Rauner One-Day Reelection Relaunch Over Before You Knew It

Motorcycle Ridin’ Rauner Hides from Voters, Still Faces Tough Questions

 If you blinked, you might have missed it. Yesterday, Governor Bruce Rauner officially launched his reelection campaign with a web video and…a couple interviews? Faced with the prospect of running on no real accomplishments and a possible Republican base revolt, Rauner passed on a more traditional multi-stop tour for more controlled interactions with the public. WBEZ’s David McKinney said Rauner’s rollout showed “an aversion to risk”:

“But his scripted video rollout also shows an aversion to risk. Rauner didn’t embark on a statewide bus tour or fly-around to trumpet his re-election bid. How conservatives might react to him at public political events is an unknown; their anger at Rauner has been unrelenting since his surprise enactment of public funding for abortions and opposition to tougher immigration standards.”

A motorcycle rider showing aversion to risk.

Even Rauner’s interviews did not go well. Both NBC5’s Mary Ann Ahern and WGN’s Tahman Bradley said their interviews were quickly wrapped up after they asked about the still-mysterious firing of Rauner’s General Counsel Dennis Murashko. 

With so few accomplishments to run on, Rauner has been forced to steal credit from others. Tahman Bradley took Rauner to task on ads Rauner is currently running. (Watch here).

“Rauner is on television with this commercial taking credit for the Springfield education funding overhaul, even though he initially vetoed the bill and said this summer he was staying out of the negotiations. ‘How is that not misleading to take credit for passing it?’”

And so ends the one-day rollout.

“Bruce Rauner looked real tough on his motorcycle, but then spent the rest of the day hiding from voters,” said DGA Illinois Communications Director Sam Salustro. “On a day that is supposed to be a celebration of an incumbent governor’s successes, Rauner had little or nothing to talk about. He could not brag about forcing the state into a two-year budget crisis, nor did he want to take credit for rising debt and a slowing economy. Rauner instead just wanted to get the day over with.”