Jim Ryan Leads Republicans in New Poll
WSIL
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Schoenburg highlights the Illinois Republican Lieutenant Governor primary race
Springfield State Journal Register
SCHOENBURG: Ballot position key? Springfield lawyer DON TRACY thinks this might be the year when ballot position gives him that little extra push that’s needed in a primary race as obscure as the one he’s in - for the GOP nomination for lieutenant governor. Four of the six candidates for the nomination filed their petitions at 8 a.m. Oct. 26, putting them in the lottery for top ballot position. That lottery gave Tracy the top spot, followed by JASON PLUMMER of Edwardsville, RANDY WHITE of Hamilton and Carbondale Mayor BRAD COLE. The next two positions on the ballot go to state Sen. MATT MURPHY of Palatine, who filed at 4:25 p.m. on Nov. 2 - the last day to file, and DENNIS COOK of Orland Park, whose petitions were filed two minutes later. “None of us are particularly well known,” Tracy said. And with seven candidates running for the GOP nomination for governor adding to the mix, he said, “ballot position could be more important than ever before.” He doesn’t mind getting a little help from a lottery. Even Abraham Lincoln, he said, looked for a battlefield general that didn’t only have a good track record, but luck as well. “You have to put yourself in a position to be lucky,” Tracy said. Murphy, as political watchers will know, is running as a team with Chicagoan ANDY McKENNA for governor. That means that Murphy’s name appears on McKenna’s signs, and Murphy has been that guy next to McKenna in McKenna’s TV ads. Tracy says that could help Murphy, but there’s also a negative, in that “a lot of people in the party are not happy about Andy resigning” as chairman of the state GOP on the Illinois State Fair’s Republican Day, and later jumping in the race for governor against “some of the same candidates he was to be helping.” McKenna and Murphy have both been strongly opposed to bringing terrorist suspects from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to what is now a largely unused state prison at Thomson in northwest Illinois. Tracy said he hasn’t taken a position on the specific point of bringing terror suspects to the Illinois facility. “We shouldn’t be closing Guantanamo,” Tracy said. But he also said the existence of the Thomson facility, built but not fully staffed, shows the “incompetence” of Illinois state government. “I’m in favor of selling it to the federal government,” he said, to at least house non-Gitmo prisoners. “I understand why the area people want the prisoners and want the jobs,” Tracy said. He said people in his hometown of Mount Sterling “campaigned long and hard” to have the Western Illinois Correctional Center built there in order to bring jobs to the region. Murphy has racked up endorsements from some fellow lawmakers, including at least 10 state representatives and Sens. BRAD BURZYNSKI, JOHN MILLNER and PAM ALTHOFF. Cole has a variety of GOP county chairmen and local officials backing him. Plummer’s endorsers include his campaign chairman, former Senate GOP Leader FRANK WATSON of Greenville. CURT CONRAD, executive director of the state GOP, said the party plans to host a debate for lieutenant governor candidates the evening of Jan. 7 in Springfield.
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