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* Writing a subscriber-only story about Pritzker’s money and got so far into the weeds that I’m now way behind. Keep the discussion state-centric, please. And try your very best to be nice to each other. I’ll be back soon.

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 9:08 am

Comments

I say Ives gets 38%.

Also can’t wait to see how the “progressives” do with Newman, Kaegi among others going up against established incumbent Democrats.

Comment by Joe Davies County Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 9:12 am
Andrea Raila is back on the ballot.

Comment by Fax Machine Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 9:13 am
March Madness being (in earnest) today and Illinois only has one team in the tournament. Maybe some day the good Illinois high school kids won’t all get recruited away.

Until then, go Ramblers!

Comment by Montrose Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 9:13 am
being = begins

Comment by Montrose Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 9:13 am
So how well is Loyola Chicago going to do in March Madness?

Comment by TheRambler Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 9:14 am
Great debate last night on Chicago Tonight. Kennedy has come a long way and clearly won last night. JB couldn’t answer questions about his offshore investments/tax shelters. Biss clearly can’t pick a lane and got torched on his flip-flopping. Can Kennedy actually pull this off?

Comment by Flat Bed Ford Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 9:15 am
“So how well is Loyola Chicago going to do in March Madness?”

About as well as Ives in the GOP primary.

Comment by Dee Lay Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 9:16 am
How important will the St. Patrick’s Day parade be, now that it will be actually on March 17, and it being the last Saturday before the election?

Will some want and gobble up free media, will others shy away from the media, slip in and and quietly exit?

Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 9:17 am
Kennedy nailed the debate last night

Comment by Thomas Zane Stepp Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 9:18 am
Yesterday’s debate was atrocious, and all the candidates performed abysmally.

Pritzker’s catchphrase has shifted from “I’ve done nothing wrong and I’ve been accused of no wrongdoing” to “Those trusts were set up before I was born, I have no control over them, and remember that the distributions go entirely to charity.” He sounded less like a candidate and more like a defendant. The Berrios response was also horrendous as usual.

What I’m honestly wondering is why Pritzker doesn’t just disavow Madigan/Berrios for the primary? He obviously knows it’s a political albatross, and goodness knows he isn’t lacking funds.

Props to Kennedy for his “not another speech” dig at Biss. I laughed out loud.

Comment by TKMH Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 9:19 am
We have some of the most talented HS players in the nation here in Illinois and yet, for the fifth straight year no Illini in the Big Dance. ISU and SIU also missing along with DePaul and Northwestern. Illinois kids just love leaving the state to play their college hoops.

Go Ramblers I suppose.

Comment by Give Me A Break Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 9:19 am
Current forecast is high of 36 and snow on Tuesday in Chicago area.

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 9:20 am
==“So how well is Loyola Chicago going to do in March Madness?”

About as well as Ives in the GOP primary.==

This wisdom from the same board who, at the beginning of the season on an open thread like this, scoffed at the notion that Loyola had potential to be one of the top teams in the State this year and make a run to the tournament.

Go Ramblers!

Comment by Bo Rambler Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 9:22 am
Speaking of the debate, suggestion for “caption this”: the look Kennedy gave to Biss when the latter said he would stand by his voting record. It was around the 21:30 mark of the livestream.

Comment by Anon324 Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 9:22 am
Saw that three men from Clarence, Illinois were arrested for bombing a mosque in Wisconsin. That strikes close to home as I have been through Clarence scores of times.

Also saw the national walkout to stop school shootings. On the day 17 people were shot iat Parkland school, an estimated 117 people died from drug overdoses. If you want to save lives, turn in a drug dealer to the police.

And yes we still need to address school shootings. We can do both.

Comment by Last Bull Moose Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 9:22 am
Kennedy came off as the alpha male last night, he straight up emasculated Biss.

Pritzker just looked like he did not want to be there and said his rehearsed lines running out the clock (on the debate & the election).

The primary’s coming down to the undecideds - if they heavily fall to Kennedy or Biss then that individual can beat Pritzker.

If the undecideds split more or less evenly between Kennedy & Biss then Pritzker wins.

Comment by Fax Machine Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 9:24 am
Looking forward to wandering through those weeds once you’re done.

It also seems to be a hard time to be a Bears fan.

Comment by Anon Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 9:25 am
Ramblers are about to bow out to Miami. - Salty ISU fan

Comment by Reggie Redbird Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 9:27 am
“It also seems to be a hard time to be a Bears fan.”

They need a turnaround agenda.

Comment by Liandro Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 9:31 am
There is a sense now, and before I felt it was a quietly loud wish, that Pritzker can’t have the calendar move fast enough.

Instead of a surging and running thru the finish line, it’s a hope the finish line moves closer to where Pritzker is stuck in neutral before the others can catch where he is.

The problem(s) for Biss and Kennedy are things this late in the game, it might not be something they can fix;

Time and money.

If either get close, but Pritzker wins, the layup reasoning will be “had they had more time and money, he would’ve tracked Pritzker down”

The large lead and infrastructure for Election Day still out there for Pritzker, that might be the biggest advantage that Crew has, and with iffy weather up North…

Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 9:33 am
Kennedy’s anger management problem was almost an advantage for him at such a negative debate, but he took it too far.

Comment by Blue sky Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 9:38 am
Based on the JB that showed up at the debate last night,Pritzker either has a loss in March or we all have a loss in November.

Comment by Back to the Future Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 9:39 am
“They need a turnaround agenda.”

Looks to me they are executing pretty well. Allen Robinson and Taylor Gabriel alone gives me hope for their offense.

Comment by Logan Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 9:40 am
In case you didn’t see or hear about this, there’s an Amber Alert out. Saw it on the overhead signs on the interstate this morning-

https://tinyurl.com/ybv8pbdk

Comment by Anon221 Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 9:40 am
Fun times at Northwestrn yesterday. I work on the other campus and our phones rang every 15 minutes for 2 hours telling us to stay where we were if on that campus and to not go there if we weren’t. I did not find this helpful and I wondered what happens if a shooter hears someone’s cell ringing or vibrating while he’s looking for victims.

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 9:41 am
Is Illinois currently project to lose one or two congressional seats in the next census?

Comment by Stones Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 9:47 am
Amen to the Bears needing a turnaround agenda. As long as Mitch develops (he will have some better targets as opposed to the guys made out of straw he worked with last season) they need to start thinking of winning the division. Might be a long shot, but need that mentality.

Andrea Raila back on the ballot after weeks of signage saying votes wouldn’t count for her…please tell me we’ll have a new petitions challenge procedure in place for the next elections.

Comment by Lunchbox Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 9:48 am
“This is the worst form of political pandering,” Kennedy said. “To say that nobody has to worry about a thing because we’re going to tax financial transactions, it gives everyone false hope. We ought to bring people into the complexities and subtleties of government policy and not offer a solution that can’t be had.”

Kennedy’s campaign in a nutshell. Nuanced and unwilling to pander.

Comment by Red fish blue fish Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 9:48 am
–Looks to me they are executing pretty well.–

Bears just cut all their big 2017 free agent signees.

Brings to mind the old John McCay quote when he was coaching the winless Bucs:

Reporter: “What do you think of the team’s execution?”

McCay: “I’m all for it.”

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 9:49 am
==unwilling to pander.==

You should go back and reread yesterday’s post on Kennedy’s magically evolving position on marijuana legalization.

Comment by TKMH Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 9:50 am
Reggie Redbird, you’re my hero

Comment by ISU Grad Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 9:50 am
I early voted yesterday. The polling place was the most crowded I have seen it since the 2008 presidential election. Anecdotal but it certainly seemed in contrast to the chart posted on here yesterday. Did early voting’s later start this year possibly skew those stats?

Comment by Soothsayer Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 9:50 am
Think I am finally going to lock in my vote at lunch today. Wish I had a full slate to vote for in my neck of the woods.

Also wishing the best for all the Illinois workers at Toys R Us who face uncertain futures with the company liquidating. Was just at a store over the weekend making a purchase and the employee who was an expectant mother was very calm about the situation because she had gone through work at another store closing previously. Here’s hoping her calmness and friendliness helps land her another job quickky.

Also we really as a country need to figure out what to do with brick and mortar retail workers who are seeing their stores evaporate at the altar of Amazon.

Comment by hisgirlfriday Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 9:52 am
If both Quinn and Berrios win their respective primaries, I will officially give up hope on our election system.

Comment by Just Me Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 9:55 am
Anyone catch this article from the Daily Herald? Entails dupage county board dem candidates dropping out of general election even if they come in second. Each primary district race is vote for 2.

http://www.dailyherald.com/news/20180312/why-dupage-democrats-may-ask-some-county-board-nominees-to-drop-out-of-race

Comment by Rennen Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 9:55 am
It pains me to admit this, but seems as though GarPax got the best of the Jimmy Butler trade last summer. Lauri Markkenan is the real deal. If they get lucky again in the draft this summer, they might compete in 2-3 years.

Comment by asu Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 9:56 am
Momentum is definitely not going Pritzker’s way.

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 10:00 am
–What I’m honestly wondering is why Pritzker doesn’t just disavow Madigan/Berrios for the primary? –

They’re the ground game.

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 10:04 am
I’ll be pulling a D primary ballot at lunch. Pretty certain I’ll be voting for Biss. Final arguments against?

Comment by The Crane Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 10:17 am
==I’ll be pulling a D primary ballot at lunch. Pretty certain I’ll be voting for Biss.===

He’s really the only good choice IMO.

Comment by Blue sky Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 10:19 am
Where I live, the dominant logic was that Pritzker is the only one who could challenge Rauner financially. Biss showed me at least that he can compete against a deep-pocket candidate. Whatever intangible quality got him this far is one that earns my vote. In my opinion, he will do the least bad.

Comment by The Crane Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 10:34 am
Is someone keeping track of all the races Cicero Dan is engaged in? He has a tendency to deny involvement after the fact with his losers, see, e.g., the McCann race two years ago.

Of course the list of his losers on March 21 will only be partial as most of the members of his super duper pooper conservative light brigade primary winnners will flame out in November leaving, as always, Cicero Dan’s bank account the only true winner.

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 11:07 am
To all my SIUC buddies. Did you see the announcement about mothballing the Tower.? At least 15 years past due. This is why I say starve the beast a bit longer. There are cost savings out there. I don’t know what ever happened with the curriculum reduction group, but that is needed as well.

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Mar 15, 18 @ 11:48 am