…Adding… I missed this one. I am only sporadically on the Bill Brady press release list…
With the final vote totals now reported, our campaign has a 406-vote lead over Senator Kirk Dillard at the top of the Republican gubernatorial contest. Still to be counted are absentee ballots that were not included in Tuesday’s balloting and provisional ballots that will not be counted for several days. Our legal and political team does not believe those votes will be sufficient to offset our lead.
We’re confident our vote will hold up and we will move onto victory in November.
* Andy McKenna conceded this afternoon and announced that he “stands ready” to support Bill Brady… unless the other guy wins. Check out the press release…
“Now that Democrats appear to be coming together as a Party, Republicans must do the same. There is simply too much at stake in this election to allow Party infighting to distract us from our mission. Based upon the numbers available today, we stand ready to support Bill Brady who appears headed for the nomination, or whoever is declared the eventual winner. We look forward to the process completing itself soon and working with our nominee to win in November.”
Mckenna’s “running mate” Matt Murphy also conceded…
“Congratulations to Jason Plummer on winning the Republican nomination for Lieutenant Governor. He ran a strong campaign on the right ideas. Republicans have a Lieutenant Governor nominee we can be proud to support. I look forward to working with Mr. Plummer and our entire Republican ticket to bring real change to Springfield in 2010.”
* Yeah, this is a good idea. Not…
Former U.S. Sen. Adlai Stevenson — who formed a third party to run for governor in 1986 rather than share the same ticket as two disciples of Lyndon H. LaRouche — said Gov. Quinn faces the same political reality in dealing with running mate Scott Lee Cohen.
“It would be very difficult for Pat Quinn, in good conscience, to run for governor with this fellow tied to him as if they’re joined at the hip,” Stevenson told the Sun-Times today.
“One answer is to do what I did, namely to resign the nomination and run as an independent with a different lieutenant governor candidate,” he said. “Of course, they can try to talk [Cohen] out of it, but I’m skeptical as to whether that would work.”
I agree that Cohen isn’t likely to get out quite yet. Threatening to form a third party could be used to put pressure on Cohen.
But people forget that Adlai was the only Democrat to jump ship that year. Everybody was watching to see what US Sen. Alan Dixon would do, and when he decided to remain on the Democratic ticket, the rest of the “legit” ticket stuck with him. Adlai, who spent almost none of his own money on his razor-thin loss in 1982, had to mostly fund his ‘86 race himself. He got creamed.
* Cohen didn’t get elected by himself. He had some help. For instance, Ald. Dick Mell’s 33rd Ward organization had him on their sample ballot. Click here for the full thing, but I’ve given you a helpfully annotated version…
Check out election results by Chicago ward and Cook township to see who else may have helped out. [Hat tip to a commenter.]
* Adam Andrzejewski’s e-mail to supporters…
THE DAWN OF A NEW DAY [STILL] RISES
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
– Winston S. Churchill
In 1955, William F. Buckley called for us to stand athwart history yelling stop.
1964, President Ronald Reagan called for us to preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness.
In 2009, Tea Party patriots across the country stood against increased government taxation, spending, and intervention and reasserted their individual liberty
And in 2010, the citizens of Illinois called for A New Day. A new day of honest, accountable, and limited government.
Many of you have called, emailed, Facebooked or Tweeted asking, “What’s next?”
Tuesday we learned the road to A New Day in Illinois is longer than we had hoped. However, the fight we waged against the under-performing Illinois establishment has not come to an end and certainly does not end with my bid for Governor.
Over the course of the last year, you have opened a new chapter in Illinois politics and renewed the Reagan revolution that first came to Illinois in 1976. Tea parties, 9/12 organizations and other advocacy groups have re-ignited the consciousness of conservatism. Your passion captured the imagination of thousands of Illinoisans across our great state and drew the support of national and international conservative leaders.
Your hard work and dedication created an unprecedented grassroots movement calling for honest, accountable, and limited government. Tuesday, we may have been delayed, but we have certainly not been denied.
I am committed to rebuilding our party and I am committed to re-laying the foundation with the values and principles our nation’s founders knew to be essential for our Liberty: limited government, free enterprise, individual liberty and traditional American values.
I still believe that it’s your turn. I still believe the dawn of a new day is rising in Illinois. And I still believe that what you have started over the course of the last year is of epic proportions and has already made history in countless ways. And I am still with you, for the good of Illinois.
* Let’s look at a few videos, shall we? Gov. Quinn talks about a tax hike…
* Congressman Peter Roskam talks about the new Republican video that attempts to connect Alexi Giannoulias to the mob…
* Mark Kirk’s new “Take Back Illinois” video…
* The DCCC has an excruciatingly boring “Illinois Race Review” video, in case you care…