...And in the Center Ring
Just when you thought the Illinois Republican Gubernatorial Primary could not get any more bizarre, news comes that DuPage County State's Atty. Joe Birkett will run for lieutenant governor. He will team up with Treasurer Judy Topinka, who is running for governor. If you haven't heard it yet, you will before the day is out Friday.
If Ron Gidwitz and Steve Rauschenberger are the odd couple, what are Topinka and Birkett; the odder couple?
As of yet, neither Bill Brady nor Jim Oberweis has teamed up with anyone else. But Spanky the Clown is staying close to his phone just in case.
I would rather, after several goofy cycles, that the feature race in Illinois Republican politics bore less resemblance to an episode of The Three Stooges. All we need now is for some fat, bald guy hooting, "Woowoowoowoowoowoowoooo..." to file for something next week and the surreality will be complete.
On the other hand, if a candidate were to respond to a reporter's question in a televised debate by narrowing his eyes, cocking his head back, and saying, "Oh, a wise guy!" in a Brooklynese falsetto, I'd probably be tempted to vote for the guy.
Sometime before the weekend I'll try to do a legitimate analysis. For now I'm as befuddled as a geographer who has just been given indisputable proof that the world is, indeed, flat.
11 comments:
I'm with you, Charlie. It's one thing when your running mate is slated for you. But when you pick your running mate, their negatives become your negatives, but you don't really get to inherit many of their positives.
Now, running mate picks can be strategic. I can see that with Gidberger. Rauschenberger can explain to Gidwitz how state government works and take all of the ed board meetings.
But what does Birkett bring? Was that the only way Judy could get Schillerstrom's money and field? That would have been a helpful call for Rove to make.
I'll take my circus over the GOP circus any day.
YDD,
Doesn't Birkett bring a DuPage county win along with him? Rod can't win without significant downstate and collar county support, right?
Birkett will force people like me, who do not like Blago but at the same time more dislike the social conservatives, to hold our noses and vote for Blago.
His role in the Dugan/Cruz matter makes him simply unacceptable. I will vote for a thief before I vote for somebody who would play a role in sending an innocent to death row.
It is too bad, since I believe that JBT would do a much better job than Blago of cutting the waste in the Illinois budget.
Typical ILGOP: Aim gun at foot, pull trigger.
"Birkett will force people like me, who do not like Blago but at the same time more dislike the social conservatives"
- Which social position of Birkett's is conservative?
I am not claiming that Birkett is a social conservative.
What I am claiming is that he is unacceptable, due to the Dugan/Cruz matter.
I would be very tempted to vote for JBT over Blago, but would not do so if Birkett got the Lt. slot.
As much as I do not like Blago, I would vote for him in a second over any of the alleged social conservatives.
skeeter -
Ah, I understand what your saying. Who would find as an acceptable Lt. Gov for JBT if not Birkett?
Birkett is nothing but a sell-out. He's lost the little credibility he had left running with Topinka.
This is all about his gigantic ego and getting his nearly as large leftover campaign debt from 2002 paid or forgiven.
ilvoter:
Good question. The ILGOP is pretty weak now. There are not a lot of names that come to mind. I actually would consider voting for a JBT/Rauschy ticket, if only because I do not think the Lt. has much authority.
Birkett would bother me far more than most of the extreme social conservatives in that job. It is a very deep moral issue. Sending an innocent to death row is as bad as it gets.
I could vote for someone for Lt. Gov. who I do not like, like Rauschy, but just would never vote for any ticket that included Birkett.
I would not vote for Rauschy for the top job though.
"I'll take my circus over the GOP circus any day."
- Yellow Dog, I've been waiting a long time to here a partian Democrat to say something like that on this blog....thanks for the honesty!
What is it with the sudden "pairing" of running mates in a State where such pairing pretty much an abstraction.
The "smartest" man in Illinois is saying he'll drop out if he wins and Gidwitz loses? Huh? (some are saying he was misquoted - easy to believe, given the flacidity of IL political reporting)
Skeeter, if JBT wins and Birkett Loses, will you still vote for Blago? (too bad we seem to cancel each other out, because this conservative will vote for Blago over the horrific advent of Topinka)
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Isn't all of this running mate stuff a bit of nonsense? I've followed politics for a while in IL, and I've never seen this become such an issue. It seems more of a non-issue to me.
It must be more evidence of some Republicans grasping for Straws.
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