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“But at least I ain’t him”

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Illinois

When Quinn was first sworn in, his mission was clear: make sure everyone understood that he wasn’t Rod Blagojevich. He succeeded, even if he did it by being seen as boring when he was seen at all.

A year later, logic dictated that the governor’s office was there for the taking for the GOP. But then conservative state senator Bill Brady won the Republican nomination, and Quinn was happy to point out that, at the very least, he wasn’t the guy who wanted to restrict abortion rights.

When Texas governor Rick Perry came to Illinois last year to try to lure away businesses, he ended up helping Quinn by reminding many voters—especially those leaning Democratic—that the political leadership here could be much worse. Quinn still loves to bring up Perry. During his stop at Uber, he claimed that job creation in Illinois had surpassed that in Texas. “Someone ought to call Rick Perry,” he said. He also offered up a favorite zinger about the time he had to spend six days with Perry on a trip to Iraq and Afghanistan. “It was the harshest punishment known to man.”

Now Quinn is able to campaign as the candidate who’s not Bruce Rauner. He and his allies have keyed in on Rauner’s vast wealth, stressing that Quinn isn’t the kind of guy who owns multiple homes and belongs to a $100,000-a-year wine club.

Go read the whole thing.

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Oct 16, 14 @ 4:01 pm

Comments

isn’t this dynamic more a result of the two-party system? it is either A or B. but C is hardly ever in the mix.

Comment by yo Thursday, Oct 16, 14 @ 4:14 pm
Quinn’s great fortune this round was Rauner’s absurd strategy to define himself as Regular Joe the Outsider.

Easy enough to pop that balloon, then you get to define him yourself.

Comment by Wordslinger Thursday, Oct 16, 14 @ 4:14 pm
Mr. Quinn is also not a very good governor.

We can add that to the list of things and people he is not.

Comment by Formerly Known As... Thursday, Oct 16, 14 @ 4:20 pm
Good comnprehensice article. Thanks Rich for the link.

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Oct 16, 14 @ 4:20 pm
Reinforces in me the fact that unless something truly terrible happens to pat Quinn in the next 20 days that it is over for Rauner.

Comment by 618662dem Thursday, Oct 16, 14 @ 4:21 pm
I am pro-life and voted for Quinn. It was due to other issues. Quinn won with the Union.

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Oct 16, 14 @ 4:26 pm
True enough then, Gov. Quinn’s campaign - “I’m not Blago.”

Bruce Rauner’s campaign - “I’m not Quinn.”

Monday is the start of early voting. I’m there voting for Rauner. Save your grass clippings to smoke as a former Governor Mr. Quinn. Buckle up - I’m voting.

Comment by anonymoose Thursday, Oct 16, 14 @ 4:34 pm
Sounds reasonable. Opposing the guy who ALWAYS says (or his staff says), when the fan hits,: “I wasn’t personally responsible for the bla bla bla…”

So, Brucie…..How did you get to be a 0.01%’er if you’re never personally responsible? Wondering.

Being ‘Not-Rauner’ ain’t the worst thing you can be called.

Comment by sal-says Thursday, Oct 16, 14 @ 4:41 pm
Nobody I’ve spoken to seems to be happy with the choices. It’s all going to come down to who the public perceives as the lesser of two evils, the known or the unknown.

Comment by RNUG Thursday, Oct 16, 14 @ 4:49 pm
Some may vote for the lesser of two evils. Others may vote for the candidate who offers hope and change.

Few will be satisfied with their choice 4 years from now, except those who can say == I voted for the other guy ==.

Comment by Formerly Known As... Thursday, Oct 16, 14 @ 4:59 pm
I love the line about Illinois surpassing Texas in job creation. What a hoot. Whoever came up with that one needs to put down their crack pipe.

Comment by Steve Thursday, Oct 16, 14 @ 5:04 pm
Quinn is a non-entity. That’s a big part of the problem.

Comment by Ron Burgundy Thursday, Oct 16, 14 @ 5:19 pm
“As he declared to a convention of millennial leaders at UIC last month: “I can’t be bought, bribed, or sold.”

He’s right, because as a venture capitalist and money manager, Rauner is the one who’s doing the buying and selling”.

Quinn has to use this line next debate and tag Rauner as the “Corrupter”!

Comment by 2 Cents... Thursday, Oct 16, 14 @ 5:29 pm
Unlike many here I actually like Pat Quinn. He has played offense on social issues and defense on fiscal issues. Without the income tax increase state government might have imploded.
Pat has played small ball. DNR has game wardens in the field. DJJ has some success with diversion. IT systems are getting better. Some positions came out of the union. Nothing huge but directionally correct.
I can understand the desire for a huge transformation, I just don’t think it can happen.

Comment by Last Bull Moose Thursday, Oct 16, 14 @ 5:36 pm
Quinn is known under performing Governor
Rauner is an unknown

I will take my chances with Rauner

Comment by downstate hack Thursday, Oct 16, 14 @ 6:01 pm
Ok, I read it, and to summarize it in a sentence, Rauner is a devious, deceitful and very dangerous slimeball of a human being, whereas Pat Quinn has at least attempted to “always do the right thing.”

I’ve been very fortunate financially so if Rauner wins I’m sure both Rauner and I will do just fine.

And regardless of if we elect a Joe Nice Guy or a blatant sociopath to be our governor, I’m content to know that either way we’ll get exactly what we deserve.

Comment by Mighty M. Mouse Thursday, Oct 16, 14 @ 6:31 pm
Voting for PQ you know who he us and what he has attempted. A vote here tells the Democrats you are a loyal voter to them.

Voting for Rauner your not sure who he is, you see the results of what he has done and you put it on faith he can do the job. A vote here tells the Republicans to keep bring these kind of candidates to the party.

A vote for none of the above won’t send a message unless the losing side thinks the margin of “none” votes would have been enough to beat the other.

Darned if you do, darned if you dont.

Comment by FormerParatrooper Thursday, Oct 16, 14 @ 6:35 pm
===”But it’s not about running down the other guy—it’s about advancing causes.”===

That quote in that article comes from Pat Quinn! The same Quinn who has spent the whole campaign “running down the other guy” as a greedy, blood sucking profiteering uncaring billionaire only interested in reducing his own taxes, and avoiding talking about his record.

Good article. Nice summary of both men. Partisans (like myself) won’t necessarily like his analysis and what he cites, but I’ll give him credit for a pretty good job.

Comment by Louis G. Atsaves Thursday, Oct 16, 14 @ 7:10 pm
It’s as easy to criticize Pat Quinn as it is to criticize Barak Obama, but who of us would have wanted to step into the messes they inherited?

Quinn had to take on a pension nightmare he didn’t create. Obama stepped into an economic horse apple that took six years to improve, and maybe now it’s stinking again.

I’ve known Pat Quinn for nearly 40 years, to when he was with the Coalition for Political Honesty. He knocked around Illinois government all that time, finally got to be governor by a fluke, and look what he had to deal with.

I wonder if any of us could have done any better?

Comment by Streator Curmudgeon Thursday, Oct 16, 14 @ 7:15 pm
should have read “his own record.” Sorry about the exclusion.

Comment by Louis G. Atsaves Thursday, Oct 16, 14 @ 7:19 pm
== I wonder if any of us could have done any better? ==

Streator, that is a fair question. It is easy for us to criticize.

But it also makes us ask another question. Why have other states such as California and Michigan, and the many other governors who also inherited large messes, been able to demonstrate such marked fiscal improvement over our own? In 4 years, they have gone from deficit to surplus while we still wait for a final resolution to such pressing issues as public pensions as well as the monstrous hole our current budget blew in next year’s budget.

Comment by Formerly Known As... Thursday, Oct 16, 14 @ 8:11 pm
If you vote for an incompetent governor because he is a nicer guy than his opponent, then you are saying that it isn’t important for our governor to be competent.

Comment by VanillaMan Thursday, Oct 16, 14 @ 9:12 pm
Every election is a choice. How often does a statewide candidate win with an enormous margin?

Stop whining, get out and support your horse or shut up.

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Oct 16, 14 @ 9:33 pm
FKA, there’s no mystery as to what California and Michigan did. They raised taxes.

California’s top individual rate is now 12.3 percent. The AMT is 7 percent.

Michigan raised taxes on half their filers, including seniors, who had been exempt.

You want a surplus? Go back to the good old days of shorting pensions. Full pension payments have been made under Quinn, and the backlog of bills has been reduced by about $4 billion.

How is that not fiscally responsible?

Comment by Wordslinger Thursday, Oct 16, 14 @ 10:39 pm
- Formerly Known As… - Thursday, Oct 16, 14 @ 8:11 pm:

– Word — at 10:39 nailed, with one qualification …

Illinois took all the same actions as that the other states with one exception: our tax increase was temporary instead of permanent and the bond rating market punished us for that instability

Comment by RNUG Thursday, Oct 16, 14 @ 10:47 pm
That was a bit biased.

Comment by Rhino Slider Thursday, Oct 16, 14 @ 11:39 pm
Good article.

Comment by dr. reason a. goodwin Thursday, Oct 16, 14 @ 11:52 pm
===Illinois took all the same actions as that the other states with one exception: our tax increase was temporary instead of permanent and the bond rating market punished us for that instability===

Yes, but that was because Madigan and Cullerton wanted it that way, not Quinn.

Comment by Mighty M. Mouse Friday, Oct 17, 14 @ 3:05 am
VMan, what’s your take on Rauner’s competence given his budget “plan?”

Budgeting is a constitutionally mandated function of the office. Mastery of sixth grade arithmetic seems to be a pre-req.

Or is he just cynically blowing smoke? Does that demonstrate competence somehow?

Comment by Wordslinger Friday, Oct 17, 14 @ 8:20 am
Thanks Word for asking, I was also looking for some demonstrative ways that we could define competent. I would rather a nice guy who knows how handle people, than a guy who handles people based on their benefit or lack thereof to himself and his bottom line. Public service is far different than business, and because he’s a ’successful’ businessman, doesn’t mean he’s a competent public servant.

Comment by Mad Brown Friday, Oct 17, 14 @ 12:13 pm