By Dave Dahl
SPRINGFIELD – When Republican Bruce Rauner was governor, he arrived at his party’s Illinois State Fair rally on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
State Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia), the GOP candidate for governor this year, may have done him one better: showing up in a green John Deere 410 tractor.
That was part of a day of speeches in which the party’s Illinois chair, Don Tracy, says Republicans have become the party of the working people, and the Democrats the party of the elite.
Tracy told reporters it’s too bad billionaire Ken Griffin moved to Florida, but a part should not rely on one wealthy donor anyway.
Senate candidate Kathy Salvi, trying to oust incumbent Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), said Duckworth has accomplished nothing other than to vote in lockstep with President Biden, including the part in which a woman can terminate a pregnancy at eight months and 30 days. After her speech, Salvi only articulated her own position as “pro-life,” telling reporters to instead ask Duckworth about her positions.
Chicago Republican operative Brian Castle accused the media of letting its liberal bias show, and, instead of trying to get Salvi to parse policies such as abortion in cases of rape and incest, should report the real story: Democrats fail.
Bailey appeared not to know about an announcement earlier in the day that the campaign of Gov. JB Pritzker announced a debate schedule. A Bailey staffer confirmed the Pritzker announcement was truly news to them.
And, after the Bailey campaign put out a news release stating that then-Vice President Mike Pence did his job in certifying the presidential election in favor of Biden, Bailey indeed, speaking into microphones and not via news release, state that the Jan. 6, 2021, certification in Biden’s favor followed constitutional rules.
Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]
