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I forgot to post the SurveyUSA tracker for January. Sorry about that.
Blagojevich job approval is 42 percent, disapproval is 53 percent. The crosstabs are here and the trendlines are here.
Read and discuss.
UPDATE: For a little balance, Eric Krol has an interesting column today about Topinka.
In a year when ethics will be the dominant issue in politics, Republican governor candidate Judy Baar Topinka might have left her flank a little exposed with her choice of campaign manager.
The magenta-haired state treasurer, after a long search, settled on Terry Barnich to run her show. He’s a former Illinois Commerce Commission chairman under Govs. Thompson and Edgar. He also agreed last year to resign from the Chicago Athletic Association board amid conflict-of-interest allegations by feuding members.
The financially troubled club, one of those rarified, old-boy-network-type places downtown, reached an agreement to part ways with Barnich and his business partner at a telecommunications consulting firm.
Some club board members accused Barnich of setting up a favorable office lease deal for himself inside the club building and profiting from a takeover of the building’s telephone system. […]
Critics point to the Barnich hire as one of the several signs Topinka’s campaign isn’t firing on all cylinders yet, despite her nominal front-runner status as a three-term statewide officeholder. She could be leaving the door open for her three opponents in the March 21 Republican primary…
Barnich was run out of the ICC on a rail. Second worst ICC chairman ever, in my opinion (hard to top Ed Hurley for that dubious distinction).
UPDATE 2: Josh Goodman makes a very good point:
SurveyUSA’s newest approval rating polls reveal the secret to being a popular governor: Don’t be a former member of Congress.
Ten current governors who once served in Congress average 46% approval and 47% disapproval in their home states. (The polls were conducted before an eleventh, New Jersey’s Jon Corzine, took office.) If that doesn’t sound too bad, consider that among the other 40 governors the average is 56%-37%.
There are a few similarities between these troubled congressmen-turned-governors that might explain the phenomenon:
* At least to some degree, four of them (Illinois’ Rod Blagojevich, Kentucky’s Ernie Fletcher, Maryland’s Robert Ehrlich and Alaska’s Frank Murkowski) have been accused of hiring improprieties involving selecting partisan supporters, financial backers or family members for government posts. While it would probably be too simplistic to say they were corrupted by Washington, D.C., and some of these accusations haven’t been proven, no one ever became more ethical by serving in Congress.
I think I may have made the same point either here or in the Fax, but I’m too busy right now to look it up. Read the whole thing.
UPDATE 3: An internet ad? From a press release:
Democratic challenger Eisendrath will release first Internet commercial of this year’s Democratic primary race for Governor of Illinois.
Where’s the TV?
posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Jan 20, 06 @ 1:47 pm
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Where are all the political yard signs window signs, bumper stickers, highway billboards for the campaigns. Any campaign in the city. Could there be no political workers left with the feds looking into the hired truck scandal? By this time any other year, the streets would be covered with political signs.
Comment by The Broken Heart of Rogers Park Friday, Jan 20, 06 @ 2:00 pm
That’s two deleted comments from the University of Chicago in one day. One more and action will be taken.
Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Jan 20, 06 @ 2:55 pm
What a laugh. He’s attacking the campaign manager (???) for stuff from a decade ago, or unproven allegations raised in a squabble in the membership of a private club?
This is a new low. Only in Illinois . . .
Comment by Bubs Friday, Jan 20, 06 @ 3:01 pm
It is time to admit the truth. G-Rod is the Gray Davis of the Midwest-Great Lakes Region. Take the money out of his campaign and defend every other ballot slot.
Comment by Anon Friday, Jan 20, 06 @ 6:07 pm
Re University of Chicago
I don’t know what the other deleted comment was, but why the hell can’t I defend Ed Hurley? Calling him the worst ICC Chairman is a very subjective opinion.
Comment by Anonymous Monday, Jan 23, 06 @ 3:40 pm