LOL, probably a smart move, in retrospect.
OK, imagine your are GOV of a state, traveling down the road, surrounded by security types - the word comes in, you have just been removed from office.
The convoy halts, two big cops put you to the curb, and the convoy leaves you standing in the rain.
Wow. LOL.
In retrospect, yes. Actually there was the issue of how he was going to get back to Chicago if things did not turn out well for him in Springfield, so today he took a private jet instead of the usual state jet.