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With 83 days to go until election day, Bailey’s messaging still focused on CRT and sex ed while ducking reporters

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Illinois

* Hannah Meisel…

Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey on Tuesday said he’d prioritize eliminating “critical race theory” and “egregious” sex education standards from Illinois schools if elected to replace Gov. JB Pritzker in November, courting a relatively new coalition of voters radicalized during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bailey made those comments to a small rally outside the state Capitol building in Springfield organized by activist group Awake IL, which in recent weeks has come under fire for its social media posts, including a tweet in June that called Pritzker a “groomer” for signing new sex education standards into law.

Awake IL also took credit for “blast[ing]” a planned drag show targeted at families at a bakery in Chicago’s far north suburban Lake in the Hills in July, calling it “perverted,” and warning, “they’re coming for your kids, McHenry County.” But after UpRising Bakery was vandalized the night before the scheduled event — including broken windows and graffiti that said “f*gs rape kids” — the group distanced itself from Joseph Collins, the alleged perpetrator with ties to the Proud Boys.

Awake IL founder Shannon Adcock on Tuesday reiterated to NPR Illinois that her group “had nothing to do” with the vandalism and doesn’t condone violence. The day before the scheduled show, Awake IL’s Twitter account praised the pressure campaign that forced UpRising to make ticket information harder to find. […]

Bailey declined to speak to reporters while departing from the rally

This messaging emphasis and associating himself with that group won’t ever get him close to 50 percent plus one in Illinois. Maybe, I dunno, in Mississippi, but not in Illinois. I mean, it’s mid-August and he’s still publicly pandering to the micro-base of the base of the base. The object is to depress the other side’s base and appeal to the middle. All he’s going to do with stuff like this is further fire up the other side’s base, which is considerably larger than his, and frighten the middle.

* Jeremy Gorner and Dan Petrella…

Under signs that read “GENDER IS NOT INTERCHANGEABLE! GOD CREATED MALE/FEMALE,” and “dad /dad/ noun a human male who protects his kids from gender ideology,” Bailey on Tuesday stressed the importance of fighting for “these freedoms that are being taken away from us.”

“Children are our most valuable asset but our children and our rights as parents, they’re being stripped from us,” he said during an eight-minute speech.

He acknowledged the small size of the crowd, which he blamed on economic conditions that prevented some from traveling to Springfield.

“Some of you had to make the decisions today, and some of you had to sacrifice whether or not you even come here,” said Bailey, a state senator from Xenia. “And I’m going to contend that may be one of the very reasons why this crowd size is smaller than we know it ought to be because people in this state are now making decisions whether we put food on our table or whether we fill our gas tanks up.”

C’mon. The gathering was small because the real-life crowds generated by that social media group are, as far as I can tell, pretty much always small. This isn’t a presidential race. Counties don’t vote.

* Meanwhile, here’s Mark Maxwell…

The campaign for Darren Bailey, the GOP nominee for Illinois governor, is once again publicly distancing itself from a suspect charged in the attack on the U.S. Capitol after new video emerged showing the man campaigning alongside a paid Bailey campaign staffer.

So far, the FBI has charged 28 people from Illinois for alleged crimes at the Capitol on Jan. 6. One of them is Lawrence Ligas, who was charged last December with three criminal counts for storming the Capitol. Ligas has signaled he intends to face the charges at trial. He’s scheduled to appear in court again next month. […]

Bailey’s campaign lists Corrigan’s name in campaign finance documents under the category “staff salaries.” On Tuesday, Bailey campaign officials downplayed Corrigan’s role in the campaign, describing him as a 17-year-old paid intern who was not authorized to speak on behalf of the campaign.

Still, if Bailey intended to put distance between his campaign and Ligas, it’s clear Ligas never got the message.

“I believe in Darren Bailey so strongly that I’m out here trying to wake up the people that don’t get it,” Ligas said into the camera.

“He does not represent the campaign and anyone who breaks the law should be held accountable for their actions,” DeBose reiterated on Tuesday. […]

Ligas is not the only avid Darren Bailey supporter who was seen at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

5 On Your Side has also confirmed the identities of an Illinois couple seen in a video outside the Capitol on January 6th. Because they’re private citizens, not listed on campaign payroll, and have not been charged with a crime, we are not publishing their identities. But the comments they broadcasted on Jan. 6 reveal how strongly they felt when the crowd of rioters learned Mike Pence certified the election results:

“Do your (expletive) job or swing!” the man shouted, an apparent reference to the common chant from Trump supporters on that day, “Hang Mike Pence.” […]

“Darren does not condone this kind of language,” the Bailey campaign responded.

Does Bailey believe Mike Pence did the right thing on Jan. 6?

“Mike Pence followed the constitutional process,” DeBose said. “Joe Biden is the duly elected president, and he and JB Pritzker are failing Illinoisans.”

It’s one thing for a spokesperson to say something like that. But Bailey has a very bad habit of quickly and forcefully backtracking after his campaign issues official statements. Put the candidate himself in front of reporters on a regular basis and let him speak to all of this. Politico…

Darren Bailey has made a major pivot. His team told reporter Mark Maxwell that “Mike Pence followed the constitutional process” and “Joe Biden is the duly elected president.”

Patting Bailey on the head because his spokesperson (not the candidate himself) admitted the bare minimum is what used to be known as the soft bigotry of low expectations. If Bailey himself had made those remarks during his speech to that tiny right-wing group, then that would’ve been a “major pivot.”

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 8:59 am

Comments

The fact he is likely to carry a lot of counties is just disheartening. What a sorry state of affairs.

Comment by Papa2008 Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 9:06 am
===likely to carry a lot of counties===

Means nothing.

Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 9:09 am
Bailey is showing us that he’s pretty much as advertised. With no money and no real message this was the campaign he was destined to run. He’ll maintain the loyalty of his hard core followers when this is all said and done and that will be his victory.

Comment by Pundent Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 9:09 am
– He acknowledged the small size of the crowd, which he blamed on economic conditions that prevented some from traveling to Springfield. –

Nah, the live stream was lucky to break 25 viewers. Doesn’t cost any money in gas to watch a live stream.

Comment by TheInvisibleMan Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 9:13 am
creepy. just creepy.

Comment by Amalia Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 9:14 am
Double speak? Ducking reporters? Mike Z, are you working behind the scenes helping Bailey?

Comment by AC Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 9:16 am
Nice to see the Bailey team running for Gov of Alabama.

Comment by Give Me A Break Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 9:18 am
=He acknowledged the small size of the crowd, which he blamed on economic conditions that prevented some from traveling to Springfield.=

Not much of a committed cause if a few pennies a gallon would keep them from protesting an issue they supposedly feel so passionate about. Hope the price of gas doesn’t keep them from the polls.

Comment by Pundent Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 9:19 am
“our children and our rights as parents, they’re being stripped from us”

This is looney tune gibberish that will not appeal to anyone not already convinced they’re the victim in every single situation.
The Bailey base is simultaneously so put upon and victimized by perfidious external forces, yet also steadfast and invincible, the True Stock of America without which we’d all be living in gulags.

Comment by Larry Bowa Jr. Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 9:20 am
Shia Kapos’s ability to uncritically publish anything sent to her only rivals her inability to spell.

Comment by Nuke The Whales Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 9:22 am
Any discussion to “counties” and disheartening loses sight of the fact that people, voters, Illinoisans matter, not geography… which is important to what this whole post is about.

The micro of the micro pandering isn’t about winning but truly is about pandering, I could make the argument it’s already about surrendering, but helping Bailey find a place “post-loss”, with extremist, and being a leader of less than 50 people.

What was it Bailey was doing?

Easy. Well, not too easy if they don’t own it.

It was a rally to signal and remind others that it’s ok to promote hateful speech. The glaring irony isn’t the Lincoln statue they decided to have their performance art in front of, that’s the farce of it all, the irony is that they obviously want to be noticed, but no one even cared to show up.

Embracing hate is a feature.

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 9:23 am
Even for a long shot, this is a weird campaign. Aside from his apology/retraction two-step, he’s really not trying to win new votes. There isn’t much evidence that he knows that Pritzker voters exist. He definitely isn’t trying to understand what they want or how to flip their votes.

It seems like a naive or simplistic question, but what is Bailey’s plan to win? Not even the nitty-gritty questions of turnout projections, win number, persuasion touches etc. Does he even have a basic theory of which voters he’ll flip from 2018? Even if that thought is wrong, or based on false premises, it surely exists in some fashion. I’d be genuinely fascinated to hear any Bailey supporters explain how he’s reaching out to anyone besides the far right.

Comment by vern Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 9:26 am
I’m having some doubts about his campaign manager being a rising star.

Comment by Excitable Boy Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 9:34 am
“Does Bailey believe Mike Pence did the right thing on Jan. 6?

“Mike Pence followed the constitutional process,” DeBose said.”

…but…Was it the right thing?…remains the unanswered question.

Comment by Dotnonymous Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 9:36 am
So our kids need to learn that “Mom” is at home fixing supper and “Dad” works, according to God? Those are Traditional Gender Roles.

Comment by Jerry Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 9:40 am
The whole “he will carry a bunch of counties” is meaningless. He will, but not SOLEY because of his hardcore followers. There are those who will vote the party line and then they’ll be more than vote against JB. The pure hate of JB from the latter base is why he takes all these rural counties. The Covid closures and mask mandates are these folks are angry about.

Comment by Alice Childress Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 9:40 am
Awake IL - Rights for Me, but not for Thee.

These folks don’t understand CRT and don’t care that in reality it’s not taught at the elementary and secondary education levels.

Like Pavlov’s Dogs, these people are part of the MAGA conditioning process where they perform when code words are used.

“CRT,” bark, bark, bark. “Sex education,” bark, bark, bark.

Comment by Norseman Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 9:41 am
So when he goes down in flames in November, is the Republican post-mortem still going to be that he wasn’t “conservative enough?”

Comment by Skeptic Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 9:47 am
^ Me

Comment by PublicServant Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 9:48 am
Excitable Boy -

I’m having some doubts about his campaign manager being a rising star.

Excitable Boy - not only do you have a most excellent nickname but your comment is fabulous.

Comment by Paddyrollingstone Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 9:50 am
“Joe Biden is the duly elected president”

Careful, that’s the kind of heresy that gets one excommunicated from MAGAville.

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 9:50 am
Land doesn’t vote people do. As much as we live in a democracy there are plenty of people who don’t really believe in that. By the way it goes back to the founding of our country and was a big problem in the United Kingdom as well. It got fixed when cities demanded that the rotten or pocket boroughs eliminated. By the way that was a big part of the reason why the United States even had the revolution. The UK Parliament said to the US Colonies you have representation just bribe some rotten or pocket boroughs to speak for you.

Comment by Publius Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 9:52 am
Darren is looking like he needs to go back to farming.

Comment by Furtive Look Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 9:54 am
== Bailey on Tuesday stressed the importance of fighting for “these freedoms that are being taken away from us.” ==

Which freedoms? How are they being taken from you?

Comment by Northsider Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 9:56 am
Which specific Illinois educational standard does Mr. Bailey want to remove?

Comment by Seymourkid Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 10:08 am
9:50 anon was I.

I wonder if Bailey really cares about winning at this point, or if he’s just focused on raising his MAGA profile. I guess I revealed my answer.

Comment by Independent Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 10:09 am
Thankfully people are no longer required to own property to vote, so acreage is irrelevant (and by people back then they only meant white guys). My town has more population than 79 of 102 counties. One person = one vote.

Comment by Ron Burgundy Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 10:10 am
-Which specific Illinois educational standard does Mr. Bailey want to remove?-

Apparently the one where he thinks kids are being taught post-graduate level civil rights theory. If that were actually a thing (it’s not), I would agree but for the reason that it’s beyond their comprehension.

Comment by Ron Burgundy Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 10:13 am
===what is Bailey’s plan to win?===

At this point I’m not convinced that’s his end goal. Seems to me all he’s doing is trying to gin up new converts to the MAGA cult and rally existing members.

Comment by Cubs in '16 Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 10:18 am
Could it be that Bailey has never expected to win and only wants to get his message out?

Granted, there isn’t a trainload of GOP votes in Chicago, but Bailey’s pathetic outreach to the City seems to indicate he’s mostly written it off.

Even he knows if he got every single GOP vote downstate, numerically it wouldn’t be enough to win. There aren’t enough Republicans.

This is a man who will not compromise his beliefs to win. He believes 100 percent God is on his side, but God doesn’t vote.

Unlike Rauner, Bailey has not pursued a message that will attract Independents and undecideds.

So is his campaign about messaging, not winning?

Comment by Streator Curmudgeon Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 10:19 am
Bailey and DeVore have bought into their echo chamber’s conspiracy theories. They believe there is some silent majority that is ready to rise up and let these two “fix” society. Anything that does not conform to this mindset of theirs is woke liberal/marxist/socialist gibberish and does not compute in their minds.

Comment by Highland IL Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 10:22 am
I saw a news clip in which Bailey was complaining about Pritzker spending too much on several things. I wasn’t really paying close attention until I heard the word “pensions”. The news clip ended a couple seconds later, and they moved on to other news. Does Bailey not know about tier 2, which is a factor in a growing teacher shortage in Illinois? What exactly is the Bailey plan on “pensions”?

Comment by DuPage Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 10:23 am
Candidate Bailey is the dimmest of dim bulbs. He’s peddling CRT and sex education because he has nothing else to say.

Declines to speak to reporters as he can’t control the questions.

Comment by Rudy’s teeth Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 10:25 am
The old SNL term “not ready for prime time players” could well apply to Bailey.

Comment by Friendly Bob Adams Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 10:39 am
Bailey will probably soon be saying that his campaign’s statement that Pence did his job and Biden was duly elected was taken out of context.

Comment by West Side the Best Side Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 10:46 am
=== Even he knows if he got every single GOP vote downstate, numerically it wouldn’t be enough to win. There aren’t enough Republicans. ===

Despite being a big blue state, the path to statewide victory is actually pretty simple for Republicans. There are enormous tranches of swing voters in the collar counties and suburban cook. These are voters who regularly split their tickets, and they do so for moderate candidates of both parties.

This is how Rauner won in 2014 and Kirk won in 2010. You start with a bad fundamentals year for Democrats, successfully drive up your opponent’s negatives, and go all out on suburban persuasion. You have to act as though the base is going to come out and vote for you no matter what, because if they don’t there’s no path anyways.

Even if Bailey truly believes the suburbs are secretly pining for true conservatism, he should come here and prove that. He should be camped out in the collar counties trying to find those voters. If the idea is to get a message out and win new converts, he still should be talking to people who aren’t already converts. Instead he’s in Springfield speaking to a crowd of 50 voters who would already crawl over broken glass to vote for him. I’m baffled.

Comment by vern Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 10:53 am
“The micro of the micro pandering isn’t about winning but truly is about pandering, I could make the argument it’s already about surrendering, but helping Bailey find a place “post-loss”, with extremist, and being a leader of less than 50 people.”

And a mailing list he can monetize. He’s at the cash-grab / grift stage of his campaign.

Comment by Save Ferris Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 10:57 am
– He should be camped out in the collar counties –

please no.

Comment by TheInvisibleMan Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 11:01 am
==likely to carry a lot of counties==Bailey may carry most of downstate counties, but there will still be people in each county that do not vote for him. It may be more than some expect. And since winning counties doesn’t get you anything if you still aren’t the candidate with the most votes overall, it is meaningless, as has been pointed out. So, Papa2008, take heart. Darren has so far not shown the kind of pivot that he needs to make to appeal to the voters that will decide this race. Free gas cards or even free Mountain Dew aren’t gonna swing it.

Comment by MoralMinority Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 11:11 am
Perhaps Governor Pritzker should have some “Ducking Bailey” shirts printed up for folks to wear at the Fair tomorrow.

Comment by Dance Band on the Titanic Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 11:13 am
The Peter Principle is alive and well.

Comment by XonXoff Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 11:17 am
this whole Bailey thing is a merely an audition for a run at the US 12th seat.

Comment by Blue Dog Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 11:31 am
==It seems like a naive or simplistic question, but what is Bailey’s plan to win?==

“Friends,”

*pointing to red/blue map of county voting totals*

“It is plain for anyone to see that this election was stolen for JB Pritzker and away from the good, honest voters of Alla-noy. As I speak, my team is assembling a top-flight group of legal specialists who will expose and challenge this obvious fraud. Now, you give me…”

Comment by Roadrager Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 11:34 am
Seems to me that if you take away elected officials the rest of the outraged citizens in attendance all probably came in 1 car. Heckuva rally Darin.

Comment by Stormsw7706 Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 11:35 am
==why he takes all these rural counties. The Covid closures and mask mandates are [what] these folks are angry about==

Even though they ignored them so it is a theoretical beef.

Comment by Big Dipper Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 12:03 pm
Bailey will get more independent voters to listen when he talks about rising crime rates in robberies, gun violence, and carjacking.

Comment by Enviro Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 2:34 pm
=== Bailey will get more independent voters to listen when he talks about rising crime rates in robberies, gun violence, and carjacking.===

With what money to do so?

Right now Pritzker is defining Bailey, without pushback too

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 2:47 pm
=Bailey will get more independent voters to listen when he talks about rising crime rates in robberies, gun violence, and carjacking.=

I’m sure that will happen right after he convinces them that he’s the man to solve the CRT and sex-ed problems they were unware of.

Comment by Pundent Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 3:21 pm
It’s sad that this guy will actually have his name on the actual ballot in November. It’s sadder still that some Republicans seem to think this is a good thing. And to Enviro’s post at 2:34 p.m. - what people like Bailey are doing is actually turning Republican voters like myself and my fiancée into Independents. Fixed it for you.

Comment by Just a guy Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 3:35 pm
Bailey (and Brady) have both been around the suburbs quite a bit lately, mostly with small groups. They’re not hiding out, except maybe from reporters

Comment by walker Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 4:08 pm
Bailey: “And I’m going to contend that may be one of the very reasons why this crowd size is smaller than we know it ought to be because people in this state are now making decisions whether we put food on our table or whether we fill our gas tanks up.”

Didn’t seem to affect the State Fair attendance a few miles away, Mr. Bailey.

Comment by H-W Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 4:38 pm
==The Covid closures and mask mandates ==

Nothing wrong with those, only problem is we let go of them early. Plus in the case of restaurants, it didn’t hurt for some of them to fail anyway (we have too many restaurants anyway)

Comment by Just Sayin Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 5:52 pm
==The Covid closures and mask mandates ==

I was mocking that, thanks.

=== Plus in the case of restaurants, it didn’t hurt for some of them to fail anyway (we have too many restaurants anyway)===

Truly a sad and embarrassing thing to say, since those places were a family’s dream, maybe their legacy, and many were part of the fabric of things greater than… you.

“Just sayin”… the selfishness of not caring how things did happen is arguably as bad as lacking feeling for those who suffered a loss of a business, even if they did all they could to keep us and themselves safe.

Your lack of sympathy or empathy is noted.

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 6:01 pm
vern @10:53am “Despite being a big blue state, the path to statewide victory is actually pretty simple for Republicans. There are enormous trenches of swing voters in the collar counties and suburban cook. These are voters who regularly split their tickets, and they do so for moderate candidates of both parties.”

Unfortunately, Bailey is not a moderate candidate. There are plenty of problems with the Illinois Democratic party he could talk about, but instead he reminds voters why they don’t want him to be our governor.

Comment by Enviro Wednesday, Aug 17, 22 @ 10:13 pm