The governor and lieutenant governor tickets for both parties appear to be set for the Nov. 2 election. That is if Gov. Pat Quinn doesn't change his mind again or Democratic state central committeemen stage a revolt. If so, things could really get interesting.
Lake Forest state Sen. Susan Garrett was the front-runner in the lite gov. sweepstakes, but then she went ahead this week and said she really didn't agree with Gov. Waffle's call for a hike in the state income tax. That put the kibosh on her chances and opened the door for Sheila Simon, daughter of the late and well-liked U.S. senator, Paul Simon.
While Quinn is all a twitter about his new running mate, really, what does Ms. Simon bring to the ticket? She's a woman, a downstater who lost in her run in 2007 to become mayor of Carbondale, home of the Southern Illinois University Salukis, where Simon is a law professor. The mother of two also plays the banjo in a band with the appropriate sobriquet for a downstate band, Loose Gravel.
Quinn must be paying attention to those polls which show him trailing Republican opponent state Sen. Bill Brady of Bloomington so he plucks a downstater to blunt that. Except the battleground in November will be the collar counties, where Garrett would have been a definite asset. Besides, Garrett has played well in the rough-and-tumble politics of Springfield and she's been elected in Republican-leaning Lake County enough times to qualify as a veteran pol.
Meanwhile, Illinois Republicans are licking their chops, hoping through some miracle November begins in two months. Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele breezes into Chicago late next month for an "Illinois is Next" party featuring the GOP's entire statewide ticket.
That means the national party figures Illinois is in play to turn from blue to red. The tickets have been punched and the ride may be hairy over the next months.
Jim Edgar, was best! Wish he'd run again? Illinois, voters are now between a rock, and a hard place. Quinns, gotta go!
Why did the 'Mighty' Quinn choose Simon? Well, partly because her dad was well liked and a loyal member of the Party. But also because she would be harmless to him. Think about it. She has nothing in her political career that could come back to bite him. She's held no significant office so she has no mistakes to try to cover up. She is pretty much a 'blank slate' when it comes to making decisions. She'll parrot his statements about policy without anyone bringing up any previous positions she took. Of course, this only demonstrates Quinn's inability to handle this state. He does not choose an experienced legislator who could retain collar county votes and would be able to assume the office of Governor. Instead, it's someone who has no known achievement as an executive, and is just another lawyer and academic. His desire to retain the Party loyalists has demonstrated his inability to make good decisions.
THE HOUND SEZ: She'll be as harmless to Quinn as Quinn was to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. He never said a peep about how Illinois was being run while lite gov under Blago, did he?