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Today’s number: 16 years

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* I realized over the weekend that 2006 is the last time an elected Illinois governor was reelected in Illinois. 12 years ago was the last time any Illinois governor was reelected.

Discuss.

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Nov 21, 22 @ 8:48 am

Comments

== I realized over the weekend that 2006 is the last time an elected Illinois governor was reelected in Illinois.==

16 years ago, what were they thinking?

Comment by Stuck in Celliniland Monday, Nov 21, 22 @ 8:57 am
Interesting stat, but more of an anomaly in my opinion. End of the day, Quinn and Rauner were ineffective governors who didn’t deserve reelection.

Comment by Sox Fan Monday, Nov 21, 22 @ 9:15 am
We’re on a streak. We’ve got a governor who has helped Illinois improve. He ran on that record, and won decisively. Thanks JB.

Having said that, Quinn would have been re-elected if he was opposed by the man from his “New Illinois”.

Comment by PublicServant Monday, Nov 21, 22 @ 9:30 am
2006. That was the dumbest, worst vote I ever made.

Comment by Been There Monday, Nov 21, 22 @ 9:43 am
My recollection from that time is that Blagojevich seemed goofy but mostly harmless. Also he reportedly had $20 for every $1 that Topinka had.

The “What was she thinking?” ads were very effective. She was never able to get a message across.

The legacies of the two candidates have, of course, diverged widely. Topinka is revered in memory and Blagojevich is disgraced.

Comment by Friendly Bob Adams Monday, Nov 21, 22 @ 10:03 am
I recall very little from the 2006 election but in retrospect that seems to have been a bad decision on our part. From her Wikipedia article, “pro-choice and positive gay rights” it us hard to believe that she was the Republican candidate. I guess that explains why the Green party candidate received 10% of the votes that year.

Comment by Aaron B Monday, Nov 21, 22 @ 10:15 am
Blagoof as just that and starting shaking people down BEFORE his first inaugural. But give a lot of credit to the GOPies for serving up RYAN2 and Topinka. Even PQ would have topped that pair. Then they served up GovJunk. Not did JB get the re-elect, but GOPies can hold their big funders at a single lane bowling alley

Comment by Annonin' Monday, Nov 21, 22 @ 10:19 am
Was Edgar the last re-elected with no jail time in his future?

Comment by Lurker Monday, Nov 21, 22 @ 11:52 am
“My recollection from that time is that Blagojevich seemed goofy but mostly harmless”.

That’s what many people assumed about his Orange tinged pal Lumpy…erroneously.

Comment by Dotnonymous Monday, Nov 21, 22 @ 12:08 pm
It will be interesting to see how the Pritzker administration functions in this term. Hopefully there will be more emphasis on either reducing administrative, bureaucratic hassles and a focus on building the business community in Illinois.

Comment by Thoughts Monday, Nov 21, 22 @ 1:04 pm
I have a beef with 2006.
It marked the beginning of Twitter, YouTube, and with them internet addiction & bad faith argumentation of Very Online People.

Comment by ThatOneGuyinBlono Monday, Nov 21, 22 @ 4:11 pm
“It marked the beginning of Twitter, YouTube, and with them internet addiction & bad faith argumentation of Very Online People”
Don’t forgot Facebook! The grandfather of online toxicity.

Comment by ste_with a v_en Monday, Nov 21, 22 @ 4:37 pm
I’m “out of pocket” so my chance to look at this thoughtfully earlier today was limited.

To defeat an incumbent governor, as a rule. it’s such an uphill ask.

Looking back at 2006, the real disadvantages jbt faced, some of that mirrored the truths Rauner learned. A fractured GOP party finds itself on the outside, even if you have/had an incredible candidate like a jbt… or a truly divisive candidate candidate like a Rauner.

Both had fracturing very much in play AND while jbt and Rauner mirrored in that fracturing aspect, you had an incumbent in Blagojevich where his overwhelmingly spending only put pressure on jbt to keep the GOP together while finding indies… it became uphill.

Rauner, with a fractured GOP and a horrendous first term, Pritzker overwhelmed a poor Rauner incumbent run without a real constituency… as an incumbent.

You look at Quinn, “so much good will wasted” begins and ends an incumbent given his own term. Quinn squandered by alienating so many, including labor, allowing anything “new” (see: Rauner) possible. The Quinn term “earned” was a Quinn term defined as confusing choices clearly aimed at nothing to a building or governing that voters could see as a want to continue, or a coalition that could be built to win the day.

GHR… there was no chance at a second term. Like a tired “Don”, he got bad advice and saw things he wanted and when it was too late. A reinvention of a thoughtful death penalty advocate was far too much of a stretch for a former Speaker known for stopping the ERA, a hollow shell, politically to the larger than like figure.

A “friend to all”… betrayed by “Friends of George”… that led GHR in a fog that overwhelmed him.

What great about what Rich built here, if you “listen” (read) the subtle hints that drop so much knowledge to the truths of both politics and governing, you can “hear” the voices of GHR, jbt, Quinn, Rauner… lots of good, sometimes the bitter truths of what went wrong also finds it’s way to our “ears”.

Nothing is “new”, really. Nothing in politics, even the new of a past administration that had echoes found in pre WWII, the populist fascism now found not in propaganda papers or radio, but now in social media and dark chats hidden by screen and keyboards.

Pritzker did blocking and tackling. “Promises kept”. Keeping a coalition and building from a foundation laid to last beyond when ballots are cast and counted. Nothing new, but so much new to these new days that those lacking institutional knowledge or missing political touchstones, it’s “new”. But it’s not…

It’s why an incumbent governor won. Fundamentals to the practice of governing and politics.

GHR Quinn, Rauner… incumbents who forgot fundamentals, forgot who they were, actually forgot being good at your job is the best way to keep it… and forgot trust and truth overwhelmed by an opponent framing these lacking will win… with the tools and resources to educate on failings.

Pritzker and his crew understood the assignment.

So an incumbent governor won his second term.

Fundamentally.

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Nov 21, 22 @ 6:15 pm
I remember gathering signatures for Rich Whitney back in those days, and riding bikes with him to get to the train station to gather them. I recall his plans to help homeowners afford solar panels, modeled after similar efforts in Germany.

He was a very good candidate, and it’s interesting just how much of the vote he got as a third-party candidate. Of course some of his vote share was probably due to voters objecting to the alternatives, but he was also just a good candidate aside from that.

Hopefully one day we will implement a better voting system that gives candidates like him a better shot.

Comment by Techie Tuesday, Nov 22, 22 @ 12:44 pm