Republican Rauner Invites Legislators To Campaign Meeting

According to a recent analysis of polling by The New York Times, Illinois’ Pat Quinn is the second least popular governor in the U-S. Needless to say, that has lots of politicians eyeing his job.  One, wealthy Republican considering a run came to the Springfield yesterday to meet with legislators about his bid.

The New York Times analysis still favors Quinn to win reelection in the 2014 general election … “he is a Democrat in deep blue Illinois.”
But it ignored whether Quinn might have trouble getting past the primary.

Attorney General Lisa Madigan is considering a run against him, and the latest campaign finance reports give her the fundraising advantage.

Republicans are also eager to take on Quinn — including a newcomer to politics: businessman Bruce Rauner, who made a fortune as a venture capitalist.

Rauner’s formed an exploratory committee, which his spokesman says has taken him on nearly 30 stops so far, from East St. Louis to Champaign, Rockford to Vandalia.

The spokesman confirms: his latest stop was in Springfield where sources say he met with nearly two dozen state legislators.

Mostly Republicans in the Illinois House.

One representative who attended the evening meeting, but who asked to remain unidentified, says Rauner said that because he’s not a career politician he’ll say, and do, whatever he wants.   The lawmaker says Rauner compared his business background to Republicans’ last Presidential nominee, Mitt Romney.  The legislator says Rauner told lawmakers that unlike Romney, he wouldn’t be afraid to upset anyone.

The source says Rauner did not specify how much of his own fortune he’d be willing to put into a race.

Another legislator says the meeting did not go well, and that Rauner is clearly not “ready for big time.”   That lawmaker says Rauner threw House Republican Leader Tom Cross “under the bus” by insulting his plan to reduce the state’s pension costs.

– Amanda Vinicky.