But I’m not opposed to Rauner or Trump because they’re rich, I’m opposed to them because they have terrible policies and destructive management/governing styles. Rauner trying to strong-arm the state assembly at the expense of the state and Trump being actively hostile towards the government he’s leading. I haven’t seen the same issues from Pritzker (or Kennedy either, I guess).
I’m opposed to electing anyone to high office who doesn’t have any experience in lower offices. My objection to Trump and Rauner isn’t that they’re rich per se, but that, like Pritzker and Kennedy, they have no relevant qualifications for the office. The only reason they are taken more seriously than you or I would be if we announced we were running for Governor is that they can afford to pay for a campaign.
Well, I can’t speak for you but that’s obviously not true for myself. Pritzker has founded and been involved with numerous successful ventures and associations and helped contribute to job growth in Chicago. I haven’t.
While Biss had some government experience, I didn’t find his record particularly impressive and especially disliked the way he backpedaled from his one notable experience: trying to establish a pension fix.
Well, yes, if I had been born a billionaire, no doubt I would have been involved in successful ventures and contributed to job growth, too. But private sector experience doesn’t translate into competence in elected office; by all accounts Rauner was good at his private sector job, too.
I’m not going to refight the election here, but clearly you have swallowed the sleazy lies that the Pritzker campaign was spewing about Biss’ record. Do you have a problem with JBP contributing $20,000 to a GOP consulting firm to advocate for the very same law he now attacks Biss for having supported? Do you have a problem with Kennedy having publicly supported that same legislation? Neither of them have ever apologized for this mistake, so I guess they get creidit for not “backpedaling”.
Actually, I saw blessedly little advertising as I don’t watch much television, don’t read my junk mail and turned the house phone off a while ago.
Sometimes people actually and legitimately have opinions about things they’ve learned about themselves. But even if we play the “This guys words cancel that guy’s action” game and disregard the pension debate, that still leaves Biss with a very slender and unimpressive legislative portfolio. I just wasn’t impressed with the guy.
Again, Rauner’s issue isn’t that he’s incompetent, it’s that he’s intentionally obstinate and refuses to govern in conjunction with the state legislature.
I think there’s a huge difference between a state governor and President of the United States. One of the most frightening things about Trump is how ignorant and uninterested he is in foreign affairs. The governor of Illinois doesn’t have the nuclear codes. He can’t start trade wars. Also, he doesn’t have the ability to appoint judges. He can’t fill the cabinet with incompetent buffoons. If Pritzker was running in the Democratic presidential primary , I wouldn’t vote for him.
Sure, there’s always a risk when someone with no government experience becomes governor of a state. But, that’s not different from the corporate world. Successful managers from one firm often move to a different industry. I don’t demand that everyone start in the mailroom and work their way up.
Pritzker was bombarding YouTube with ads as well. Not only is Biss a fairly weak legislator, his pushing of a financial transaction tax, which he knows quite well is DOA in the state assembly disqualified him for serious consideration.
I heard about those but thankfully managed to dodge them as well. I don’t use YouTube much and the few things I was watching either didn’t have ads or the ads weren’t political. Guess I got lucky.
I agree with your stated differences between the presidency and governorship but also I think that Rauner is just a different type of terrible (but still terrible) from Trump. I honestly don’t think Trump could be an effective president if he tried. He just doesn’t have it in him. By contrast, I suspect that Rauner could have been much better if he let himself do the job. That’s not really a compliment about Rauner so much as a condemnation for him doing so much worse than his potential.
In early polling, Rauner is running nearly 20 points behind, 46 to 28.
Very good news for Democrats, there’s an independent candidate running against Rauner. Rauner had a very tough primary against a nobody so there is clearly an “Anyone but Rauner” mood among a lot of Republicans.
This should definitely help Pritzker as he can now afford to lose a few of the butthurt Biss Babies who are whining about having to choose between two billionaires.
Well you sure told… someone.
I would have voted for Biss had he won the primary. And, I"m glad that some of the whining about Pritzker’s money has calmed down as the Biss Babies have had time to lick their wounds. I’m hopeful that there won’t be too many Biss voters staying home and pouting since Rauner does have a legitimate chance of winning.
I am sure that referring to those among us who supported Biss as “Biss Babies” is very helpful in that regard. :rolleyes:
Rauner is a disaster and those who would have preferred Biss know that well. Pritzker will work to allow a state public healthcare option and minimally stop the digging of the state deeper and deeper into the morass it fiscally is in.
Let’s stop the immature name calling and get on with defeating Rauner together.
I refer to the Biss Babies as the small, but very loud, group of crybabies who immediately declared that they would not vote for Pritzker after Biss got his butt kicked in the primary. I’m tired of purity ponies that were whipped up by the poison of Bernie Sanders’ lies in 2016.
I do understand that most sane Biss voters will vote for Pritzker and against the awfulness of Rauner. Having a 3rd candidate in the race that could drain off some Rauner votes is good news.
Rauner, or some PAC, is again airing endless campaign ads trying to tie Pritzker to Blago. I just don’t understand this strategy. OK, Blago has popped up in the news with a possible pardon or sentence commute by Trump, but trying to run against a governor from ten years ago is an odd strategy.
But, I much prefer Rauner lose with this strategy.
Wow, both campaigns have been hitting YouTube ads hard. I don’t know if YouTube is targeting me, because I do watch a lot of political content on YouTube, but every ad is either Pritzker or the Citizens for Rauner ad mocking Pritzker about having toilets removed from his house to declare it uninhabitable.
Pritzker should be careful, I don’t think bombing YouTube and social media with ads is a good strategy. I don’t want younger people to throw up their hands, declare a pox on both of their houses, whine about two billionaires, and not vote.
Sam McCann files to run for the Conservative Party, potentially taking votes away from Rauner
Pritzker’s last two fundraising emails have been about stopping Trump. While that’s a decent tactic to use to raise money in the middle of summer, he’d better not just try to run as anti-Trump.
Both Pritzker and Rauner marched in the Pride Parade yesterday in Chicago. Pritzker’s volunteers were all over the place handing out stickers and his Twitter feed mentions his participation several times. Rauner’s Twitter feed was quiet about his participation, although I did see a tweet featuring his wife.