According to NBC5/Chicago Sun-Times Blagojevich has a 30 pt lead over Judy

[wndycty]

This is from the Chicago Sun-Times/NBC5 poll, the S-T won't publish their Governor's race results until tomorrow however Carol Marin hosted a live "City Desk" on NBC5 this morning with Scott Fornek of the Sun-Times and Paul Green from Roosevelt University. I'm not sure if NBC5 will make CIty Desk available online.

Governor
Blagojevich(D) 56%
Topinka(R) 26%
Whitney(G) 3%
Undecided 15%

Who would do a better job eliminating corruption
Blagojevich(D) 44%
Topinka(R) 27%
Whitney(G) 3%

Poll taken September 10-12

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. If they gave you the choice "none of the above",

that would be a hands down winner.

Topinka is a Ryan clone. The GOP let her go forward to remove her and others of her ilk for now. That will pave the way for the radical right to re-exert itself in Illinois' GOP.
Bloggo is a criminal. You simply cannot ignore all the wrongdoing that has occured under his administration. Who would have thought that having the gov's office AND both chambers of the state legislature (AND the Supreme Court), that so little could be accomplished?

Bloggo's biggest problem (other that the obvious ones) is that he still thinks that he can run for president and win. His disconnect with reality is no less than George Bush's or Don Rumsfeld's.

If a real democrat had run in the primary, with financing, he would have won.

[global1]

3. What Wrongdoing Has Occured Under Blago's Administration?...nt

[ChairmanAgnostic]

6. today's suntimes and tribune have long stories

basically, what his powerful daddy in law said a few years ago is true. He sold state offices in exchange for 40K campaign donations. He skirted specific hiring laws for state agencies and installed his cronies and donors. with respect to roads, bridges, DOT, construction, hospital building and licensing, food safety, water polution, farm land misuse, (pesticides) and child safety and education, he removed a whole layer of experienced professionals who were NOT political appointees, and replaced them with friends, relatives, neighbors and incompetants. State government has NEVER been so badly run. Even hard core dems are looking back to Jim Edgar's reign (GOP) with wishful thinking.

This man wakes up with a mirror in his hand. When he is doing state work (usually timed with an election) he is totally concerned with the spin, not the impact, the price, the propriety or the effectiveness of his proposed legislation.

He is the worst democratic governor in the country. That said, he is still probably better than Ryan's girl, Judy Barr.

[dogman]

9. Anyone looking back at Edgar with fondness is not a Dem, let alone

hardcore. Edgar was no friend of working people or the poor.

[laylah]

11. For one

he has KNOWINGLY turned a blind eye to the corruption and abuses of powers within the DOC. When his Lt. Governor Quinn was contacted re: some the the DOC shennanigans, Quinn's PERSONAL ASSISTANT called me at my home and threatened me if I made anymore waves. How's that for starters?

Sorry if I sound snitty. While Blago has done good for this state (especially the kiddos, elderly, and stem cell research) he is STILL a liar and a fraud. Unfortunately, I will hold my nose and vote for him in Novemer. A case of "the lesser of two evils" if you will.

Jenn

[wndycty]

5. A Green candidate is a choice, undecided is a choice. . .

. . .so you "non of the above" is a non starter.

[LoZoccolo]

8. "That will pave the way for the radical right to re-exert itself..."

Like Alan Keyes? Anyone can "exert" themselves I guess, but people have to vote for them, and we saw how that turned out.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

10. There are some hardcore GOPers in Lake, DuPage, Kane and Will

counties that have been waiting for an opportunity to toss people like Judy barr out. For the wrong reasons. Some of them actually thought that Keyes was a fine choice. Let's just say that reality and these folks do not coexist in the same room easily.

These folks are truly crazy. some of their former websites (they close them down when too many liberals show up and laugh at them) have some gems that freepers would never think up without cue cards and instructions from Karl Rove. They also have a lot of money. Just no brains.

[madrchsod]

13. add the rethug counties out here in the west

more people voted for obama than kerry with keyes getting only the die hard conservative vote. judy is not well liked out here that is for sure. if i remember manzullo from rockford and her got into a big fight over keyes

[benny05]

14. I agree

And his hand in the wallets of state employees to pay for Chicago pork is causing lots of problems. He also would not release money promised awhile back to universities, such as the Univ of Illinois. U of I only gets 19% of its money from the state, which is less than when he took office; very disgraceful for a landmark, land grant institution that educates and creates a better workforce to improve the economy. The budgets are not good, and it's causing problems in current negotiations with certain unions. One union has been without a contract for over a year.

Yeah, Blago, the union man's man. What balderdash.

I'm voting green party or will do a write in. Judy is a wolf in sheep's clothing. Her negatives continue to mount, whereas Blago's numbers (that poll looked a bit high and I bet it was done only in Chicago) have not gone up, especially downstate.

Blago will not carry my county. It will be Chicago that will help him win.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

19. when the ILL Teacher's Union refuses to endorce Bloggo, that says

something.I saw in today's trib that they refuse to endorse either candidate. that is hugh!

Your points are well taken and exactly on. Judy has many problems, not just a lack of money.

What gets me about Illinois politics is the bilingual nature of our corruption. Stu Levin, the hospital commission thief and fraudster, equally corrupted Dems (including Bloggo) and GOPers. The numbers of indicted pols has to be one of the highest in the nation. But, what is worse, it has not changed.
For more than 15 years, the chicago city counsel was losing on aldercritter a year to indictments. And that never even came close to the Roti family - the head of the Chicago and Las Vegas mobs. Roti once ran for re-election with a tongue in cheek poster, "Vote for Roti, or else"

[dogman]

22. The IFT has endorsed Blagojevich.

Snip> Citing his strong overall record on education and labor issues during his first term as governor, the Illinois Federation of Teachers has endorsed Rod Blagojevich for governor in the November 7th general election.

“After a careful look at the records and positions of both candidates, we believe that Rod Blagojevich deserves our support for re-election,” said Jim Dougherty, president of the 90,000-member union.<snip

Snip>“Rod Blagojevich has worked to increase funding for elementary and secondary education every year of his administration, even when the state was facing record deficits,” said Dougherty. “He also expanded funding for pre-school and class size reduction.”

Dougherty also lauded the governor’s support for workers. “He signed legislation to restore collective bargaining rights to more than 40,000 IFT members and to allow graduate employees and adjunct faculty to join unions and negotiate contracts.” The governor also reorganized labor boards and commissions to ensure that union members had a voice and received fair treatment under the law.<snip

http://www.ift-aft.org/index.php?tray=contentsuppressed&doc=1070&tid=top104

[ChairmanAgnostic]

23. check this out. the IEA andAfsce refuse to endorse him

I suspect they feel the same way as many of us here.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/illinois/chi-ap-il-governorsrace-un,1,913388.story

[stepnw1f]

2. What Political Affiliation of each?

Or is this just a Dem primary?

[wndycty]

4. Here you go

Blagojevich (D)
Topinka (R)
Whitney (Green)

[stepnw1f]

7. Thanks (nt)

[madrchsod]

12. i don`t believe that wide a margin

but i do think blago will carry enough democratic and undecided votes to win. eliminating corruption? now that is funny....

[mucifer]

15. I wish Blago would be willing to raise taxes to pay for some of his

great ideas. This idea of using pensions to pay for everything is what started that mess in California along with enron of course.

[derby378]

16. Blago called semi-automatics "weapons of mass destruction"

Straight out of the Million Mom March talking points. The statement is ridiculous on its face.

If Chicago doesn't want semi-autos within city limits, fine. But Blagojevich wants to ban or outlaw them statewide.

[mucifer]

17. Just curious... why do you need a semiautomatic weapon?

I'm with Blago on this one.

[derby378]

18. It's a Bill of RIGHTS, not a Bill of Needs. HOWEVER...

That said, if a city wants to ban certain firearms within its limits, that city needs to sort it out with the state government and make sure its legal ducks are in a row. San Francisco tried to outlaw handguns last year, only to have the edict struck down by California state law.

I don't want any more innocent children dying from stray bullets, either. But those bullets were fired by teenage street punks, not law-abiding citizens. Why punish the law-abiding citizens instead of tackling the street gangs that are making everyone's life hell?

[ChairmanAgnostic]

20. that is the best way I've heard it discussed.

and remember, the intent of allowing gun ownership was to help the citizens protect themselves against enemies, foreign and DOMESTIC.

I just wonder how long a microwave radiation weapon, used on US citizens, would stand up to a blast from an auto or semi-auto weapon.

[mucifer]

21. Time for you to get your own nukes.

I'm ok with handguns and rifles for hunting. But, automatic weapons etc. we'll be more and more like Afghanistan.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

24. with about as many rights and privileges as they have.

arrest without charges? torture? indefinite imprisonment without seeing an attorney? we are turning into Afghanistan, with a conservative religious group of maniacs who want to control the rest of us.

[benEzra]

29. Automatic weapons have been tightly controlled since 1934 by Federal law

I'm ok with handguns and rifles for hunting. But, automatic weapons etc. we'll be more and more like Afghanistan.

Automatic weapons have been VERY tightly controlled since 1934 by Federal law, the Title 2/Class III provisions of the National Firearms Act. Blago isn't talking about automatic weapons; he's talking about NON-automatic civilian rifles and shotguns. Of course, he may not know the difference.

[benEzra]

30. I think you're confusing "semiautomatic" with automatic weapons.

Just curious... why do you need a semiautomatic weapon?

I think you're confusing these with automatic weapons? "Semiautomatic" means the firearm fires once and only once when the trigger is pulled, and will not fire again until the trigger is released and pulled a second time, just like a revolver.


These are semiautomatic firearms:


preban Marlin Model 60 squirrel hunting rifle, caliber .22LR


Smith & Wesson 3913 LadySmith, caliber 9x19mm


Ruger Mini Thirty, short-range deer rifle, caliber 7.62x39mm (similar to .30-30 Winchester)


Benelli turkey-hunting shotgun, 12-gauge


Remington 7400 full-power deer rifle, caliber .30-06


Blago is proposing to ban all CIVILIAN self-loading rifles and shotguns with handgrips that stick out. Not military automatic weapons, civilian NON-automatic weapons.


Since all rifles COMBINED accounted for only 4 murders out of 448 in Illinois in 2004 (FBI rifle crime stats), Blago's obsession with banning protruding rifle handgrips is odd. Chicago's homicide problem has mostly do with the criminal misuse of .38/.357 revolvers (which IIRC are already pretty much illegal in Chicago), NOT rifles of any description.

[benEzra]

31. So Hiroshima was actually leveled by a civilian rifle, not an A-bomb?

Blago called semi-automatics "weapons of mass destruction"

So Hiroshima was actually leveled by a civilian rifle, not an A-bomb? Leveled the whole city. Who'da thunk it.

Anybody who thinks a non-automatic civilian rifle is in any way comparable to an atomic bomb, genetically engineered bioweapons, or nerve gas, has NO business speaking for the party on the gun issue.

Besides, you'd think that since Illinois state police officers wear "assault weapons" on their hips (by his definition), he'd be a little more circumspect about calling the weapons he issues to his own law enforcement officers "weapons of mass destruction."

[AX10]

25. How can Blagojevich be leading by so much?

I know that Topinka is a Bush League scumbag, but Blago has his own troubles (of his own doing too) I expect Blago to win, but it WILL NOT BE BY 30 POINTS!

[benny05]

26. I think that was taken only Chicago

Blogo's rating downstate is around 48% and hasn't changed in over a year.

[wndycty]

27. It was statewide, however a very small sample, 400

:kick:

[wndycty]

28. Here are some videos about the poll

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kac8sVByYlg

http://www.nbc5.com/news/9869507/detail.html#