Thursday, February 15, 2018

When was the last time we've heard from Russ Stewart

In his latest column Stewart looks at two contests. To start he gives us his take on the chances of billionaire Democrat gubernatorial candidate J.B. Pritzker, especially after some comments made on a long ago wiretap hit the news within the past week.
As has been blared all over the media, Pritzker termed Jones on the wiretap as "crass," Jackson "a nightmare," and White the "least offensive." Pritzker promptly apologized, but Jones, who is supporting Chris Kennedy for governor, went on record as saying that Pritzker considers him to be an "uppity" black.

Jones reportedly was quoted in the Chicago Sun Times as saying, "What he meant by 'crass' is that I'm an uppity black. I fight for my people and, sometimes, that ruffles feathers. What he was saying in comparing me to Jesse White is that Jesse White is a safe black. Jesse White is not going to do what Emil Jones does. Dr. King was a crass black. Harold Washington was a crass black. It was said in a derogatory manner." As I said in this column's first paragraph, stick a fork in J.B.

The billionaire's excuse is that when talking to Blagojevich he was not his "best self" and "should have pushed back" against the governor's comments. Sure. We can really expect him to "push back" against Mike Madigan. As Jones said of Pritzker: "He likes acceptable blacks who are meek and won't say anything."

Polling thus far in the 6-candidate Democratic primary, which includes Pritzker, Kennedy, state Senator Dan Biss (D-9) and three others, has shown Pritzker the leader, which is wholly attributable to Pritzker's willingness to spend his own wealth, which is estimated to be around $7 billion. Democratic politicians, including Speaker Mike Madigan, want Pritzker on their ticket because he can match Bruce Rauner (R) dollar-for-dollar, thus freeing-up money from their base - which is unions and trial lawyers - for other contests. Pritzker was the slated party candidate in Cook County, and the expectation between Democratic ward and township committeemen was that there would be a lot of trickle-down cash. With Pritzker atop the ticket, a lot of committeemen were (and still are) expecting an infusion of $50,000-plus. In Chicago and Cook County, never let it be said that money can't buy happiness.

Stewart also takes on the 2019 race for mayor especially for Emanuel's former Chicago Police chief Garry McCarthy.
The 2019 contest, said McCarthy, will be about "performance," noting that the mayor has not done so. McCarthy told me that his early polling pegs the mayor's "approval" at less than 40 percent and that, in a McCarthy-Emanuel race, they are both just under 40 percent. The candidacy of Paul Vallas barely causes a ripple. There are two keys to the contest.

First, Emanuel's West Coast and Clinton Era contacts will enable him to raise at least $25 million to win a third term. McCarthy's theme is "Get in the Game," and the game in 2019 is to get into the runoff, which means McCarthy must finish second in the February primary and have a one-on-one with Emanuel in the April runoff. In 2015, the non-Emanuel voters broke heavily for the mayor in the runoff. "Next time (in 2019)," said a McCarthy campaign strategist, "they won't," noting that polls show McCarthy with up to 25 percent of the black vote and that white middle-class voters will go overwhelmingly for McCarthy over Emanuel. "He (Emanuel) has no base," said the McCarthy source. "Nobody really wants him for another term, so to win he has to go negative" on his opponent.

And second, that is exactly what will happen, and the Laquan McDonald case will be writ large all over TV, with Emanuel trying to hang it on McCarthy, who was police superintendent at the time of the shooting, during 2014. But it is common knowledge that Emanuel suppressed the video release until after his re-election. The mayor may be in trouble.
So right now at least one year apart, we have two interesting elections to follow. We have to get through the gubernatorial election this year. Then in 2019 time to decided if Emanuel should get another term as mayor.

No comments:

Post a Comment

PLEASE READ FIRST!!!! Comment Moderating and Anonymous Comment Policy

While anonymous comments are not prohibited we do encourage you to help readers identify you so that other commenters may respond to you. Either read the moderating policy for how or leave an identifier (which could be a nickname for example) at the end of the comment.

Also note that this blog is NOT associated with any public or political officials including Alderman Roderick T. Sawyer!