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RGA highlights reporters’ criticisms of Chris Kennedy

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Illinois

* From the Republican Governors Association…

Reporters Slam IL Dem Gov Candidate Chris Kennedy’s “Struggling” Campaign
Illinois Democrat gubernatorial candidate Chris Kennedy was supposed to be the darling of the Illinois Democratic Party. They said he had the name, the money, and the stature to compete.

But things haven’t worked out the way Chris Kennedy or the Democratic Party had planned. Now, reporters from major state publications are blasting his “struggling” campaign for governor over his inability to pick a running mate, circulate petitions, raise money or connect with voters.

On Sunday, Illinois’ top political reporters discussed the flailing Kennedy campaign.

Politico’s Natasha Korecki called out Kennedy’s campaign for repeated “missteps”.

WLS Radio’s Bill Cameron slammed the campaign as “not as competent as we would expect.” Cameron even went so far as to note, “The camera doesn’t seem to love him. And on politics, he just doesn’t seem to be playing it too well.”

The Chicago Sun-Times’ Lynn Sweet summed up his campaign well when she remarked, “Kennedy is struggling.”

Kennedy’s troubles with the press come just days after Politico reported that Kennedy’s campaign “is readying for a re-tuning”.

This would be the second campaign reset for Kennedy. By the looks of it, he needs it.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Sep 12, 17 @ 9:36 am

Comments

Kennedy has the name but he’s as photogenic as Mr. Ed running for office..

Comment by Mouthy Tuesday, Sep 12, 17 @ 9:45 am
They’re not wrong. At this point everything’s coming up JB. Serious missteps lately by a lot of the would-be competition.

Comment by Ron Burgundy Tuesday, Sep 12, 17 @ 9:46 am
Well done Mr. Yaffe.

Comment by Nice Tuesday, Sep 12, 17 @ 9:49 am
So for Republicans, the news is fake news unless it’s news they want to cite?

Comment by Fax Machine Tuesday, Sep 12, 17 @ 9:50 am
well, I guess the Rs have identified the frontrunner.

Comment by Amalia Tuesday, Sep 12, 17 @ 9:51 am
All this stuff is letting Biss hang around not too far in the distance. When this comes to actual televised debates, Biss is going to demonstrate and understanding and a competency that completely eludes to two in front of him. The longer he hangs around; the worse it is for either and both of these guys.

Comment by A guy Tuesday, Sep 12, 17 @ 9:51 am
Interesting - both this hit and the ILGOP hit on Pritzker over the Museum grant conspicuously omit the GOP’s favorite word: Madigan.

Are they worried about Madigan negativity fatigue?

Comment by Fax Machine Tuesday, Sep 12, 17 @ 9:53 am
Might be there’s polling showing Kennedy is still leading.

If you think about it, Kennedy has a horrible burn rate, no LG, staffing issues, issues at events and advance…

… and still the RGA is targeting Kennedy?

Honestly, Kennedy’s biggest policy crux is probably best suited for a run a Cook County Assessor and look at this paragraph…

===Reporters Slam IL Dem Gov Candidate Chris Kennedy’s “Struggling” Campaign
Illinois Democrat gubernatorial candidate Chris Kennedy was supposed to be the darling of the Illinois Democratic Party. They said he had the name, the money, and the stature to compete===

Then the rest is to disprove these premises.

The publicly released polling has Kennedy as the one allegedly leading, in head to head, in the Dem Primary.

The RGA is trying to stop Kennedy and his perceived momentum.

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Sep 12, 17 @ 9:57 am
While I am not a Democrat, I think the fact that a bunch of conservative reporters are attack Kennedy is a good thing for his campaign. It shows they are worried about him, and feel the need to attack early. I am not saying a reset is not in order, but if I were Kennedy I would take this for a compliment. Since when does a candidate have to do things on a time table supplied by reporters?

Comment by Retired Educator Tuesday, Sep 12, 17 @ 9:59 am
After his last disastrous fundraising quarter Kennedy did a big reset and brought in Bill Daley. So far this quarter he’s brought in half of what Rauner has ($54,000 to $110,000) and Rauner started the quarter with $67 million in the bank. The quarter isn’t over and fundraising events are typically backloaded but they’re not doing much to inspire confidence.

Comment by The Captain Tuesday, Sep 12, 17 @ 9:59 am
I don’t know if it makes sense to read too much into this in terms of what the GOP’s read of who’s winning or who their preferred candidate is. This isn’t a situation where one of the candidates is obviously so fringe or wounded that it would change the general election dynamics like the Akin/McCaskill Missouri Senate race in 2012.

I think the job of the RGA and ILGOP at this point is to sully up anyone who may walk away with the nomination and to build narratives that may help them in the general. So they are pushing stories that cast Pritzker as part of the corrupt status quo. From this release, maybe they are hoping a bumbling Kennedy narrative takes hold. Given his inconsistent performance on the stump, there may be a lot of moments that reinforce that image.

Both narratives fit into the Rauner game plan of making voters choose between whether Madigan runs the state unchecked, or voters hold their noses and keep Rauner.

Comment by Century Club Tuesday, Sep 12, 17 @ 10:17 am
This serves as a welcome reminder that Kennedy is still in the race.

I had nearly forgotten.

I think it is safe to wonder whether he makes the ballot. He’s just not making the moves you would expect to see from a serious candidate.

Comment by Gooner Tuesday, Sep 12, 17 @ 10:34 am
When your opponent is imploding, a smart GOP would get out of the way. So this is a very weird shot. So is he imploding? Well let’s review:

1) Kennedy still has no running mate and has been turned down by several people.

2) Since 7/1, Kennedy has reported $53k in contributions plus another in-kind 31k.

3) Kennedy continues to blow off public events including the Arts Forum last night and pull disappearing acts like he did in Rock Island.

4) Kennedy’s staff shakeup is actively underway.

Nope, nothing’s doing there. So who are they going after next? Drury?

Comment by Anon0091 Tuesday, Sep 12, 17 @ 10:38 am
The flacks at the national committees are getting paid. They have to produce something.

But I honestly don’t know who their audiences are.

Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Sep 12, 17 @ 11:09 am
Chris: for Gods sake, DONT SMILE. All that Kennedy charisma stuff is demolished once you show those off white ivories. Sorry, but it’s true.

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Sep 12, 17 @ 11:19 am
When your name is Kennedy that’s a high bar in Democratix political circles. People are going to expect a better than average campaign. So far it’s been worse than average.

Comment by Stones Tuesday, Sep 12, 17 @ 11:24 am
==once you show those off white ivories==

It would help if they were white. /s

Comment by A guy Tuesday, Sep 12, 17 @ 11:31 am
OW RGA is using a sound strategy of dedicating resources to a critical problem…. next they are going to tackle early christmas decorating in retail stores. they are cutting edge strategists

Comment by Ghost Tuesday, Sep 12, 17 @ 11:53 am
- Ghost -

The RGA have been, if anything, active.

Achieving anything, in this instance, that’s up to Kennedy.

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Sep 12, 17 @ 12:07 pm
The red flag is he is low on raising money. Hard to put a good campaign together without it. The claim he is not photogenic is garbage because Pritzker certainly looks well fed in most of the photographs.

Comment by Mr B. Wednesday, Sep 13, 17 @ 8:00 am