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* UPDATED x1 * Pritzker to announce campaign this afternoon

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Sneed is informed Dem dollar powerhouse J.B. Pritzker, a billionaire businessman and major Dem donor, will officially announce his bid today to run for governor in the Democratic primary.

UPDATE: The Pritzker campaign later Thursday morning announced the time and place of the announcement: 2 p.m. at Grand Crossing Gym, 7655 S. Ingleside Ave.

There’s lots of snark potential there and I was all set to unleash a fusillade of it, but was then informed by a Pritzker staffer that the candidate has lost 50 pounds, so he has probably seen the inside of a gymnasium in recent weeks.

* Also, check out the description of Grand Crossing Park from the Chicago Park District…

Grand Crossing Park and its surrounding community take their name from a historic train wreck which occurred less than a mile away from the site of the park.

Again, the snark potential is pretty much endless. But that same Pritzker person sent me a text message earlier today. The person hadn’t Googled the park or the neighborhood and wasn’t involved in the location choice, but said…

The community is still standing– they rebuilt it together after a historic train wreck. That’s a pretty decent job description for the next governor.

Not a bad analogy.

*** UPDATE *** From Sen. Daniel Biss…

“I welcome J.B. Pritzker into this primary race — one which will be a test for Democrats across Illinois. Do we want to perpetuate the broken politics that got us into this mess to begin with or do we want to write a different kind of future? Do we try to out-Rauner Bruce Rauner or offer a truly democratic alternative that empowers ordinary Illinoisans? I welcome the debate about whether the future of the Democratic party will be a vehicle for the very rich and machine politicians or one for the rest of us.”

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 9:11 am

Comments

If we didn’t already know it, all attention is now squarely on the next general election. We can play make believe and talk budgets, but old Blue is going to blow his hot air on changing that Constitution to get a progressive income tax. First candidate that makes it his campaign theme gets my vote. Am going to still demand cuts though.

Comment by blue dog dem Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 9:22 am
Grand Crossing certainly is a neighborhood that could use some attention from the powers that be, and not just when a child gets gunned down.

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 9:25 am
It’s always the “little” things that slide by a Crew when trying up roll things out.

I’m going to be very interested to see how soon and how much Pritzker decides to put $10 million in the account, for starters, to give the others a clear indication that this run isn’t a joke, and about $10 million parked is a “serious” amount of parked monies to stop the whispers “how much will the billionaire spend”.

The Pritzker Crew’s next challenge; building an infrastructure of a campaign that can generate excitement and hope and some confidence.

So, today, let’s see the rollout… at a gym… and the park names for a train wreck…

… the “little” things….

Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 9:28 am
I have not been able to track down J.B.’s quote but I believe he endorsed state’s being able to file bankruptcy to avoid paying public pensions. I believe it was at a speech he gave to the civic committee of the commercial club of Chicago. I could be wrong. Has anyone else seen this? This is not an attempt at “alt-facts.”

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 9:29 am
==The community is still standing– they rebuilt it together==
The community that did the rebuilding is long gone.

==…after a historic train wreck.==
That train wreck occurred in 1853. So does Pritzker have a similar 164 year timeline to get Illinois back on track? (pun intended)

Comment by City Zen Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 9:36 am
JB. Don’t be a costume wearin rich guy trying to fit in with the group you are meetin with. Just tell us how you plan to get jobs into rural areas. And Rebuild our small business development centers to help promote entrepreneurship. Give people something to vote for not just rely on people voting against Raump

Comment by Rural liberal democrat Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 9:39 am
@blue dog dem - you should check out Ameya Pawar’s website on progressive income tax. Also, pretty sure Pawar was first out the gate talking about it.

“To fund these essential investments, the reality is that Illinois needs new revenue. That doesn’t have to mean continuing to live under the burden of our broken tax system. After all, Illinois is overly reliant on property taxes, sales taxes, and other regressive taxes that hit working families harder than anyone else. The time has come in Illinois for progressive taxation that ensures the wealthy pay their fair share.”

- www.pawar2018.com/issues

Comment by Pawarrior Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 9:43 am
>The community is still standing– they rebuilt it together after a historic train wreck. That’s a pretty decent job description for the next governor.

A brief, decently-worded response? Same goes for the “lost 50 lbs one.” Nice to see. Hope it bodes well for messaging on the campaign trail and will be matched by other candidates.

Comment by Earnest Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 9:44 am
“JB. Don’t be a costume wearin rich guy trying to fit in…”

The one thing you’ll get with JB and what Rich has talked about is that he is who he is. No phoniness. No Carhartt wearin’ G droppin’ to try and fit in. Anyone who knows him knows this about him.

Comment by Anon0091 Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 9:59 am
This is a big day for Dems nationwide. Money will not be an issue in the 2018 IL gov race.

Comment by Rocky Rosi Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 10:00 am
Hoping Pritzker’s people campaign on “A big man for a big job.” You know his size is an issue. Embrace it. It will be a nice contrast to a governor who is stick thin (and not up to the task) and prone to costumes that are an insult to the citizenry.

Comment by Wednesday morning Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 10:04 am
A campaign by a Billionaire run by Hillary and Rahm consultants…exactly what the Democratic electorate has been waiting for!!!

Comment by Wizard of Ozzie Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 10:25 am
Populous democrats like Biss push me away from the party, not closer to it. Bagging on someone because they’re rich — when you’re from Evanston — is just stupid.

Comment by facts matter Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 10:39 am
Oh Daniel, you’re so cute. You’re leading with your hypocritical chin.

Comment by Anon0091 Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 10:39 am
This Governor has certainly been a train wreck and decimated the state. The next governor will have a lot of rebuilding to do. Whoever is messaging for Pritzker has a tight and clean message. The symbolism of the announcement location is brilliant.

Comment by Wilderness Girl Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 10:42 am
===The symbolism of the announcement location is brilliant.===

It was an accident. lol

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 10:44 am
A billionaire (D) running against another billionaire (R) completely takes away a big flashing talking point that supporters of Pat (mows his own lawn) Quinn had and exploited in the last gubernatorial election.

Also, sooner or later all the Dem challengers are going to have to address exactly what they’ll do to work with Speaker Madigan or how they’ll deal with Madigan’s power, because he is also an elephant in the room with respect to the state’s problems and he will be “on the ballot” in the minds of many voters especially downstate ones.
This is going to be highly entertaining.

Comment by Responsa Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 10:53 am
Responsa, Quinn lost. People didn’t buy it.

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 10:55 am
===You’re leading with your hypocritical chin.===

Your driveby makes no sense unless you are a blind Pritzker partisan, and that’s fine, and good to know.

Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 11:03 am
Yes Rich, I am referring to the “Billionaire Bruce Rauner” title that still is regularly trotted out as a pejorative here and elsewhere. Surely its impact in ads will be substantially muted in import this time if J.B. Pritzker is the nominee. Who knows?

Comment by Responsa Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 11:09 am
PaWa. I see. He needs to tell me how he is going to go about this…petition drive? Get MJM and Cullerton to initiate? How will he do this?

Comment by Blue dog dem Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 11:31 am
“Surely it’s impact will be substantially muted….Who knows?”

Quite a debate you’re having there.

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 11:33 am
“The community is still standing– they rebuilt it together after a historic train wreck. That’s a pretty decent job description for the next governor.”

Nicely played.

Comment by Soccermom Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 11:38 am
Short version of the Biss response: “I welcome you… and now I start knifing you.”

Trib article on Pritzker announcement uses the “Rich Uncle Moneybags” tux picture. Campaign might want to send them a different one.

Comment by Ron Burgundy Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 12:52 pm
Ron, Trib has tons of pics of JB. They’re choosing to use this one.

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 12:58 pm
It is CRAZY that one man owns the Illinois republican’t party. Hopefully the dems don’t fall into that trap.

Comment by gdubya Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 1:17 pm
Pritzker apparently believes that we will experience an anti-Trump/anti-Rauner wave in 2018. Overcoming the usual off-cycle turnout patterns in Illinois. He would then just need to stay competitive.

Comment by walker Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 3:42 pm
The root cause of government dysfunction in Illinois is the lack of representative democracy.

It makes no sense organize and vote when the districts are gerrymandered and political funding – left and right – is controlled by lobbyists for government clients, and a few fat-cats. Voting for these candidates gets us what we have gotten to date.

I am waiting for candidates to elaborate on the “machine” part of “… take back Illinois from money and the machine…”

Comment by Anon III Thursday, Apr 6, 17 @ 4:22 pm