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The governor’s generic re-elect numbers are not good at all. I’ve seen worse, but if anybody over there is predicting victory they’re more full of hubris than would be advisable.
From the Topinka poll:
“Do you think Rod Blagojevich has performed his job as governor well enough to deserve re-election, or do you think it’s time to give a new person a chance?”
And the crosstabs:
Discuss.
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Mar 22, 05 @ 12:25 am
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The most significant number is the collar county number. Dems don’t have to win the collars, but they have to do better than 40%. Otherwise, the numbers just don’t work for Democrats.
Other Democratic candidates have been breaking the 40% mark easily in the last few elections. Rod has been playing to the collar counties since he got elected, and his inability to break 40% is a sure sign that he’s got to work for his re-election.
Before writing him off (and part of me would love to write him off!), remember that polls do not capture a candidate’s ability to campaign. Rod stinks at governing, but he’s a great campaigner.
Even so, I am considering becoming a charter member of Democrats for Topinka. There’s probably a waiting list, though.
Comment by the Other Anonymous Tuesday, Mar 22, 05 @ 7:10 am
This will be a low-turnout election. G-Rod has played to the middle and is surpressing enthusiasm in his own base. JBT has the same problem, plus she’s not charasmatic at all.
G-Rod wins, but in a low turnout vote it will be closer than his peeps think. There are some scandal related issues out there, but nothing that could rock an election. . . no video of a burning minivan. . . .
The Republicans have nobody. Rich, it’s nice of you to try and boost her up, but really they have nobody, and she’s the best of the nobodys.
Maybe if Filan tries to tap into the College Illinois or Bright Start funds to patch the budget, then we’d have some issues . . . “dream on” as Tim Robbins heard a voice say.
Comment by Hubert Tuesday, Mar 22, 05 @ 8:52 am
If Judy runs and two strong candidates are male, she’lll win the primary, but unless Rod does something stupid, he’s our guv for the next six years–like it or not.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Mar 22, 05 @ 9:20 am
How much did JBT give the media regarding her negatives?
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Mar 22, 05 @ 9:25 am
I’ve got to imagine her negatives are very low. When was the last time anyone wrote anything negative about her (other than the Leader, of course)? The Keyes fiasco, maybe?
When was the last time someone ran TV spots attacking her?
That might be her biggest weakness - she’s not taken a punch in years, and so her numbers might be very soft and easy to suppress.
Comment by IlliniPundit Tuesday, Mar 22, 05 @ 9:31 am
I’ll disagree with the other anonymous. The most significant number overall is that 26% of Democrats wouldn’t re-elect Rod at this point. That’s pathetic, and as he suggests, means there likely will be a long waiting line to join Democrats for Topinka.
I’ve yet to vote for a Republican in 16 years though (even voted for CMB), so I’m willing to give the Gov one last chance to grow a spine on education funding reform. The fact that a Yellow Dog Democrat like me is considering tossing in the cards on the Gov is foreboding. Many of the diehard Dems I know would take little convincing.
As I said before, deep do-do.
Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Tuesday, Mar 22, 05 @ 10:13 am
A couple of thoughts:
1. I’d love to see the whole poll to be able to tell for sure, but I feel pretty confident that the horserace number is driven almost entirely by Blogojevich’s weakness, not Topinka’s strength. The Governor’s individual numbers are so bad in this poll that he’s in danger of losing to any credible candidate.
2. Topinka runs strongest for the GOP right now because she’s the best known. But it won’t always be that way. When you run a credibile campaign at the top of the ticket, everybody knows your name by election day.
3. Topinka has never been in a real, tough, statewide battle. This is a big leap, and she has a lot of history to defend under a much brighter spotlight. And if she’s running against Blagojevich, she will be attacked like never before. We have no idea if her name and record are strong enough to handle.
Overall, bad news for Blago, good news for Topinka, but a lot more questions than answers at this point
Comment by ILPundit Tuesday, Mar 22, 05 @ 10:31 am
This is an interesting discussion, to be sure.
But before we start filling the Governor’s Mansion (and save the commentary there — it never hurt Jim Thompson and is kind of a non-starter) with Precious Moments figurines and other garage sale dreck, I would suggest everyone take a deep breath, and have a look at your calendars.
We are a full calendar year away from THE PRIMARIES.
If anyone thinks they can call a race 20 months before the election, I suggest you check in with Senator Hynes and President Dean.
Comment by BuckTurgidson Tuesday, Mar 22, 05 @ 10:41 am
Good analysis ILPundit and good advice Buck.
One undeniable conclusion of this poll is that the Governor needs to adopt a new game plan. His current game plan is not working. His new Gaming Board appointments may signal a genuine shift. Only time will tell.
Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Tuesday, Mar 22, 05 @ 11:06 am
Blagojevich’s Achilles heel is ethics. The GOP nominee has to be able to take him apart on his utter hypocrisy on this topic. Wonder if JBT is the right messenger considering she’s under federal investigation herself and was defending GRyan and all his corruption. And the Bright Start ads. When they shine the bright lights on that whole scam, she’s in trouble.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Mar 22, 05 @ 11:11 am
Buck, you are correct. It is impossible to call an election this far away (ask Rod Blaojevich!). But it is important for JBT to get her ankles in the water. I think it is unfortunate that the ILGOP cannot quickly rally behind a candidate. Rod’s warchest is just plain silly huge.
I hope JBT can show her stuff and make it through the primary. I might suggest she look at some of the things Rod did during his primary run. He suckered me in to voting for him, working for him, going door-2-door for him. I let him touch my kid! He “had” that quality…but not any more.
JBT has to maintain that “I would invite her to dinner at my house” quality that Rod had just 3 short years ago. That’s how Bush won, and that is how she can win.
Comment by Bo Tuesday, Mar 22, 05 @ 11:16 am
JBT has to make it through a primary before she has a chance to run for Governor. If history holds true there will be some not so flattering things said about her by Republicans in a primary.
Has she done any polling on where she stands whith her Republican challengers?
In deep southern Illinois Conservitive Republicans will not vote for a pro choice pro gay rights candidate. If she is the candidate for the Republicans many southern Illinois Rebublicans will sit this one out. This will be the same problem they faced with Mr. Keys, only in reverse.
One more thing to consider. In a Presidents second year of his last term the opposite party picks up or holds on to Congressional seats and Governorships. This bodes well for Governor Blagojevich since President Bush has never been popular In Illinois.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Mar 22, 05 @ 12:29 pm
Glad you mentioned the president’s ratings in Illinois. I’ll be posting on that later today or early tomorrow, depending on the time I have.
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Mar 22, 05 @ 12:50 pm
Rod’s numbers are weak.
He has no depth.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Mar 22, 05 @ 12:56 pm
The Rod’s numbers might be weak, but can we really call Topinka “somebody new?” I recall her involvement in the hotel scams and I’m not going to let my fellow Republicans forget the derailment that occurred on her watch. Her term as head of the state’s GOP was a complete failure, and there’s no way I could cast a ballot for her as governor.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Mar 22, 05 @ 1:16 pm
So far, I haven’t read what seems to be one of Topinka’s biggest strengths - she isn’t male.
An incumbent male cannot trump a lady if the public is looking for a clean, credible, ethical outsider candidate.
The more Blagojevich reminds votes of Ryan, the more he reminds them of ethical shortcomings in government. The more he finger points and denounces others, the more he demonstrates his failures as governor.
If he continues to paint himself as an outsider, the governor will discover that he justified the election of a true outsider - a woman candidate named Judy Barr Topinka.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Mar 22, 05 @ 1:24 pm
Why isn’t anyone talking about the fact that a generic “new candidate” does better against Blagojevich than Topinka does?
Is she still being investigated? I lost track of that. She is not the best candidate for the Republicans.
This poll just confirms what I’ve been sensing for months. People in Chicago claim the Governor is popular downstate. People downstate say he’s liked in Chicago. It turns out nobody really likes him anywhere.
I feel sorry for Democrats who have to run in Sangamon County. He’s going to drag down the whole Dem ticket there in ‘06. Democrats need to start lining up behind a new candidate for Governor now. Rod has failed to accomplish anything significant and we can’t risk losing the Governor’s mansion for another 26 years.
Comment by DownLeft Tuesday, Mar 22, 05 @ 1:36 pm
Neither Judy nor Rod are outsiders.
They are both insiders.
BOTH Judy Bar Topinka and Rod Blagojeivch are ego maniacs who are selfish users and typical politicians.
Both are style of substance and have no to limited vision for the problems and opportunities facing our state.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Mar 22, 05 @ 1:49 pm
I also think the downstate numbers deserve more attention that they’ve been getting. Lets not forget that he became Governor because of the downstate vote. He came in third in Chicago during the primary. His downstate vote was higher than what Democrats running for Governor typically get. A Democrat can lose downstate and still win statewide, but he can’t lose downstate by a large margin and expect to win.
The poll says a whopping %60 of downstaters want someone new. That means Rod has to change a lot of minds downstate or pick up a lot of votes in Chicagoland. Does anyone in Chicago really believe the Governor is going to get significantly more votes in Chicago than he did in ‘02?
That $10 million better be a lot more presuasive than all the free media he’s been getting.
Comment by DownLeft Tuesday, Mar 22, 05 @ 1:50 pm
I spend a lot of my time with Democrats-and I have not talked to one person who is pleased with Blagojevich. Frankly, almost everyone I know would vote against him in a primary-but the likelyhood of that occuring is slim-to-none. Ten million dollars tends to speak louder than words. As far as myself or any other Dems going for a Republican over Blago-highly unlikely. But JBT would be appealing if she didn’t constantly look like she should be working the desk at the Ramada.
Comment by Kankakee Pundit Tuesday, Mar 22, 05 @ 3:00 pm
I think I can’t begin prognosticating until we see who else may jump into the gubbie race. There are a few wild cards out there that I am sure will test the waters and muddy things up big time. I think that we haven’t heard the last from Mr. O’Mally. He still has a billboard up by my house! It looks as if Hynes may be jumping in and it wouldn’t surprise me if Quinn stuck his nose in also. He sure has been trying awful hard to get noticed by the press lately. There is also a lot of issues on the table to point out how weak and mealy-mouthed Blago really is. He never follows up on any promise. Does anybody think the King of Chicago will be quiet for this election? He has allies all over willing to dig up skeletons. The only thing I see right now is the potential for a hell of a lot of mud slinging for many, many months to come.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Mar 22, 05 @ 4:28 pm
I, like Kankakee pundit, spend alot of time with Democrats because I am one. Democrats that I talk to think Governor Blagojevich is doing a great job.
With what was handed to him by past Republican administrations no one could be doing a better job, in our opinion.
Good Democrats and well meaning people who are for goverment for the people and by the people will be there for him again just like 2 years ago.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Mar 22, 05 @ 4:55 pm
Those Democrats you hang out with… um, they wouldn’t happen to be on Rod’s staff, would they?
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Mar 22, 05 @ 5:07 pm
Hey Anon 4:55:
Please explain what wonderful accomplishments you and your “imaginary” friends think this governor has made that will carry him into another term. I hang out with both republican and dems who are angry at themselves for voting for him in the first place! He ran on ethics reform, what a joke!
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Mar 22, 05 @ 5:50 pm
To Mr. 4:55 anonymous, as well as all the other Dems who continously whine about what a big mess the Republicans left our poor, poor Governor. STOP already!!! In the name of Democracy will the Dems still be whining about the Republican mess they were handed, and will still be there, in 2008 when or if Blagojevich wins a second term? If memory serves, there was a huge bond issue passed to right the wrong from previous administrations. That money seems to have disappeared into a black hole and we are still looking at record deficits. Plus now our children’s, children’s future has been mortgaged. Me thinks there are bigger problems. The state has a record low number of employees, programs are shrinking yet the deficit remains. Isn’t it obvious yet that the deficit doesn’t rate a big deal on the agenda? The only thing that matters to this group is that their preening leader keep his precious vow not to raise taxes in order to get a non-existent shot at national office.
BTW. Don’t call me a disgruntled Republican because I am not. In addition, your comment “Good Democrats and well meaning people who are for goverment for the people and by the people will be there for him again just like 2 years ago.” is an insult to people who wish for a good honest government that is truely for the people working for the good of those people and not just the chosen few.
Comment by Governor Flatus Tuesday, Mar 22, 05 @ 6:26 pm
Exactly. Stop griping about the “mess”.
Far as I’m concerned — and I’m a democrat — you get a year to whine about the mess left behind from a previous administration. 365 days. That’s fine.
After that, the training wheels come off and you’re on your own. Rod’s wheels — so far as I’m able to tell — are still on, and it’s as though he still can’t make it down to the corner and back.
Topinka is throwing her hat in — or thinking about it — and the best PR Rod’s folks can spin is his River-to-River run and a video game?
Come on. That’s pathetic.
Bradley. Please. Get James Carville back, and go home. And take the little portable governor with you when you leave.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Mar 22, 05 @ 7:52 pm
Exactly. Stop griping about the “mess”.
The “mess” is now all about
“Bag-o-cash-a-vich” The only budget problem we have now is from “ROD”, and if you think it is bad now, just wait until we have to pay for all of those people he as added to the health care roles. 1-2 billion this year, and they are not on the books yet, next year it will blow up on him.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Mar 22, 05 @ 8:23 pm
It’s time to bring on the “A” team to help get the Governor re-elected.
That means dumping some of the ineffective advisers and bringing on real talent like Tom Cullen.
I don’t know if Cullen would take this assignment, but he would be damn good.
And the posts so far have missed the boat. With 40% of the vote coming downstate in the general, downstate will play the decisive role. Right now, the edge is to Topinka.
Comment by Blue State Tuesday, Mar 22, 05 @ 9:24 pm
Blue State,
It depends what you consider “downstate”. It may not be quite that much.
Regardless, with a decent turnout in Chicago, if Blago gets 40% of that 40%, he’ll probably be okay.
Barring a super blow-up money scandal, I think he’ll be re-elected.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Mar 22, 05 @ 10:35 pm
Yes, if the Governor puts about 45% of the downstate vote (and when I say downstate I mean the 96 counties outside of Cook and the collars) up on the board, he will be hard to beat.
The key is to make sure he doesn’t let that 45% slip down too much lower. In my view, downstate holds the key as he wins Chicago and she wins the collars.
If I were the Governor, I’d be hiring downstate staffers right and left right now!
Comment by Blue State Tuesday, Mar 22, 05 @ 10:40 pm
Y’all put too much stock in the old school polling. In the last Presidential Election millions of new voters came out of the woodwork and this phenomemon even happened in Illinois. The 18-34 age group is underrepresented in these polls because of cell phones, etc. Why even pay for a poll like this, just make up whatever numbers you want and print it. My scientific poll of mental telepathy has Rod winning 60-40 versus any opponent and downstate WILL deliver. Polls do nothing more than help you raise money, Rod already has the money he needs to run a campaign in every corner of the state, so the only poll that matters is election day.
Comment by LL Cool T Tuesday, Mar 22, 05 @ 11:26 pm
Say what you want, no one on this blog is afraid to call one of Rod’s staffer’s out, and LL Cool T isn’t willing to let a little thing like the available facts get in the way of a good argument.
There is too much to predict at this point — like a chess match on move five — all we can assess is who has the stronger position and what the result will be if Judy does this or Rod doesn’t do that.
Rod’s cash on hand probably cancels out his current weak numbers to a degree, but like a chess match, when you’ve got the opening move and you don’t capitalize on it, you’re really behind.
I can tell you firsthand that Cullen’s a genius, and he can load alot of other talent on as well, but that’s not likely to happen for three reasons.
First, because the know-it-alls that got the Gov in this position aren’t going to give Cullen the throttle to land this plane (they’ve ignored lots of other good advice to this point, even advice they pay for, why listen now?)
Secondly, the only way to sign someone like Cullen with serious talent is to ask for help, and this bunch is way too proud to ask for help. Which, as we remember from Bible study, goeth before the fall.
Finally, former Madigan staffers are much more likely to invest themselves in the AG’s race, where they like the candidate, their advice isn’t ignored, and their odds of winning are much better. I bet if you polled former Madigan staffers working for the Gov right now, 75% would say that they’d gladly make that leap.
Bottom Line: The Gov needs to stop running for President and start running for Governor, or he’s in deep do-do.
Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Wednesday, Mar 23, 05 @ 1:02 am
Hey Punchey Joe wants to clean up bond business. Who does this goof think he is fooling DuPage has ben the private piggy bank for GOPer investment bankers for generations
Tollway bond firm in spotlight
Advertisement
By Virginia Groark, Tribune staff reporter. Tribune staff reporter John Chase contributed to this report
March 23, 2005
The New York financial firm picked to manage a $700 million Illinois tollway bond sale this spring hired one of Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s oldest and most trusted political advisers as a consultant on the deal, records show.
John Wyma, who was the chief of staff for Blagojevich when he served in Congress and was the political director of his campaign for governor, has been paid $400,000 by Lehman Brothers since Blagojevich became governor to consult on business with the tollway and other agencies connected to the state.
The tollway-connected business for Lehman comes on top of more than $1.3 billion in state-connected bond business it has landed since Wyma became a paid consultant after Blagojevich’s election, according to documents filed by a quasi-governmental agency that oversees the government bond industry.
New details of the links between Wyma, Lehman and the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority come as members of Blagojevich’s inner circle face increasing scrutiny.
Lucrative rights to operate restaurants in newly revamped tollway oases have been granted to firms with links to Blagojevich’s chief fundraiser, Christopher Kelly, as well as Antoin “Tony” Rezko, another member of the governor’s kitchen cabinet. The oases revamp is being managed by a California firm that has been a large donor to Blagojevich’s campaign.
Last week, the city charged that a black-owned firm granted rights under a minority set-aside program to operate two restaurants at O’Hare International Airport was a front for a firm really run by Rezko.
Firms with links to Kelly have also won large state contracts under Blagojevich.
Kathleen Cantillon, a tollway spokeswoman, said the agency was aware of Wyma’s role with Lehman but he “was not involved in the process at all” when the agency was selecting the senior manager for its bond sale. Lehman was picked from a pool of five firms and chosen for its experience in the type of deal the tollway wants to do, she said.
But a different story emerges from documents the firm has filed with the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, an agency commissioned by Congress.
Wyma has worked as a consultant for Lehman since 2003 and has been paid $400,000 to assist in securing business from the tollway and other Illinois agencies including the Regional Transportation Authority, Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority and the Illinois Finance Authority, the filings state.
Wyma could not be reached for comment Tuesday, and a Lehman spokeswoman declined to comment.
Wyma’s role with Lehman was highlighted Tuesday by DuPage County State’s Atty. Joseph Birkett who announced he is pushing for legislation to require all major state bond deals be competitively bid.
Birkett, who says he may seek the Republican nomination to challenge Democrat Blagojevich’s re-election next year, said he believes such a measure would save taxpayers money and remove any questions about whether a bond firm was picked because of its connections.
“It’s time to pull Illinois out of the swamp of corruption and on to the firm ground of accountability to taxpayers,” said Birkett, at a news conference staged in front of the tollway’s Downers Grove headquarters.
Becky Carroll, a spokeswoman for the governor’s budget office, said Lehman has “decades of history” of doing business with the state, both for Republican and Democratic administrations.
“Because of their experience and expertise we have continued to work with them as we have with many other firms, all of whom have their own lobbyists,” she said. “We choose firms based on their experience and expertise, not who they know or don’t know.”
“Every firm is connected to someone,” she added. “If you are going to scrutinize one firm, then go through dozens and dozens of firms that do this kind of business.”
Bond deals connected with the state have come under growing scrutiny since Blagojevich became governor.
Last fall, the investment house Bear Stearns revealed that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was investigating how its Chicago office won lucrative contracts to underwrite municipal bonds.
In the same SEC filing, Bear Stearns also said it had received subpoenas from the U.S. attorney’s office, the Office of the Illinois Inspector General and the Illinois Securities Department relating to its municipal bond work.
In 2003, the administration selected Bear Stearns as the lead underwriter for a $10 billion bond deal Blagojevich had pushed to help ease a gaping budget deficit and shore up financing of government worker pension systems. The firm paid Illinois’ Republican Party national committeeman Robert Kjellander an $800,000 consulting fee for help with the contract.
In a sealed whistle-blower lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in May, Edward Hospital of Naperville alleged that Bear Stearns won the state bond contract through “a criminal kickback scheme,” though it offered no evidence to support the allegation, according to sources.
Last week, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board announced it was filing a proposal to ban brokers, dealers and municipal securities dealers from paying consultants such as Wyma to solicit municipal business on their behalf.
Christopher Taylor, the Rulemaking Board’s executive director, said the proposal was not connected to any one incident but rather reflected concern among board members about the role consultants have played in the industry.
“We saw an increase in usage of consultants, an increase in compensation of consultants and an increase in political contributions by consultants,” he said. “And the board over a series of meetings over the last 18 months came to a conclusion that this is not where we wanted the business to go.”
“They thought municipal finance business should be done by professionals not by people who are politically connected,” he added.
The proposal is subject to the approval of federal securities regulators.
“We fully expect them to approve the rule,” Taylor said. “It’s just a question of timing.”
Comment by reddbyrd Wednesday, Mar 23, 05 @ 7:33 am
Hey Reddbyrd, if DuPage County Joe is your target here, how come Rod has $10 million in sleazy money and Joe’s campaign fund doesn’t have much money at all. Looks like the sleaze merchants know where to go and it ain’t to Birkett.
Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Mar 23, 05 @ 8:07 am
After reading the other comments, I’ll retract my first post and give a lot more credit to Yellow Dog Democrat and others for pointing to downstate as key.
I checked the 2002 totals, and G-Rod did better than I thought downstate. (His collar county numbers stunk for a post-1996 Democrat!) The biggest potential erosion of votes is from the 96 counties outside Chicago. It’s entirely conceivable that he could lose 100,000 votes from that area.
The other key for Blagojevich is to maintain high turn-out in Cook, especially the city. He came out of Chicago with a 500,000 vote margin. It requires a good GOTV effort to maintain that margin. With disenchanted committeemen and other Democrats, it’s questionable whether he can maintain that margin.
This underscores the Republicans’ problem in defeating Rod. If you want 75,000-100,000 downstate voters to switch, you’ll probably want to run a more conservative (in both appearance and viewpoint) candidate than Topinka. On the other hand, someone who appeals to downstate may generate greater turnout in Chicago.
Nevertheless, I imagine a lot of politically active Dems would welcome a strong challenge from Topinka. The line for Democrats for LaHood, I imagine, is a lot shorter.
Comment by The Other Anonymous Wednesday, Mar 23, 05 @ 10:48 am
DuPage Joe has no money cause he still must repay the lawyers who pleas bargain with office 24-7. He doesn’t get into the DuPage bond action cause Prez Bob pats him on the head and tells him to wait in the corner. Most still expect he will his Kill Cruz Club and run for Hyde’s seat.
Comment by reddbyrd Wednesday, Mar 23, 05 @ 12:30 pm
Thanks for the tip of the cap, Other Anonymous.
You’re right, City turnout is essential for Blago, a big reason he’s in trouble. Not because of election day precinct workers might be disenchanted, but because they follow orders like Marines. Its not like the old days, but in many wards, the Mayor and the powers that be still control turnout like a faucet. They just tell their troops to hang out and drink coffee for awhile.
My guess is that cumulatively, they can swing turnout either way by 5%, especially in heavily democratic wards where fewer households have phones and the only way to reach them is by knocking on doors.
I still remember Miller’s tale from the 90’s about the Mayor putting 5 precinct workers in a precinct he was working against an incumbent lawmaker during the primary. It was a split precinct which, by my recollection, had only 32 voters in it. Ouch.
I’m sure Miller is aware of the rumors swirling around turnout supression for the 2002 General. That anecdote will probably be included in his memoirs.
Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Wednesday, Mar 23, 05 @ 12:56 pm
Make up your mind about Joe. He’s too tough or not tough enough. It seems he’s the only Republican really going after Rod.
Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Mar 23, 05 @ 1:46 pm
I love how the r’s do this. no to jbt 67% to 26%.
http://www.illinoisleader.com/poll/pollview.asp?p=304
Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Mar 23, 05 @ 4:28 pm
This is why I love Rich’s Blog! The animated discussion is definetly fun to read.
As for many democrats thinking Rod is just great Im with the previous poster when he disavows that. If you work for the guy you have to be supportive of him (if you are in one of those political apointee jobs god knows the rest of the state employees think he is a feeble adminsitrator.
Tusk Monk and the imported gang have one major difficulty…. They just dont understand Illinois.
We are increadbly diverse and it isnt an understanding you can come to because u just dropped in from Malibu or NewYork and think you are a political mind in the state.
If you dont understand it you can love and effectivley Govern it.
This is all acedmic cause at the end of the day Rod’s people are so dillusional they actually think he will be sucessful in pursuit of higher office.
Well guess again kids, this not ready for prime time player…aint even playing on the small stage in Peoria
Comment by PrairieStateDem Wednesday, Mar 23, 05 @ 5:13 pm
Wait until the Chris Kelly and Illinois Teachers Pension fund comes out.
Blago won’t even run.
Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Mar 24, 05 @ 12:20 pm
did anybody read thursdays sun times story about jbt taking money from banks that she deposits our tax dollars in? what a hypocrite! this is just the start. she talks a big game, but lets see how she reacts when the light shines on her. im not saying that she did anything wrong — thats for the voters to decide. im saying that its pathetic to stand in front of the press and say the governor is unethical for raising money form venddors who do business with the state while she is doing just that. even worse, she is just putting that money in those banks — there isnt even an attempt to competatively bid where that money goes. talk about pay to play — she has it made there. its going to get much worse for our beloved treasurer. theres a saying about people who live in glass houses. she should look that one up.
shes in trouble already.
Comment by Anonymous Friday, Mar 25, 05 @ 1:02 am
Luddite:
1. Any of a group of British workers who between 1811 and 1816 rioted and destroyed laborsaving textile machinery in the belief that such machinery would diminish employment.
Leaderite:
1. Any of a group of Illinois conservatives who in the present day destroys moderate Republican candidates in the belief that such candidates threatened the ’soul’ of the Party. See ‘Roeser’, ‘Proft’.
Hey, maybe Keyes will run for Governor?
Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Friday, Mar 25, 05 @ 12:39 pm