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Question of the day

Posted in:

• Illinois

* Tribune…

Darren Bailey, the Republican nominee for governor, received his biggest contribution so far in the general election campaign from his most generous benefactor — conservative megadonor Richard Uihlein.

The $1 million contribution was the first from Uihlein to Bailey since the state senator from downstate Xenia won the primary election in late June to take on first-term incumbent Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker in November.

While the $1 million is far from the $9 million Uihlein contributed to Bailey during the primary, the contribution from the CEO of the packing and shipping firm Uline at least temporarily ends suspense about whether he was going to financially support Bailey during the general election campaign. Uihlein’s previous contribution to Bailey was in late May.

The $1 million contribution on Monday was sorely needed by Bailey, who reported having just under $364,000 in his campaign fund at the end of June. Pritzker, the billionaire businessman and an heir to the Hyatt Hotels fortune, reported having $60.8 million in his campaign fund at the end of June.

* Some react…

* The Question: Your reaction to this news?

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Aug 30, 22 @ 12:11 pm

Comments

1. About time.

   A vacant building for sale for a long time now has Bailey/Trussell banners covering its windows. I’m guessing this money will be used for ‘regional’ offices for ‘election integrity.’

   Comment by Vote Quimby Tuesday, Aug 30, 22 @ 12:13 pm

2. Chump change to show token support. If Uihlein thought Bailey had a chance, he would have gone with a bigger initial donation to start ads.

   Comment by Norseman Tuesday, Aug 30, 22 @ 12:18 pm

3. “It’s the same old story for Illinois Republicans. The billionaire businessman who threw millions behind Bruce Rauner in an attempt to strip away workers’ rights and devastate Illinois families, all while parking his company over the border to dodge taxes? He’s at it again. And this time, he’s cutting checks to Darren Bailey.”

   If I can write it, it pretty much writes itself.

   Comment by Roadrager Tuesday, Aug 30, 22 @ 12:19 pm

4. X’s 100 still ain’t enough.. $50million would only help Bailey get a little above 40%..

   Comment by NotRich Tuesday, Aug 30, 22 @ 12:20 pm

5. Unless Uihlein is going to step up the way Ken Griffin has in the past, this is merely a drop in the bucket. And Bailey hasn’t demonstrated that his campaign can evolve from tent revivals and Facebook live postings so I’m not sure what he’d spend the money on if he had it.

   Comment by Pundent Tuesday, Aug 30, 22 @ 12:20 pm

6. More airplanes pulling banners?

   Comment by Streator Curmudgeon Tuesday, Aug 30, 22 @ 12:20 pm

7. Meh. You can use money to narrow some of the gap in “candidate quality,” to use Mitch McConnell’s phrase, but that gap is too big to fully close. At this point, Bailey’s best bet is to hang in there and hope Pritzker is discovered to be hunting orphans for fun or something.

   Comment by Benjamin Tuesday, Aug 30, 22 @ 12:26 pm

8. This is to keep Bailey from whining.

   Until Uihlein outpaces what he’s been giving Proft since the primary, this is merely cash to keep a phone from ringing.

   It’s like 3 whole days of a Chicago media buy.

   That helps like duck tape holding up your second story home

   Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Aug 30, 22 @ 12:29 pm

9. Darren, I’ll give you 10x whatever JB bids for the grand champion steer if you lose my number. Now let’s move on and celebrate the independence of this nation.

   Comment by TradedUpForMitch Tuesday, Aug 30, 22 @ 12:35 pm

10. Was this the $1 million “matching” donation Bailey was promoting yesterday or was this Uihlein seeing a chance to double his donation that was too good to pass up?

    Comment by MoralMinority Tuesday, Aug 30, 22 @ 12:37 pm

11. Bailey should make another Facebook video with him blowing up $1 million dollars with an AR-15 rifle like he did with the state budget. That would help him more than whatever his plans are.

    Comment by Baloneymous Tuesday, Aug 30, 22 @ 12:46 pm

12. Common sense says the more money Bailey has the more he will be heard. But that is his downfall beyond his base. He would probably get more votes by hiding under a rock. At least some anti Pritzker votes would end up his way. But I think many of those skip this race or stay home altogether the more they know about him.
    I said this yesterday. JB should be donating to Bailey.

    Comment by Been There Tuesday, Aug 30, 22 @ 12:53 pm

13. Bailey is the guy panhandling by the Interstate. Uihlein gave him a buck as he drove by. Uihlein knows he’s throwing money at a lost cause campaign. I don’t look for significantly higher contributions because in my experience, billionaires like to hold onto their money.

    Comment by Cubs in '16 Tuesday, Aug 30, 22 @ 12:57 pm

14. Uihlein got his man through the primary (with JB Pritzker’s help) and then left him dangling. I don’t understand.

    Comment by SAP Tuesday, Aug 30, 22 @ 12:58 pm

15. That’s pocket change for Uihlein. My take is that he needs to show support since he supported him in the primary but most likely believes that Bailey can’t win, otherwise he would make a larger donation.

    Comment by Manchester Tuesday, Aug 30, 22 @ 12:58 pm

16. Not at all sure why Uihlein bothered with this, unless it’s out of pity or the first of many more donations. Bailey’s campaign is mired in poor management, weak communication, inarticulate messaging, and right wing mythology. Bailey himself seems lost, with no clue how to run for statewide office. A million bucks will vanish on the wind.

    Comment by Flapdoodle Tuesday, Aug 30, 22 @ 1:00 pm

17. =The $1 million contribution was the first from Uihlein=

    Wait a minute (banned punctuation) Everytime I see a bailey ad he is attacking billionaire elites with soft hands. How can he now take a billionaire sugar daddy? Yes, I know he has taken Uihlein money before. Is it possible bailey is lying to us and only dislikes SOME billionaire elites? Especially democratic ones?

    Comment by JS Mill Tuesday, Aug 30, 22 @ 1:06 pm

18. Underwhelming on its own, but let’s see what happens next.

    Obviously $1M isn’t nearly enough to compete with Pritzker, but U-Line spent his money late in the primary. Maybe he will here, too.

    Comment by Arsenal Tuesday, Aug 30, 22 @ 1:07 pm

19. This feels like “We still need to pay our campaign staffers” money

    Comment by fs Tuesday, Aug 30, 22 @ 1:09 pm

20. Well… he’ll have some cash around to repay the loan he gave his campaign from his PPP loan (forgiven).

    Comment by Ducky LaMoore Tuesday, Aug 30, 22 @ 1:23 pm

21. If this is the million dollar matching donation from the ad, I guess they don’t really understand what a MATCHING donation is.

    And yea, this is great. One million down and 54 more to go to match what Griffin gave to Irvin. Yawn.

    Comment by New Day Tuesday, Aug 30, 22 @ 1:28 pm

22. That tweet “could’ve given it to me and gotten the same outcome” is both hilarious and true

    Comment by cover Tuesday, Aug 30, 22 @ 1:43 pm

23. Concur with the folks who feel this is go away money. And in retrospect, I’m really starting to believe that Uihlein doesn’t care for Griffin and really wanted to defeat *him*

    Comment by Joe Bidenopolous Tuesday, Aug 30, 22 @ 2:20 pm

24. ==This feels like “We still need to pay our campaign staffers” money== Yeah, that makes sense.

    Comment by SAP Tuesday, Aug 30, 22 @ 2:23 pm

25. The amount suggests Uihlein is tired of throwing good money after bad.

    Comment by Jocko Tuesday, Aug 30, 22 @ 2:25 pm

26. Seems to me Richard Uihlein faced a tough dilemma of two mutually exclusive choices:

    1) Help Darren Bailey get elected, or
    2) Help Darren Bailey get his message out.

    – MrJM

    Comment by MisterJayEm Tuesday, Aug 30, 22 @ 3:02 pm

27. Pritzker spent $24 million in the GOP primary to “warn us” about someone who can barely scrape up the millions.

    Comment by Grandson of Man Tuesday, Aug 30, 22 @ 3:48 pm

28. ==The amount suggests Uihlein is tired of throwing good money after bad.==

    Except, he’s still dumping lots of money on Proft.

    Comment by Pot calling kettle Tuesday, Aug 30, 22 @ 4:28 pm

29. Umm good GOTV on Election Day cost more than that?

    Comment by NorthsideNoMore Tuesday, Aug 30, 22 @ 4:34 pm

30. MrJM @3:02pm — very well said.

    Comment by Leslie K Tuesday, Aug 30, 22 @ 5:17 pm

31. Uihlein: Here’s $1M. Hire a decent communications team. If they manage to do some decent work, I might send more.

    Comment by RNUG Wednesday, Aug 31, 22 @ 12:27 am

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