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  1. #1
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    Illinois primary results 3/18/14

    Bruce Rauner wins GOP nomination in Illinois gubernatorial race

    Published March 19, 2014 Associated Press

    March 17, 2014: Republican candidate for governor, Kirk Dillard, left, talks to a crowd about his chances of beating incumbent Gov. Pat Quinn .AP

    Venture capitalist Bruce Rauner won the GOP primary Tuesday in his bid for Illinois governor, as voters embraced a first campaign by the multimillionaire who flooded the airwaves with vows to run the Democratic stronghold like a business and curb the influence of government unions.

    With Republicans eyeing what they view as their best shot in years to win the top job in President Barack Obama's home state, Rauner defeated three longtime state lawmakers -- including the current state treasurer. He advances to a November matchup with Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn, who easily won his nomination for a second full term.


    Between Quinn and predecessor Rod Blagojevich, now imprisoned for corruption, Democrats have held the governorship since 2003. But Rauner could present a serious threat, partly due to a massive campaign bank account that already includes more than $6 million of his own money.


    For voters across Illinois, the governor's race represented a potentially transformative battle over union influence, with some voters saying they wanted to break an alliance between organized labor and Democrats, who have long controlled most statewide offices and the Legislature.


    Organized labor battled back out of concern that Rauner could seek to weaken unions in the same way GOP governors have in other states across the Midwest.


    Rauner says he would model his governorship after those of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels. Both significantly rolled back union power in what they said were necessary steps to attract business and reduce costs. Rauner defeated state Sens. Bill Brady and Kirk Dillard and state Treasurer Dan Rutherford in the primary.


    "Rauner is going to be a bull in a china shop; we need a bull," said Tom Sommer, a 57-year-old real estate broker from the Chicago suburb Hinsdale.

    "It's not going to be more of the same."


    Issues such as a public pension overhaul and high taxes "are coming to the fore and the old guard is not going to handle that," Sommer said, adding that he voted for Rauner because of his tough talk against the unions that represent public sector workers. That sentiment persists despite Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn's push to fix Illinois' finances by overhauling the heavily underwater public pension systems, which earned him the unions' ire.


    Rauner has also won supporters with his call for term limits.


    Union leaders, meanwhile, sought Rauner's defeat by encouraging members to pull Republican ballots and vote for Dillard, who picked up several union endorsements.


    The typically left-leaning unions spent more than $6 million on the GOP primary, both in anti-Rauner and pro-Dillard ads. Rauner raised more than $14 million, including $6 million of his own money -- more than any candidate seeking a gubernatorial nomination in state history.


    Rauner warned supporters about the unions' efforts, saying Quinn's "allies" were trying to hijack the election. He said legislative term limits could break the labor-Democratic alliance.


    Quinn's first re-election ad of the season -- focusing on Rauner's evolving stance on raising the minimum wage -- hit the airwaves Tuesday evening. Quinn has called for increasing the state's rate from $8.25 to at least $10 an hour. Rauner had initially called for a cut and later said he'd raise it under certain circumstances.


    In the southern Illinois, voters had another reason to want to upend the state's political order, saying they felt marginalized and neglected by a political balance weighted toward Democrats and the Chicago region.


    "In the last 10 years, things have gotten really bad (in the state)," said Marty Johns, 48, of Godfrey. "Throw out all the Democrats in Chicago. All of our money goes up there while southern Illinois gets the crumbs."


    Johns said he voted for Dillard to "remove Quinn."


    But others said they liked Quinn, whose administration has avoided major scandals -- unlike his two predecessors who went to prison.


    "I think he's honest and he does the best he can do with what he's got to work with," said Ed Kline, a 61-year-old LeRoy farmer who voted for Quinn.


    Quinn, who was Blagojevich's lieutenant governor and assumed the office after he was booted amid a corruption scandal, easily defeated a lesser-known primary challenger Tio Hardiman in his bid for a second full term.


    Brady won the 2010 GOP nomination, but lost the general election to Quinn.

    Brady, of Bloomington, argued he built the support during that bid to defeat Quinn this time around.


    Rutherford, of Chenoa, did little campaigning recently. He all but conceded defeat after a former employee filed a federal lawsuit accusing Rutherford of sexual harassment and political coercion. Rutherford denied the allegations.


    Republican primary voters also chose state Sen. Jim Oberweis, a dairy magnate, to run in November against U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, the Senate's second-ranking Democrat. Oberweis, who defeated businessman and West Point graduate Doug Truax in the primary, has lost five of his six bids for public office.


    Also on the ballot were primary races for the U.S. House, Illinois Legislature and statewide constitutional officers.


    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014...-for-governor/

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    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    Illinois Governor Quinn wins Democratic primary, faces tough re-election

    BY MARY WISNIEWSKI
    CHICAGO Tue Mar 18, 2014 11:21pm EDT


    Governor of Illinois Pat Quinn waves as he is introduced by U.S. President Barack Obama during an event on manufacturing innovation institutes in the East Room of the White House in Washington on February 25, 2014 file photo.
    CREDIT: REUTERS/JOSHUA ROBERTS

    (Reuters) - Illinois Governor Pat Quinn coasted to a win in the state's Democratic primary on Tuesday, while the Republican primary to choose a candidate to challenge Quinn in November was too close to call several hours after polls closed.

    Republicans are looking to Illinois as perhaps the party's best shot to take out a Democratic incumbent governor. Bruce Rauner, a wealthy businessman who has already pumped $6 million of his own money into the campaign, leads the four-person field of Republican candidates, according to preliminary results by Reuters U.S. Election Service.


    While Quinn is seen as facing a difficult re-election fight five years after taking over from Rod Blagojevich, a fellow Democrat who is now in federal prison on corruption charges, he easily beat anti-violence activist Tio Hardiman with 73 percent of the vote, according to preliminary results released by the Chicago Tribune.


    "Illinois will be one of the primary focuses of traditional Republican groups and groups that are interested in conservative economic policy," said Kent Redfield, emeritus professor of political science at the University of Illinois at Springfield. "This is an opportunity to flip a state from Democrat to Republican."


    Meanwhile, in the Republican primary to take on veteran U.S. Senator Dick Durbin in November - the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate - Illinois State Senator Jim Oberweis, the millionaire owner of a dairy business defeated businessman and political newcomer Doug Truax for the Republican nomination.


    "The state is in deep trouble. Our country is in deep trouble," Oberweis said in a victory speech.


    Election officials have reported low turnout on Tuesday, which was 23 percent to 24 percent in Illinois in 2010 and 2012.


    Voters in the home state of President Barack Obama have chosen a Democratic governor in every election since 2002.


    Whoever wins Tuesday is expected to face a tough and expensive contest against Quinn in November, who despite low popularity ratings and Illinois' continuing fiscal problems will have strong union support.


    Even before all the returns were in, Quinn was already running a TV ad against Rauner blasting him for saying that he was against raising the minimum wage. Rauner later modified his position.


    "Quinn wasn't expected to win last time, but the groundswell of support from labor unions and regular folks who like him sort of surprised people," said Dick Simpson, a political science professor at University of Illinois-Chicago.


    Rauner has used his considerable campaign war chest to buy a blitz of radio and TV ads that have helped him build his name recognition and push him past three more experienced opponents.


    More than two hours after the polls closed in Illinois, two candidates, Republican State Senator Bill Brady and State Treasurer Dan Rutherford, conceded, and Rauner was in a two-man race with State Senator Kirk Dillard, who had served as chief of staff with popular former Republican Governor Jim Edgar.


    Rauner has steered clear of social issues and focused on Illinois' troubled economy. He has also criticized other lawmakers, including Dillard, for taking union money.


    A few Chicago-area voters who usually vote Democratic said they were taking a Republican ballot to vote against Rauner. Though Rauner is polling well among Republicans, he has stirred controversy because of his strong anti-union rhetoric and other issues, like pulling strings to get his daughter into a competitive Chicago high school.


    Victoria Beal, 46, a Chicagoan who usually votes Democratic, went for Dillard on Tuesday. "It's not so much a protest vote as a pro-union vote," she said.


    In one controversial Chicago contest, Democrat Isaac "Ike" Carothers, a former Chicago alderman who served prison time for bribery and tax fraud, is running for commissioner of the Cook County Board, which handles the court system and healthcare for the Chicago metropolitan area.


    http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/...A2I03Z20140319

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    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    Oberweis wins Illinois GOP Senate primary, will challenge Durbin

    Fox News - ‎35 minutes ago‎
    CHICAGO – Illinois Republicans chose state senator and dairy magnate Jim Oberweis to challenge powerful, three-term Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin in November, as the party fights to remain relevant in a state in which Democrats hold almost all statewide ...
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