IL-Gov: Quinn goes negative on Madigan, Schock blasts Brady and Dillard

The race for Governor of Illinois is already heating up, and we’re over a year and a half away from the general election, and just over a year away from the Democratic and Republican primaries.

On the Democratic side, incumbent Governor Pat Quinn, who is wildly unpopular in Illinois, even among Democrats, is already taking swipes at Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who is considering a primary challenge to Quinn. Quinn basically attacked Lisa because her father, Mike Madigan, also happens to be the Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives. While there may be some voters who might feel discomfort with two relatives holding two of the most powerful positions of power, the Chicago Tribune is publicly calling for Mike to give up the speaker’s gavel if Lisa runs for governor.

If you thought the action on the Democratic side of the ledger is getting nasty, it’s getting even nastier on the Republican side. Congressman Aaron Schock, despite his ethical issues, is mulling a gubernatorial run, and he blasted two potential Republican gubernatorial primary opponents, State Senators Bill Brady, who narrowly lost the 2010 general election for governor, and Kirk Dillard, who narrowly lost the 2010 Republican primary for governor and has already announced his intention to mount another gubernatorial bid in 2014, for having “proven nothing more than they can lose an election.” Schock is also alleging that Bruce Rauner, a Chicago venture capitalist who may also be considering a gubernatorial bid, was behind television ads airing in Schock’s congressional district, which were paid for by the Jobs and Progress Fund, a shady outside group, attacking Schock for voting for the deal to retroactively advert the so-called “fiscal cliff”. Brady fired back at Schock by suggesting that Schock may have serious trouble winning a Republican primary if he ran for another term in his congressional district, which includes areas of Central and Western Illinois that usually vote for Republican candidates and has a heavy conservative tilt to it.

Gubernatorial politics is already getting ugly here in Illinois, and it’s not even 2014 yet!

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