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* This appeared in a downstate column over the weekend about possible gubernatorial contenders…
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley’s brother, Bill, also has popped up on the scene, but we’re guessing that’s more about the mayor toying with Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
That’s certainly a byproduct, but I’ve spent quite a bit of time talking to Bill Daley lately, and I think his reasons for floating his name right now are much more than just helping his brother tweak the governor.
* Lynn Sweet has more…
[Bill] Daley has been laying the groundwork for a 2010 bid, even asking some people to stay neutral until he decides if he wants to jump in. Daley’s main consultant is Obama’s chief strategist, David Axelrod, who also advises Mayor Daley.
I still doubt that Daley will pull the trigger, but he’s definitely doing his due diligence.
* Meanwhile, Jesse White confirms for the umpteenth time that he plans to run for reelection in 2010…
If Jesse White has his way, he will serve a record fourth term as Illinois secretary of state and celebrate his 80th birthday in office.
White, 74, told The Associated Press that he has no other interest politically than to continue in his present job, seek re-election in 2010 and complete 16 years as secretary of state.
I think the Southern Illinoisan reported this first about four years ago, but whatever.
* White also repeated his insistence that he’s not interested in being appointed to the US Senate if Barack Obama wins the presidency…
“I think my name would be at the top of the heap, but I don’t have an interest,” he said.
posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 9:54 am
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If this was any normal election we’d already know the incumbent won’t even try to run again especially with their baggage.
Comment by Levois Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 10:22 am
I don’t think Bill Daley’s moves have anything to do with the mayor or Blago.
Bill Daley has worked hard behind the scenes forever for good candidates and bad. He’s made his money. I believe he wants to be governor or, despite his protestations, senator to have his time in the sun and create his own legacy.
The Axelrod/Obama connection is interesting. It would seem to preclude an Alexi gubernatorial move for the time being.
I think there will be a meeting of the clans after November to sort all this out. One thing’s for sure; the Democratic establishment is certain that Rod is through.
Comment by wordslinger Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 10:28 am
Jesse is hurting the democratic party, it is time for him to step aside and let someone move up the latter.
Comment by He Makes Ryan Look Like a Saint Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 10:45 am
My pure speculation, Bill Daley does not want to get embroiled in a fight with L Madigan that could syphon on his clout or damage his name. He floats his name to gauge support; and waits to see what L Madigan announces in Novemeber. If she deicdes not to try for Gov now then he steps up his game and tosses in a run. If she runs he waits a couple more terms then makes his go.
Comment by Ghost Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 10:46 am
Who cares about the “other” Daley? Blagojevich will run for a third term, no democrat will have the nerve to challenge his $$$ in the primary, and Bill Brady will be elected governor. At least we’ll have someone in the Governor’s office willing and able to govern.
Comment by Ta Da Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 11:06 am
HMRLLAS, I’m at a shocking loss for words how to respond to your accusation that Jesse White is hurting the Democratic party. Heeeelllllllooooooo. The Democratic party is alive and well with the HUGE exception of POA, a/k/a Rodney Blagojevich. Jesse, Dan, Alexi, and Lisa are doing a great job in their respective positions. That surely can’t be said for the person occupying the top position in this state. Come back to planet earth.
Comment by Little Egypt Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 11:26 am
Can we please, PLEASE, have a viable candidate whose last name is not Madigan or Daley or is not related to a Madigan or a Daley? How about someone who hasn’t been part of this ridiculous stalemate that our State government has become? How about a fresh, honest, non-beholden name? Oh, sorry, I forgot. This is Illinois. Never mind.
Comment by puzzler Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 11:33 am
Levois,
for a normal election you’d have to have a normal incumbent. Blago has no shame and apparently a complete lack of any grasp of reality. Assuming the feds don’t indict him or someone with the same last name as him he might as well run. It’s not like he has a glorious future ahead of him as a lawyer or lobbyist. Collect some campaign donations and then pay the wife as a consultant for doing little work. It seems to be the thing to do.
As for Bill Daley it pains me to agree with Rich Miller, but I doubt he will run. He played Hamlet back in 2002 also. However, if he does run he will romp over any competition. This idea that he is going to defer to L Madigan is laughable. Let’s see who President Obama supports. My guess. Not anyone with the name Madigan. It may come down to a Blago v Daley race. Then Daley v Oberweiss or some other rich Republican to be named later. I kid about Oberweiss. That would be amusing though.
Comment by IrishPirate Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 12:12 pm
== This appeared in a downstate column over the weekend ==
I always have to laugh when things are called “downstate”. I think I will start my own blog and refer to the Chicago Tribune and Sun Times as “upstate” papers.
Comment by Speaking At Will Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 12:29 pm
There is no messiahs out there, and our political system is not designed for them anyway. What we needed to do is get an experienced qualified individual to be a decent governor and work our system so that if the individual doesn’t work out, then we can remove them easily.
Governors are not perfect, and they will never be. But we can be active citizens and put people in office with qualificiations, and remove from office those who suck.
There are a lot of good people capable of being governor. We have a long history of good governors. Just because get have a lemon right now doesn’t mean there are no good people capable of doing the job.
Who cares about Daley. Who cares about Madigan. Who cares about Giannoulais. Or any of these people. Considering whom we have as governor today, we could leave the Office vacant and get more accomplished in state government.
What I know right now is that we need a two-party system, state leaders from all part of the state - not just Cook county, and a quick way to end a term in office for lucky idiots who find themselves in over their heads.
Vote Con-Con in 2008!
Comment by VanillaMan Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 12:33 pm
Prognostication: Blago will run and win the 2010 election. The only two people who can stop that from happening are Bill Brady and/or Patrick Fitzgerald!
Comment by the Patriot Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 1:20 pm
Patriot, I will agree with you that Bill Brady will be the next Governor if he gets to run against Blago, however, I have a better chance of dating Jennifer Aniston than that scenario has of occuring.
Comment by Phineas J. Whoopee Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 2:07 pm
Hey Ta da(Bill Brady)
There is no chance for you to be Gov. Here are a few reasons 1.You should never have lied to your base. You can’t claim to have polling that has you ahead and you lose by 20 points to the person you claim to be ahead of 2.You promised last time to raise $3 million dollars (10/31/05 Berkowitz show) yet you could not raise more than $300,000 3.How do you plan to raise $10 million dollars to run? (Your numbers in Daily Herald) The real estate business is not doing so well so personal wealth is not something you can dip into. 3. You chose the combine over conservatism. Stick a fork in him he is done
Comment by GOP primary voter Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 2:20 pm
L.E.- I am not saying he has done a poor job, but looking at the way things are playing out reminds me of the Republicans back in their heyday. People stuck around too long, did not bring up people “in waiting” and now look at them. I just think it is time for him to step aside and let soneone else in the party go for it.
If everyone goes for Gov, (Lex, Dan, Lisa), then it leaves the offices open for the Repubs. Just remember History repeats itself.
Comment by He Makes Ryan Look Like a Saint Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 2:49 pm
HMRLLAS, I definitely agree history is repeating itself. Next time someone runs for governor on the platform of “no more business as usual”, I will be actively campaigning against him/her. Not all of the current constitutional officers are going to run for governor though. In fact, in my opinion, it wouldn’t take much to defeat Governor ACT20 who doesn’t even have sense enough to know that Chicago has their own inspectors for gas pumps within the city limits.
Obama will be our next governor, thus leaving all other constitutional officers in their current positions, if they like.
Comment by Little Egypt Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 3:13 pm
“I always have to laugh when things are called “downstate”. I think I will start my own blog and refer to the Chicago Tribune and Sun Times as “upstate” papers.”
Or you could refer to them as Chicago papers.
Is referring to anything as “downstate” now offensive?
Comment by johnnyc Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 4:42 pm
johnnyc, my sentiments exactly. What the heck was that all about?
Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 4:45 pm
Brady will win…if the “wanna-bes” stay out of an elongated primary. It’s his time & building a good slate of candidates to challenge all offices. Might win some…might loose some but we got to change the top spot. Once ID’d as the nominee the dough will come. Brady’s doing a lot of the right things & learned from past mistakes.
McKeena needs to be a tough chairman & start clearing the way for those who can & the best opportunity to win. The “old guard” is gone & some have proven they can’t win anything.
Comment by annon Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 6:04 pm
anon6:04
You are right and Brady is a wanna be who doesn’t have a chance unless the way is cleared that is NOT going to happen. If McKenna would even try to “clear the way” it would prove that there was a quid pro quo it would be a disaster for all involved!!!
Brady has NONE of the base leaders. If you were at the convention you would have heard or seen the apathy about his candidacy. This will be a different primary. Primary voters will not let what happened last time happen again, they will rally around one campaign. Someone who can bring both sides together and who can RAISE the money to win from the primary on. That more and more looks like Gidwitz. He has been reaching out to the base for months he understands that no Republican can win with just on side of the GOP voters; you need both sides. He RAISED 6 million in the last primary and spent 10 million. The Tribune endorsed him and Henry Hyde did as well. If he continues to build a statewide organization he will be impossible to beat. Brady will have to come up with 5 or 6 million to get into the game an impossibility same with Birkett, Ragdogno has other problems but cash is a big one for her as well.
Comment by GOP primary voter Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 6:50 pm
annon, out of curiosity, what is your definition of “Old Guard”?
Comment by Anonymous Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 8:06 pm
Republicans support “the strong” in elections; they don’t feel the need to clear the way for “the strong”–for obvious reasons.
I’m not opining as to whether Brady is or is not “strong”. Just lending some insight into Republican culture.
Comment by Anonymous Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 8:09 pm
Republicans also have a tough time simply going along with statements like “it’s his time” unless there’s some substance to back it up. Right or wrong, sounds like an entitlement issue and contradictory to “strength” in many ways.
Comment by Anonymous Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 8:14 pm
You nailed it GOP Primary Voter when you said re Bill Brady:
“You chose the combine over conservatism. Stick a fork in him he is done.”
Exactly right. Plus, like pretty much all the other GOP State Senators, he’s been mostly a get-nothing-done mope in his current post. Yes, I know, they are in the minority. Well there’s an obvious reason for that.
Comment by right on Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 8:57 pm
Re: Gidwitz: obviously right on target re: fundraising abilities. Had not only the best Who’s Who of Finance Committees seen in a long time, but contributors, too.
With all due respect, however, if he goes up against any of the Dems whose names are floating around, he’s going to have to become killer debater.
Comment by Anonymous Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 9:32 pm
Old guard , to those who asked meaning the last of the last..the Topinkas, Birketts , Ryan hold overs etc, etc. They’ve just about all run their course. There never was much of a farm team,at least in about the last 15 years or so, just re-runs & it’s probably going to take an election cycle or two to start courting qualified candidates again to run for office. Ryan pretty well screwed this up but he’s gone & time to re-group. I hope the GOP realize that & I hope they find and support a “strong” candidate {s} {plural} instead of throwing a slate together like last time & the state chairman needs to be chairman & help that process. Brady I think is a good candidate, he’s staying with it & has a sincere drive to be governor. In “clearing the way” is in some manner “supporting the strong”. Stop the messy & costly primaries flooded by candidates that can’t win & have proven they can’t win. You see a potential, support them & try to win some elections. It’s just an opinion like all the rest here.
Comment by annon. Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 9:37 pm
I’d have to say to the “their time” statement….the GOP has & recently did with Topinka & what a disaster that was. She rallied at the end to barely get on the ballot once courted sufficiently, won the primary & stopped campaigning the next day. Considered the “darling” of the party & got us 4 more with Blago. GOP PRIMARY VOTER @ 6:50pm…who do you suggest they rally around??
Comment by anonymous in the country Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 9:48 pm
The race for governor in 2010 is Dan Hynes’ to lose. He is the anti-Blagojevich in everything he stands for — integrity, governing, honesty.
His support is as strong as steel downstate and in the city and the collars love his fiscal integrity.
Comment by there he goes again Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 10:02 pm
Thanks, annon, for clarifying. We have different definitions so that helped. And it’s a good opinion just like all the others.
Comment by Anonymous Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 10:05 pm
Hey, good news!!! Looks like there’s a 21-year old R in Champaign who’s leading the pack of newbies.
Good for him!!!
Comment by Anonymous Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 10:38 pm
Actually, in endorsement of the above comment’s perspicacity, anyone who gets in a primary will win if everyone else stays out
Comment by steve schnorf Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 10:43 pm
anon in the country;
I am looking at the field as reported and as I have seen it. Brady,Burkett,Ragdogno,Ruthaford, Gidwitz.
Ron Gidwitz so far has looked at the playing field and adapted and has a reach to both sides of the parties voters. In the last Gov Primary I,like most people I knew, thought he was a part of the combine, but to my surprise the party showed me I was wrong, by pushing Edgar then Topinka. Then he was endorsed by the Tribune and I thought Combine! But Henry Hyde also endorsed him and next to Reagan you can’t find a more conservative Statesman and American hero. I think if he can get his political skills sharpened he has a real shot at being Governor.
He is wealthy but he can raise a ton of money (6 million last primary)ask anyone in politics making the money calls is the hardest part of running. If he raised 6 last time with no chance of winning he could raise 10 to 15 million or more with a chance. So the hard part is taken care of.
BTW Politics is a trade and the more you work at it the better you get, so there is hope for improvement. Until another name comes up Gidwitz is the guy in the GOP that can win. At least that’s my opinion using all the facts I have.
Comment by GOP primary voter Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 10:49 pm
Interesting observation, Steve.
Comment by Anonymous Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 10:57 pm
Gidwitz is also a party in the lawsuit to halt Healthcare and Family Services from vastly expanding its Family Care program without authorization from JCAR or the full General Assembly. While Blago (if he were to run against him) would certainly use that to paint him as a Scrooge-like figure trying to keep “the people” from getting healthcare, I think many (maybe most) prospective voters — certainly GOP voters and even a sizeable percentage of Dems fed up with Blago’s irresponsible ways –could be brought to understand that it’s more about respecting the separation of powers and not spending money the state doesn’t have.
Comment by Bookworm Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 11:08 pm
Gidwitz has obviously been busy since the last election. More work in education, job growth, etc. He’s hitting all the right topics.
I don’t remember who his media consultants were last time around, but they were good; many of the commercials were positive, upbeat, full of energy. A few others (conference with Rauschy during the “Rauschy era”) bombed from what I remember.
Good damage control in the PR arena, too. Nothing seemed to stay a major issue for long.
Can’t find anything recent though re: public speeches. That seemed to be the biggest challenge, and his opponents are going to be tougher, I think, this time around. Beat that one, get even a better team assembled, and who knows?
Comment by Anonymous Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 11:19 pm
Gidwitz is good one-on-one, too. Likeable.
Comment by Anonymous Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 11:22 pm
Gidwitz, Joe, Brady/Dan, Christine
Comment by Anonymous Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 11:50 pm
How about Oberweiss in ‘10?
Comment by HoBoSkillet Tuesday, Jul 8, 08 @ 9:02 am