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* The Chicago Reader has a profile of the only Downstate Democrat in the race for governor, Bob Daiber…
“I’m the candidate who can carry the downstate vote,” he says. “I can carry Trump voters. On the county board I represented a largely Republican district.”
On social issues, he’s a moderate. “My personal values are more pro-life, but I recognize pro-choice is the law of the land and I will respect that law,” he says. “I’m fully supportive of reproductive rights. I support Planned Parenthood. And I recognize gay rights.”
As for gun control, he’s says, “I support concealed-carry gun laws. The Second Amendment is a big issue where I come from.”
On economic issues, he’s an unabashed pro-union progressive. “We have a revenue problem,” he says. “I would support a progressive income tax. There’s only one solution. The debt has to be bonded out. And we have to pay down that debt with the principal of new tax revenue. I want to become governor to stabilize Illinois. Education is my passion. No one needs to tell me how important education is to kids—I taught for 28 years. And no one needs to tell me about living in poverty—I was raised with solid New Deal Democratic values. This is who I am and who I’ve always been.”
Ironically, Daiber would probably have an easier time beating Rauner than he will winning the Democratic nomination. He’s up against two wealthy businessmen, Kennedy and Pritzker, who can self-finance their campaigns. The other two announced Democrats, alderman Ameya Pawar and Evanston state senator Dan Biss, have a wealthier base to tap for money.
Independent suburban have decided major statewide races for decades here. As Judy Baar Topinka found out, being a moderate on abortion means you get hit by both sides and that doesn’t help with suburban women. The same goes for other traditional hot-button items like guns and gay rights.
So, he actually might have an easier time of winning a super-crowded Democratic primary race.
* And Madeleine Doubek interviews Ameya Pawar…
“When jobs leave a small town,” he says in the ad, “that hurts Chicago.” How, I asked, and how do you make that message work in a state that’s been divided by politicians for so long that many voters south of I-80 wish they could secede from the city.
That line in the ad comes directly from a time when Pawar was standing in a barn on a working farm near Champaign with former Republican Gov. Jim Edgar and a group of others in Edgar’s first government Fellows class at the University of Illinois. Edgar paused, turned to the Chicagoans and told them to realize that what happens on LaSalle Street is dependent on what happens on that farm. He turned to the downstate Fellows and told them if they didn’t support Chicago’s infrastructure, then whatever was grown on the farm didn’t matter because it wasn’t going anywhere.
“We all have our visceral reactions to things,” Pawar said, “but then when you sit down to listen to people, you find we have things in common. Just sit down and listen. We’re not going to write people off based on who they voted for in the last election. We don’t care if a county is red or blue because, by the way, most of the state is red.”
Maybe the money, or the media’s obsession with it, will swamp Pawar. Or maybe this talk of being fiercely for family and one Illinois won’t fly in a state where it’s blue up north and fiery red south. It’ll be fascinating finding out.
“It’s important to go talk to people and to really listen to people,” Pawar said. “We have a lot more in common than we do apart.”
There’s no doubt that Pawar has a strong message. But messages usually only work if lots of people hear them over and over again.
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 10:46 am
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Daiber couldn’t beat Ron Stevens, so let’s go ahead and count him out. Pawar seems like a fine candidate, so that probably dooms him.
Comment by Collinsville Kevin Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 10:49 am
Unfortunately we find ourselves in a time where only the rich can compete for political office unless you have a message that excites people to give. I don’t see anyone with that type of message. So that leaves democrats with nominating someone that is as wealthy as Rauner to balance the race. What must separate them is their plan to fix Illinois thatnis based on a middle class agenda, not a rich get richer plan
Comment by Money makes the world go around Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 11:07 am
Illinois isn’t getting a Progressive income tax until Dems have supermajorities in both houses again.
That could happen in 2020 if (1) Rauner and his wallet are out of the picture because he loses in 2018 and (2) Illinois has a massive anti-Trump turnout
Comment by Grand Avenue Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 11:10 am
Because that super majority was such a good thing in the past, Not. They fixed nothing with their super majority and a Democrat Governor.
Comment by Arock Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 11:36 am
Would be nice if the article said what a Regional Superintendent even does. Seriously… I don’t know.
And this post reminds me I was in Edwardsville a month or two ago and went to a movie. Before the previews they had an ad with Bob Daiber in it paid for by his public office to promote some sort of education initiative but it seemed like an odd use of tax dollars to me for an announced candidate for governor.
In fairness, the movie also had a commercial by the local state attorney so maybe that’s just how they do thongs down there?
Comment by hisgirlfriday Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 11:43 am
I wasn’t in the state at the time, but I wonder if just as many people were doubting Brady’s chances when he was in the 2010 primary. I know his win was a shock to media that was focusing on Dillard, Ryan, etc. With the Chicago vote divided, downstate/central could carry the day.
Comment by NIU Grad Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 11:46 am
“maybe that’s just how they do thongs down there?”
Do you have some incriminating pictures of Mr. Daiber?
Comment by Grand Avenue Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:20 pm
By the power of google!!
To answer the commercial question at the movie theater:
http://www.roe41.org/roe-services/give-30-mentoring-program
What does the Regional Supt do?
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/daily-southtown/opinion/ct-sta-regional-supers-st-0306-20150305-story.html
Comment by Hit Em With the Hein Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:37 pm