NBC posted:

“This is the biggest debacle I’ve ever seen. It’s the biggest screw-up I’ve ever seen and the biggest waste of money I’ve ever seen,” said former Illinois Republican Party Chair Pat Brady, who is doing communications work for candidate Gary Rabine.

Clouseau posted:

Inside the Illinois GOP's $50 million primary 'debacle'

lol. Glad for as hosed as the D's are on a national level, state dems are about as cutthroat and brutal as they should be.

The X-man cometh posted:

The Illinois Democratic party are assholes in-state in order to get pathetic libs like Sean Casten and Jonathan Jackson elected. Why can't they elect someone cutthroat to Congress?

Bird in a Blender posted:

Rahm used to be the cutthroat guy in Congress. So be careful what you wish for.

Pontius Pilate posted:

Tell me a story, djarum

quote:

CF: So tell me the dead fish story.
CS: It’s 1988. Rahm is working at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee with the title of national campaign director. It was Rahm’s job to pick up seats, and Bush won that year. Usually when a president wins, [his party] picks up seats. Because of Rahm, really, the Democrats picked up [several seats]…. Hardly a landslide but going against the grain.

Rahm [was] very active in recruiting candidates. He traveled all around the country. One candidate he recruited was the Erie County Clerk, a young guy in his early 30s, good-looking, nice family, former teacher. This is the old Jack Kemp seat. It was a Republican-leaning district but not impossible, and the Republicans nominated a state rep named Bill Paxon. We [Sautter was working the race with Axelrod] decided to go on-air right after the primary with a strong media campaign and then go into the field, do a poll so we could get more money. Secrest does his poll, it comes back that we’ve lost ground from the earlier poll. Makes no sense. Paxon wasn’t even on the air. The campaign manager who was a Princeton grad, smart guy, who was very detailed oriented, spent hours after it came back. He instinctively thought there was something wrong and he figured out that the samples had been switched because where we lost ground was in the Democratic part, picked up in Republican part. He tells Rahm what’s going on. Rahm says, “Okay I’ll get Secrest to do another poll.” Secrest sort of digs in, very defensive, denied screwing up the poll. Finally he admits, “Yeah, okay, that’s right.”

Meanwhile we had to go off the air because we only had enough money to do one [round], and Paxon was on the air. For at least 10 days Rahm and Secrest are at a standstill. At the end, we lose. So then Rahm is comparing notes with his counterpart at the National Republican Congressional Committee, and the Republican says, “Why did you guys go off the air? Our tracking showed the race was even.” Rahm went ballistic. He and two staffers who had been involved in the race sent a dead fish in the box and signed it.

CF: So Rahm signs the card attached to the long gift box, “It’s been awful working with you. Love, Rahm.”
CS: Yeah, but the other two guys signed it, too. So Rahm was going back to Chicago and Secrest writes this really ridiculous letter…. Rahm knew that the letter was ridiculous so he sent it around to everyone. Rahm embraced it, and it became sort of a legendary story.

Oracle posted:

Emily Spinach posted:

Huh, I didn't realize Aurora is the second biggest city in the state.

Rod Hoofhearted posted:

Yeah, that's a factoid that sounds... wrong.

EDIT: Here's the proof. https://www.illinois-demographics.com/cities_by_population

Niwrad posted:

JB's speech sure sounded like someone thinking of running against Biden.

Sarcastro posted:

2) I haven't looked up the relevant dates, so I might be totally wrong, but I swear I remembered Newman's ethics problem coming up before the redistricting was completed, and if that recollection is correct I am convinced they did it this way in order to turf her out without having to have her get nailed in an ethics investigation in Congress. Making her compete in DuPage, which has been blue lately but in a moderate blue way rather than a left blue way, seems tailor-made to let Casten crush her so that it ends there.

Rod Hoofhearted posted:

I mean, did the Dems know when they did the district like they did? Probably. But the public had no idea.