AUG 26, 2014
The Illinois governor’s race turned in to a big-name bout for a day and Gov. Pat Quinn and Bruce Rauner were relegated to undercard status. Monday’s marquee event was Joe Biden vs. Chris Christie in Illinois.
Vice President Biden was in Chicago to campaign for Quinn while Christie, the New Jersey governor and chairman of the Republican Governors Association, was in to drum up support for Rauner. There’s speculation that Biden and Christie are both potential presidential candidates in 2016, but for now they’re both just trying to help out their own party.
But, as Chicago Sun-Times reporter Natasha Korecki points out, having both big hitters in Chicago on the same day shows just how important and up for grabs the Illinois governor’s race is.
Writes Korecki:
Republican Bruce Rauner wasn’t even in Illinois – he was in Maine dropping off his son at college – but Christie, the Republican Governors Association chairman, visited the Rauner campaign headquarters downtown and trashed Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn. Christie said he would make sure “that the people of Illinois are reminded of the miserable, failed nature of the Quinn governorship.”
Christie, with Rauner running mate Evelyn Sanguinetti at his side, then warned that the Democratic machine of Illinois would try to throw up blockades to a Rauner victory in November.
“He will try every trick in the book,” Christie said of Quinn. “I see the stuff that’s going on. Same-day registration all of a sudden this year comes to Illinois. Shocking,” he added sarcastically. “I’m sure it was all based upon public policy, good public policy to get same-day registration here in Illinois just this year, when the governor is in the toilet and needs as much help as he can get.”
Biden did not deliver a thrashing of Rauner comparable to Christie’s Quinn criticisms. In fact, Biden avoided talk of Illinois political races when he joined the mayor and governor for a discussion about the minimum wage at the Little Black Pearl Art & Design Academy. The issue is one Democrats have been pushing both locally and nationally.
Biden applauded Quinn and Mayor Rahm Emanuel for embracing measures to boost the wage in Chicago and statewide.
“Nobody working full-time in America should be living in poverty,” Biden said to applause.
Biden then headed to a fund-raiser for Quinn in Lincoln Park. Earlier in the day, he raised money for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Christie hit two fund-raisers while in town as well, including one for U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Ill.
Below is a video from the Sun-Times on Christie stumping for Rauner:
As Korecki reported above, Biden met with Quinn and Emanuel to discuss hiking the minimum wage. Chicago Tribune reporter Bill Ruthhart has more on that meeting.
The Nov. 4 statewide ballot will contain an advisory referendum asking voters if they believe Illinois should raise its minimum wage. It’s there largely to encourage Democratic voters to go to the polls in a year when big Democratic turnout is critical to Quinn’s re-election effort.
Writes Ruthhart:
Biden’s visit, which included a campaign fundraiser for the governor, allowed Emanuel and Quinn to draw attention to their efforts to raise the minimum wage in Chicago and Illinois.
“The bottom line is this: You can’t have an economy that works, you can’t have a middle class that is ascending when you have 24 million people working full time and living in poverty,” said Biden, who added that advocating for the issue is “stamped in the DNA” of both Emanuel and Quinn.
The mayor highlighted the fact that he worked with Biden on successfully raising the minimum wage while in the Clinton administration in 1996 and while serving in Congress in 2007.
“The minimum wage has not been raised while the cost of gasoline, bread, eggs, milk, all the basics a family needs to live, have gone up,” Emanuel said. “I think all of us here understand that if you work, you should not raise your kid in poverty.”
Quinn sought to draw attention to the Nov. 4 advisory referendum on minimum wage that asks if the state’s rate should increase from $8.25 to $10 a hour, calling the issue “the cause of a lifetime.”
NEXT ARTICLE: What do Quinn and Rauner each need to do to win the governor’s race?
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Brendan Bond is a staff writer at Reboot Illinois. He is a graduate of Loyola University, where he majored in journalism. Brendan takes a look each day at the Land of Lincoln Lowdown and it’s often pretty low. He examines the property tax rates that drive Illinoisans insane. You can find Reboot on Facebook and on Twitter @rebootillinois.