT. Talking about spending to stimulate the economy.
Comment by Truthteller Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 2:49 pm
Was that the “number” Rauner scoffed at?
Yeah, you go seven digits a week when your three opponents rake in 5 digit “pledges”, you are going to be right Rich, my thinking is way to small.
Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 2:50 pm
I think mr one percent will drop an average of a million a week after he wins the primary.
Comment by Secretariat Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 2:50 pm
Sickening.
Comment by Reformed Public Servant Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 2:51 pm
=== will drop an average of a million a week ===
That’s only $32 mil, I think. I did the math on that last year. I think a mil a week is way on the low side. Way.
Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 2:53 pm
Lets not forget the man has been able to raise real good money as well…
Also I hate to say it, I think a self funder is a better idea than when someone gets a couple of mil from some citizen as it were.
Comment by OneMan Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 2:57 pm
When Rauner sinks this kinda money in the race he doesn’t get big press for it. When the IEA sent a measley $50k to Dillard it gets written about and is on the radio. What is that all about?
Comment by One of three puppets Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 2:57 pm
They only way Rauner loses is if soemone manages to put an effective attack ad up (and keep it up) against his attempt to buy the office … and such an ad would have to have a great closing tag line everyone would remember.
Comment by RNUG Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 2:57 pm
He is spending about $50+ for a primary vote?
Nice hobby since he has NO CHANCE in the general.
Comment by Mr. T Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 2:58 pm
I saw that this is from the sun times. Delete my previous comment.
Comment by One of three puppets Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 2:59 pm
The Cash Counting machines in Vegas will see fewer dollars than the media buyer’s accountant for Rauner.
Someone should “invest” in a “newly created” media market to get some dollars…
Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 2:59 pm
Shaking up Springfield on dollar at a time…
Comment by Cincinnatus Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 3:00 pm
*one
Comment by Cincinnatus Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 3:00 pm
=== When Rauner sinks this kinda money in the race he doesn’t get big press for it. When the IEA sent a measley $50k to Dillard it gets written about and is on the radio. What is that all about? ===
Try Luke 21:1-4 or Mark 12:41-44
Comment by Bill White Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 3:01 pm
It looks like the polls are showing that the more people know about Bruce, the less they like him and therefore the more money he needs to spend. PLEASE…GOP do not nominate this guy…he will drag you down further!
Comment by Polls Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 3:07 pm
Mr. T.
Don’t count on it!
Comment by flea Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 3:08 pm
Meg Whitman spent $43 per vote ($144 million of her own money, $178 million total) in the 2010 California general election. For Rauner, that would mean about $75-80 million.
For the record, Whitman lost by 13 points.
Comment by Snucka Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 3:10 pm
== It looks like the polls are showing that the more people know about Bruce, the less they like him ==
Also true for virtually every candidate ever once someone starts running negative ads on them.
Comment by OneMan Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 3:13 pm
For Rauner this is a Venture Capital investment proposition. He will put substantial money into this risky and unproven proposition, to insure others participate with their millions, but aims to maintain at least 51% control.
The shock might come to the minority investors — Koch Bros, AFP, right wing SuperPacs, et al — when Bruce tells them to get lost after he wins. They are buying his sales schtick right now, even though it’s clearly unsupported by his previous performance.
Oh well, they all have money to burn. This is not the world from which to get good cost management.
Comment by Walker Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 3:14 pm
Only rich folk can buy themselves what they want. And anybody who votes for that needs some self examination of their values.
Comment by YO Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 3:14 pm
- Snucka -,
Remember, California has SF/SJ, Oakland, San Diego, Sacramento, and Los Angeles as the media markets; Paducah ain’t SF/SJ, and Metro East ain’t San Diego or Oakland, and Chicago is smaller than L.A..
My point, just going media, media markets, Rauner using the same unit of measure (dollars) does not put in perspective the spending of those units either by volume or effectiveness.
Food for thought.
Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 3:15 pm
Rich is right. Rauner could push past the $100 million mark, although at some point the return on investment gets pretty shockingly small.
You can only buy so many tv and radio spots, hire so many Election Day workers, and design and fit so much direct mail into mailboxes.
Ask Meg Whitman.
Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 3:19 pm
First, IF!…
If the negatives to Rauner rise above 10% like they were at, spending at a rate of $1.5 million a week, lets say, begins to define that the price of honesty and integrity is one forever fluid, and a price ever paying.
When you lack honesty, integrity, ethics, and morals, what’s another $1-$3 million? Got to try to buy those qualities you lack, right?
Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 3:20 pm
I wonder who the handler is who has the job of informing the candidate to write another million check. It must be an interesting conversation.
Comment by Phineas J. Whoopee Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 3:24 pm
I do not want Rauner. I think OW is correct in the fact that Rauner has bought the primary. Many think he is unelectable. After the primary, every misstep Governor Quinn has ever made since he was three years old will be broadcast daily multiple times. It is going to get very ugly.
Comment by doofus Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 3:25 pm
–But, make no mistake, if and/or when Rauner wins the primary, this’ll seem like chicken feed.–
You’ve got that right.
And again, it ain’t just his money.
Rauner has investors, hundreds of them, all across the country, writing five-and-six-figure checks. The fact that he puts skin in the game attracts more investors.
His pal, Griff, just dropped $150 million on Harvard. Because they’re struggling, lol, with their $32 billion endowment.
Griff said he did it for struggling students. Harvard already cherry-picks and writes-off tuition for the best-and-brightest in the world and only charges tuition to intellectually-challenged legacies.
But it gets Griff a seat at a nice table, a couple drinks and a Chicken Kiev when the Harvard big-boys gets together.
Who says you can’t buy gravitas and class? This from the dude who had his wedding at Versailles (in France). I’m sure it was tasteful. And the cake was great.
In my mind, the goal for Rauner’s investors is to bust first the Illinois public employee unions, then the private sector unions with right-to-work.
In other words, reverse one of the greatest American advances for the American people in the 20th Century.
If you can pull that off in Illinois, it’s katie-bar-the-door for the rest of the country. Wisconsin and Indiana are a sideshow; they mean oogats. Illinois is the goods.
And then Rauner is a hero to the .1 percent, with national ambitions.
Vote accordingly.
Comment by wordslinger Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 3:27 pm
Slinger: well said and a big AMEN. The man IMHO is pure evil.
Comment by doofus Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 3:29 pm
- Phineas J. Whoopee -,
I am willing to go out on a limb and say Rauner just writes checks on his own … without too much prodding.
Why? When you are a Billionaire, and you hate losing, “why take a chance”…
What is another “million”, as opposed to losing? Saving face is worth the $53 million made just last year! Money does not mean the same to Rauner as it does to all of us.
“If you have to ask ‘how much’ you can’t afford it”
Rauner can afford the Republican primary. Rauner has yet to ask… “How much…”
Nope. Never asked. Can… afford.
Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 3:30 pm
Wordslinger:
You’re telling the whole story as I usually see it.
Occasionally I hope it will turn out differently, and think Rauner will turn his back on the big election buyers, rather leveraging them to he national prominence.
Just a pie-eyed optimist, I guess.
Comment by Walker Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 3:40 pm
One wishes that Rauner would go the way of Blair Hull.
Comment by Upon Further Review Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 3:41 pm
“rather than leveraging them” is what I meant above.
Comment by Walker Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 3:42 pm
===Money does not mean the same to Rauner as it does to all of us.===
Being the Governor of Illinois would be low on my bucket list if I had $50M to spend.
Comment by Endangered Moderate Species Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 3:43 pm
Can only imagine there are moments when Rauner laments the plight of your average guy on the street earning a million dollars a year.
Comment by Samurai Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 3:44 pm
- wordslinger - has been sounding the alarm for months;
It’s not the money Rauner is putting in, it’s the money Rauner is raising, and from who and where, and denying money to Brady, Dillard, and Rutherford.
The mega-rich will have “one of their own” as the Made guy. No middlemen. No “misunderstandings”. An instrument for the very wealthy, with a top 5 state as its… stuffed pig for slaughter.
- wordslinger - has tried, still tries. Will others be able to do what could/should be done before more checks are sent in, or more checks by Rauner are written?
Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 3:48 pm
I wonder how much one can spend in a week?
Local TV ads in Chicago are expensive, but they aren’t that expensive. And many ads are national; the local tv stations only get certain slots. And are the willing or able to give Rauner every single slot at the expense of local car dealers and other advertisers?
Comment by Robert the Bruce Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 3:57 pm
So much for the fundraising drive
Comment by Obamas Puppy Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 3:58 pm
You’d be surprised how many elected officials had “no chance in the general.”
– MrJM
Comment by MrJM Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 4:06 pm
even if Bruce spends $50-75 million of his own money (if he wins primary and general), and say he loses. does it really matter? he made what $100+ million in 3 years? so it would take him 2-3 years to make that back. and if he wins he still makes money. i know this is ridiculous, but if he has $2 billion, he could spend $1 billion… and still have $1 billion left to retire on.
Comment by PoolGuy Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 4:12 pm
Who cares! He is still going to lose!
Nobody who makes under $50,000 a year in Illinois will vote for him and in case you non-number politicals are curious, those people make up more than 50% of the voting block in Illinois.
Comment by The Butcher Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 4:12 pm
Thinking about the big picture…if we could just call a “STOP” and collect ALL this campaign money and use it to improve Illinois, we could once again hold our heads high.
Comment by OLD BRASS Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 4:14 pm
Where does the Mr. Rauner’s purchasing end?
- will our currency say “In Rauner We Trust”?
- will we live in “The Land of Rauner”?
-head downstate to see our elected representatives in “Raunerfield”?
Comment by anonymoose Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 4:21 pm
–Occasionally I hope it will turn out differently, and think Rauner will turn his back on the big election buyers, rather leveraging them to he national prominence.–
Like Big Daddie Unruh said, if you can’t take their money and turn around and screw them, you’re in the wrong line of business.
But it ain’t happening with Farmer Bruce.
I have no doubt that once he wins the primary, Rauner will run hard to the center. Think abortion and gays, and making nice with the suburban women. Where’s the right-wing going to go at that point?
And you’ll see a lot of spots with Uncle Bruce and happy children at Uncle Bruce’s taxpayer-financed charter schools.
Please, will someone think about the children?
But make no mistake, the big prize is busting the unions. That’s the national movement of Rauner and his crew. Including Rahm Emanuel.
Part and parcel of that, is defaulting on the pension debt to state employees and killing any move to a graduated income tax.
Those are the biggies. That’s where he makes his bones to feed his fantasy — shared by all governors and senators — of being president.
On the horizon, I saw the Grand Poohbah of the Loyal Order of the Civvies floated in the Sun-Times the other day that Illinois should allow local governments to declare bankruptcy to shed their pension obligations.
Yeah, buddy. For crying out loud, when did “conservative” mean weaselly deadbeat? Pay your bills, R. Eden Martin. What’s the “R” stand for? “Robber?”
Comment by wordslinger Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 4:25 pm
The fundraising methods used by Rauner are carbon copy identical to those employed by his vacation pal Rahm in the 2011 mayoral race. He may win the entire pot not because he has aces or kings, but because he is outbidding everyone else and buying the pot.
Comment by Upon Further Review Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 4:28 pm
Agreed that CA is a different ball game from IL. The vote totals are actually about 3x higher, so my estimate is a little off. She outspent her opponent about 6 to 1, which may be a more important metric. With all the Independent Expenditure committees sprouting up on both sides, the money stats will get silly.
You can only run so many ads, though. A billion dollars can’t create a political organization on par with the Illinois Democratic Party. It also can’t buy an electorate that is ready for a Republican like Bruce Rauner.
Comment by Snucka Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 4:33 pm
All this looks like pretty small change compared to what the Obama campaign raised and spent in those campaigns.
Comment by Meanderthal Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 4:33 pm
People who make under $50k will start casting ballots for him as soon as early voting begins.
Wishful thinking will not defeat Billionaire Bruce.
– MrJM
Comment by MrJM Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 4:51 pm
The general election race for Governor will truly test the money-raising and spending prowess of Illinois’ Democrats, their allies (especially the trial lawyers and unions), and the DGA.
The Dems will also HAVE to put in place an effective ground game downstate to eke out whatever numbers they can get down there. Such a ground game was completely absent four years ago when PQ ran against Brady.
And what effect will the Rauner ad and money onslaught against PQ and the Democrats have on the other Democrats’ numbers especially downstate? The Dems better have a united front and an unprecedented coordinated campaign across the state.
Tough sloggin’ ahead.
Comment by Truthteller Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 4:52 pm
@Meanderthal - What are you even talking about with the Obama non sequitir? Running for president to represent 300 million is a bit different than seeking a statewide office to represent 13 million people. Obama also had actually well funded opposition.
Comment by hisgirlfriday Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 4:53 pm
They should publish a cartoon of the Illinois governor’s mansion with a sign “For lease, $100 million for four years.” That’s how Rauner sees it.
Comment by Wensicia Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 4:54 pm
@Truthteller — I believe you are right about an effective ground game and the biggest challenge is Quinn himself. Not an easy man to vote for if you are in favour of union rights, or strong leadership, or pro-eduction. Many such votes are simply going to be anti-Rauner, and that’s not an easy way to engage and excite a base.
If Rauner loses, is it possible he writes off those infusions of cash as “bad loans” or debts or something?
Comment by xxtofer Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 5:32 pm
Rauner thinks he’s Charlie Kane:
“You’re right, I did lose a million dollars last year. I expect to lose a million dollars this year. I expect to lose a million dollars next year. You know, Mr. Thatcher, at the rate of a million dollars a year, I’ll have to close this place in… 60 years.”
But he’s really Charles Foster Kane:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYmaQ7qsxis
“You talk about the people as though you own them…When your precious underprivileged really get together-oh boy-thats going to add up to something bigger than your privileges…You just want to persuade people that you love them so much that they ought to love you back only you want love on your own terms…toast Jedediah to love on my terms thats the only terms anybody ever knows…”
Comment by Newsclown Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 5:48 pm
so looking forward to the day Dr. Diana Mendley Rauner and her contributes become a day of fodder, should be soon or in the next 5-6 days.??
Comment by railrat Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 6:19 pm
So if the candidate does not spend all the money, doesn’t he get to keep it and spend it on whatever he wants?
Comment by lost in the weeds Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 6:22 pm
As someone earlier said, if they had Rauner’s money, being Illinois’ governor would be pretty low on the bucket list.
So what exactly is his motive for stooping so low as to be a public servant, himself? What is he looking for?
Comment by YO Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 6:37 pm
Again, Rauner and Emanuel are the same guys.
With Emanuel, now that he’s at the top of the heap, budgets, unions, murders, blacks, firemen, immigration, cops, public schools, parks, the wrong people et al…..
… are just an inconvenience to his narcissism.
It’s all in the spin, baby. And the fundraising. Which is all he’s ever done.
Got. No. Game.
I swear to God, I was on a CTA bus today that was tricked out for some CNN freak show called “Chicagoland, starring Rahm, Bratton, and somebody else, I don’t know who.
It was so weird. Really tricked out huge images of Rahm and Bratton, like some ad for “Justified” or “True Detective.”
Are you f-ing kidding, me?
Like Thibs would say, “Do. Your. Job.”
Comment by wordslinger Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 7:05 pm
My God! He’s got so much to spend, and it just keeps pouring out of his pocket into the campaign coffers so frequently, it’s creepy, ALmost like it’s “Soylent Green,” filling those “Greenbacks” he has and there’s an ENDless Supply and instead of eating it, br just keeps on SPENDing it as such, and…given how much of it he’s raked IN for himself over the years by stepping all over people/their businesses and livelihoods just to MAKE his millions, like with the Nursing Home Fiasco, it’s no WONder…!
Comment by Just The Way It Is One Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 7:20 pm
==So what exactly is his motive for stooping so low as to be a public servant, himself? What is he looking for?==
Public servant? Hardly. I imagine Rauner believes if he can buy the top office in Illinois, he owns Illinois. I don’t recall him saying anything that suggests he’ll serve the public’s interest.
Comment by Wensicia Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 7:23 pm
Wordslinger, I would rather have Boyd Crowder from Justified as mayor than the Rahm/Rauner-ites.
Comment by James the Intolerant Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 8:48 pm
Wouldn’t it just be easier and cheaper to go and buy the actual mansion and just have a daily news conference?
That’s how this is all going to play out.
Comment by Michelle Flaherty Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 9:09 pm
===Rauner has investors, hundreds of them, all across the country, writing five-and-six-figure checks. The fact that he puts skin in the game attracts more investors.===
Exactly. This is why he’s a self-funder even when he’s not self-funding. Nobody wants to contribute to a losing campaign, and Rauner’s personal wealth is enough of a bully threat to scare off significant contributions to his rivals.
Comment by ppanda Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 9:17 pm
==So what exactly is his motive for stooping so low as to be a public servant, himself? What is he looking for?==
Name on School-Rauner Prep. Check.
Immense wealth. Check.
9 homes. Check.
Title of Governor. Che…
Comment by Samurai Monday, Feb 24, 14 @ 10:03 pm
I like the way Eric Zorn put this. It’s not $1.3 million dollars, It’s 1.3 million free-speech units!
Comment by Wensicia Tuesday, Feb 25, 14 @ 7:45 am
Take heart, my Republican friends.
Meg Whitman and Linda McMahon spent a king’s fortune for naught, and while Rick Scott had more success in Florida, he is looking more and more like a one-term wonder.
You can buy elections (although it is more like buying a bunch of lottery tickets) but public offices aren’t for sale, only for rent.
If he wins the primary and even if he wins the general, Rauner faces budget problems with no easy answers, which could escalate if the Illinois Supreme Court upholds the Constitutional protections for public pensions as is widely expected.
The only good news for Rauner is that it appears highly unlikely that he will face any social litmus tests in at least the first couple of years.
Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Tuesday, Feb 25, 14 @ 9:04 am
For all the criticisms of the Speaker, sometimes you need Madigan. Should Rauner become Governor, we will immediately be back to the days of Madigan/Blago warfare, with Rauner the new, and immensely wealthier Blago. Really a combination of Blago and Scott Walker. And guess who, Rauner or Madigan, has more political smarts and strategy, and is better able to play the political long game? This assumes, of course, that the Democrats will once again win the House. Despite the Democratic map, in a huge Republican year as 2014 may be, that is not a certain bet.
Comment by Quiet Sage Tuesday, Feb 25, 14 @ 9:22 am