Looked like a slew of Shiny, Happy, White people, to me...But of course, you might have a photo of one person of color there at the event...don't you? Just one?
Yellow Dog Democrat
· 3 years ago
Looks like Topinka took my advice and ponied up for a professional haircut and make-up job. Looks like she's still buying her clothes at the Salvation Army though.
Staunchier Dem
· 3 years ago
Wednesday I burned a day's vacation time, arose early, and endured a long bus ride to Springfield. Does all that make me a "ringer," Rich?
Rich Miller
· 3 years ago
Absolutely not, Staunchier, but you gotta admit that there were a TON of ringers there Wednesday.
Anon
· 3 years ago
And all those people in yellow were at Democrat Day as well. They are advocating for people with disabilities.
(618) Democrat
· 3 years ago
If you want to come to Governors day and support the Democratic ticket but can't afford to drive and you are offered a chance to ride a bus and you take that offer that makes you a ringer?
If every bus was full that would be 2400 people that means 1600 people made their way on their own to Democrat day, four times as many people who were at Republican day.
Justice
· 3 years ago
Nice pictures!! Everyone looked upbeat and GLAD to be there. Regarding people of color....I was there but I'm not in the picture. Never gave it a second thought.
Rich Miller
· 3 years ago
618, come on. If you can't admit there were tons of ringers at the event then you are either allowing your party loyalty to blind you or you are just flat-out a dishonest person.
anon
· 3 years ago
It's no wonder the Repub Day was a bust..The candidates are weak and people do not want to invest time or money in them. As for unity?? I'd say it would be easy to have a united party with so little diversity but the conservatives have been shut out. I am also tired of Edgar (of MSI fame) being parading around. Judy was a failure as party chair and has been even more dismal as a candidate.
Lovie's Leather
· 3 years ago
Repub day a bust?! Hah! I was there!!! It was a hell of a time. You can just feel the momentum pick up for the ticket. Topinka and Radongo are going to win. That is where the support is strongest. Unfortunately, Jesse White is too well liked for Rutherford to make it. Pankau and Umholtz are already dead. But if you wre there, you could feel the, to paraphrase Downstate, the Topinka express gaining momentum. And it doesn't matter if you are sick of Edgar... I bet you would be sick of Edgar, because he is the most popular Illinois governor in recent history. It is easy to understand why you wouldn't want him around anymore....
Anonymous
· 3 years ago
Why does JBT ALWAYS have a cup in her hand. Someone pointed it out to me and I have since noticed it in every TV shot and many photo's. What's she drinking???
(618) Democrat
· 3 years ago
Rich: I don't pretend to know peoples motives, or question their honesty, but if you think most of the people who rode the buses were ringers, your words not mine, fine.
Walking Wounded
· 3 years ago
Lovie, Don't count Dan out yet. He's got a lot of energy and has a crack team behind him. Yeah, call me delusional, but I think Rutherford would make a great change for the Secretary of State's office. Everyone's got to ask themselves, do you want someone to run the office and get the job done or someone who's such a swell guy who gives convicted felons a second chance?
Lovie's Leather
· 3 years ago
You are right Walking Wounded, Dan would make a better SOS. But Jesse is just too well liked. Plain and simple. He is a mediocre administrator but has Obama like fan-fare.
Ashur Odishoo
· 3 years ago
JBT is a coffee fiend. You will rarely see her without a huge cup of coffee. She is always joking about coffee or caffeine, but I wonder if it has also become a comfortable posture/position.
Many candidates stand on stage with their hands folded over their crotch like fig leaves. I prefer her holding a cup of coffee than that position.
And I just have to say this - Edgar is the man!!
Ashur Odishoo Candidate State Representative 11th District
Cuppa Joe
· 3 years ago
The reason Judy constantly has a cup in her hand is that she has chronic back pain, has for years, and the meds she takes for it give her dry mouth as a side effect. As a politician, she needs to do lots of talking all day, which you can't do with a dry mouth so it's water or coffee, which is also a mild analgesic, as well as giving one the strength to face a day full of the madness that is the blago administration.
Frankly, I admire her gumption to "play thru the pain", instead of taking life easy. She's a trouper. At this stage of her life and career, she has nothing to prove to anyone and could have walked away from this Governor's Race, but she's running because the need for better leadership is so great.
I'll take a lady with a bad back over a guy with no spine for governor, any day.
Codger
· 3 years ago
Back in the days when we all wore an onion on our belts, the train tracks ran from Chicago all the way onto the grounds of the State Fair itself, and for Governor's Day and non-ruling party day, the Chicago organizers would pack long trains full of the party faithful, stopping to pick up more along the way, to come down to the fair fer the day of speechifyin' and showing unity. Pictures from that era would put both Blago's and Judy's PR organizers to shame: not some dinky stage on the tiny Director's Lawn, but the grandstand itself, packed FULL. For hours of speeches. And the four corners area of Mainstreet, a sea of people in every direction.
Tom DeLay's Mom
· 3 years ago
Hey Ashur Odishoo...if you're really a candidate for state representative, what the heck are you doing sitting on this d*mned Blog all-day long?
Memo to Odishoo: 81 days until the General Election and, guess what, your voters aren't reading this Blog.
I find it somewhat ironic that you fashion yourself as a political insider - happy to dish-out political advice and musings, yet you're spending your days on the Internet when you ought to be out walking precincts.
Silly candidates...
B Hicks
· 3 years ago
618-
You can rest assured that if Judy’s campaign could afford to have 60 buses haul people to the fair, she’d do it. However, she’d have a tough time filling them up.
Of course, there were only ringers at D-day, none yesterday.
Rich Miller
· 3 years ago
Nobody said there were no ringers yesterday, just that there were a ton of them Wednesday.
Jeffrey
· 3 years ago
IN the Dem's defense (which I rarely ever take), Bill Brady loaded buses last year and brought them to the state fair. I don't know if he had buses from upstate, but he definitely had a bus in Southern Illinois picking people (maybe ringers?) up.
Jeffrey
· 3 years ago
I am guessing this may only buy 1 bus:
Illini Tours $588.58 8/11/2005 Expenditure Citizens for Bill Brady Bus Charter
He also had this bus expense:
Vandalia Bus Lines $812.60 8/15/2005 Expenditure Citizens for Bill Brady Bus Charter
Now, I don't know if these buses were used to bus people to and from campaign events, but what else would they be used for? Looking through his report, it's outrageous: $31k on polling before 2006? Near 50k in donations returned? WHAT?!?!
Anon
· 3 years ago
Dan Rutherford has a great chance at winning against Tom Begnigno, this State's real SOS. Dirty laundry all the way around.
Anonymous
· 3 years ago
Define ringer? If Stauncher doesn't qualify who does? I don't understand how you differentiate between someone who came to partake who's a northender and walked across the street from their house to the fairgrounds from someone who lives in Rockford and got on a bus.
Disgusted
· 3 years ago
I think everyone understand that the governor's sweep at the last election was helped along by big help from downstate Illinois. Then he promptly ignored, ridiculed and forgot us. I guess he had to bring in the folks from above I-80 because he couldn't count on a big crowd of us disgruntled and disillusioned downstaters. What goes around, comes around, Milarod.
Jacques Strappe
· 3 years ago
I think the pic of Not-Miller and Kjellander should be the new caption contest.
Link
· 3 years ago
Of course the crowd was smaller...Republicans work for a living, can't just leave for the day.
All Comments
If every bus was full that would be 2400 people that means 1600 people made their way on their own to Democrat day, four times as many people who were at Republican day.
I don't pretend to know peoples motives, or question their honesty, but if you think most of the people who rode the buses were ringers, your words not mine, fine.
Many candidates stand on stage with their hands folded over their crotch like fig leaves. I prefer her holding a cup of coffee than that position.
And I just have to say this - Edgar is the man!!
Ashur Odishoo
Candidate
State Representative 11th District
Frankly, I admire her gumption to "play thru the pain", instead of taking life easy. She's a trouper. At this stage of her life and career, she has nothing to prove to anyone and could have walked away from this Governor's Race, but she's running because the need for better leadership is so great.
I'll take a lady with a bad back over a guy with no spine for governor, any day.
Memo to Odishoo: 81 days until the General Election and, guess what, your voters aren't reading this Blog.
I find it somewhat ironic that you fashion yourself as a political insider - happy to dish-out political advice and musings, yet you're spending your days on the Internet when you ought to be out walking precincts.
Silly candidates...
You can rest assured that if Judy’s campaign could afford to have 60 buses haul people to the fair, she’d do it. However, she’d have a tough time filling them up.
Of course, there were only ringers at D-day, none yesterday.
Illini Tours $588.58
8/11/2005 Expenditure
Citizens for Bill Brady Bus Charter
He also had this bus expense:
Vandalia Bus Lines $812.60
8/15/2005 Expenditure
Citizens for Bill Brady Bus Charter
Now, I don't know if these buses were used to bus people to and from campaign events, but what else would they be used for? Looking through his report, it's outrageous: $31k on polling before 2006? Near 50k in donations returned? WHAT?!?!