First-time GOP candidate for governor and successful businessman Bruce Rauner is making his final argument to the voters of deep blue Illinois, reminding them that a vote for him is a vote to “block that Chicago political machine.”
The GOP candidate noted that current Governor Pat Quinn, the last Governor, the jailed Democrat Rod Blagojevich, House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton are all immersed in the Chicago political machine.
“Those four guys are the Chicago political machine,” Rauner said. “They’ve controlled our state government for decades and decades… and they’ve driven our state into the ground.”
Rauner has been hitting the theme that he is just the outsider who can turn the state around after the Chicago machine made Illinois the worst state in the union in practically every metric that measures a successful state.
Rauner’s campaign has surprised some with how close he has been in the polls with longtime Democrat pol and incumbent Governor Pat Quinn in deep blue Illinois.
The GOP candidate has seen stronger numbers in Chicago’s Cook County than any past recent GOP candidate. Rauner has to do well there to beat Quinn so his numbers have intrigued politics watchers. But a new poll shows some division for him downstate where Republicans have traditionally done best.
Overall, though, the Democrat governor leads Rauner by a slight margin of three percent. Nine percent still say they are undecided.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter: @warnerthuston. Email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.