Anyhoo...
6:03 PM - Updated Gov. Numbers
Updated numbers from AP for the GOP gubernatorial race. Brady remains 509 ahead of Dillard with 11,143 of 11,215 precincts reporting
Illinois - 11143 of 11215 Precincts Reporting - 99%
Name Party Votes Vote %
Brady , Bill GOP 155,210 20%
Dillard , Kirk GOP 154,701 20%
fidelist has been saying Brady and Dillard are both good conservatives it's just that Brady is slightly better of the two and Dillard is the more electable one. I think most freepers would strongly disagree with that. Dillard may hold the “right” position on most issues but he'd be disasterous as our nominee for the same reason conservatives nationally didn't want John McCain. Dillard plays footsie the Dems far too often. Dillard-McKenna-Ryan were truly our state's version of Rudy McRomney in this year's primary. Kirk McRyan will kill the GOP’s namebrand. And now that rising conservative star Jason Plummer has won the race for Lt. Governor, it would hurt his career greatly if he was dragged down to defeat in November with the U.S.S. Kirk Dillard around his neck (in Illinois, our Gov/Lt. Gov. candidates run separately in the primary but MUST run as a team in November)
Compare Dillard and Brady's lifetime conservative ratings from the URF and it's no contest. Dillard prides himself on being “bipartisan”, Brady stands on conservative principles 90% of the time and has excellent ratings from most conservative groups. And I will remind the Fredheads here on FR that Bill Brady was Fred's Illinois coordinator, compared to Dillard who endorsed McCain in the primary while simultaneously appearing in campaign ads for Obama.
Bottom line... we can't afford to let Dillard take this one. We should all be calling the Brady campaign now and seeing what we can do to help. A Brady/Plummer ticket would truly be a fresh start for Illinois after decades of RINO & RAT governors, and it would give the GOP base a reason to turn out November despite Mark Kirk and Topinka on the ballot.
Let's look at the record...
Senator Bill Brady represents the Fred Thompson campaign at the Illinois Straw poll in ‘07
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH_WBMT1OUU
Kirk Dillard says he “bipartisan” and “works to get compromise”, which means he is essentially a laptdog to the democrats. Look at his ridiculously bad fiscal record:
— Kirk Dillard voted in favor of taxpayer funded embroynic stem cell research (SB4, ‘07)
— Kirk Dillard voted in favor of a extremely wasteful $29B spending increase before the current year budget deficit is closed.
— Kirk Dillard voted to expand gambling (HB 2035, ‘07) and raise fees on everything in this state — candy, liquor, drivers licenses, registrations, etc. (HB 255, ‘09), without solving any of our long-term woes
— Kirk Dillard cast the key 30th Vote that passed Blagojevich's $10 Billion borrow and spend package. One of ONLY 3 Republicans to do so. The other two? Sullivan who soon after resigned to join with a Democrat partner in a lobbying firm and Bomke, who dances to the piper's tune played by the Springfield employee unions. This was the bond deal that Bob Kjellander made over $850 grand in commissions on.
— Kirk Dillard voted for the sales tax hike in DuPage County along with the tax hike for the RTA.
— Kirk Dillard received the endorsement of the Log Cabin RINOs in his campaign for Governor, endorsed alongside other infamous “moderate” Republicans Mark Kirk, Judy Baar Topinka,
Beth Coulson, Suzzi Bassi, etc.
— Kirk Dillard has been endorsed and has endorsed all the major RINOs in Illinois, even with McKenna and Jim Ryan having a huge chuck of establishment support themselves. Dillard supported Mark Kirk in the GOP primary for U.S. Senate. Former “moderate” Illinois Governors
Jim Edgar and Jim Thompson endorsed Dillard for Governor and campaigned hard for him.
— Kirk Dillard is beloved by the mainstream media. The Chicago Sun-Times has said that Dillard “has a reputation for getting along with all types and factions.” The Daily Herald has been quoted saying “Kirk Dillard, a Hinsdale Republican, is one of the most qualified individuals for the job of lawmaker”. In 2004, the New York Times called on Dillard to run for U.S. Senator, along with close his friend, Barack Obama.
— Kirk Dillard has the LOWEST rating of ANY Republican on the United Republican Fund (the state equivalent of the American Conservative Union) legislative rating for the 95th Gen. Assembly.
Dillard's overall URF score for the 95th Gen. Assembly was 50% in 2008, with a pathetic lifetime average of 37.5% (by contrast, Bill Brady scored a 89% in 2008, and a lifetime rating of 84.5%, our newly minted U.S. Congressional nominee Randy Hultgren scored a 100% in 2008 and a lifetime average of 87.5%,)
— Kirk Dillard heaped praise on Obama and Lisa Madigan’s political careers, unofficially endorsing Obama for President and Madigan for re-election as Attorney General.
Please consider these links:
Is Kirk Dillard the new Dede Scozzafava?
http://biggovernment.com/dloesch/2010/01/26/is-kirk-dillard-the-new-dede-scozzafava
Reasons to reconsider Kirk Dillard for Governor
http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2009/06/reasons-for-kirk-dillard-to-reconsider-running-for-governor.html?cid=6a00d834515c5469e20115712751e0970b
Kirk Dillard's Campaign Ad for Barack Obama
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTtUbzYDzB0
AP is reporting and Sun Times results page is showing 100% in. Brady up by 406.
“But the Dillard campaign claims their own county-by-county tally is different than the AP’s numbers. With all precincts counted, Dillard’s numbers show that he trails Brady by just 115 votes.”
How funny. My! “own numbers” have Brady up by 8000 votes, okay Dillard?
He authored the legislation to allow IL citizens to concealed carry, is pro-life and pro-marriage.
He is such a RINO!
IMHO, Dillard is a solid social conservative who is politically pragmatic. That is why I prefer Brady, he is more principled. But that does not mean Dillard is not a conservative.
P.S. It is fideist not "fidelist." Cheers! ;-)
I assume that there are still some provisional and absentee ballots to count, and, of course, Dillard will ask for a recount (or at least a recanvassing), so it's still not clear who won. But I'd rather be up 406 votes than down 406 votes with 100% of precincts reporting.
Let me first say that I supported Adam Andrzejewski, and that between Brady and Dillard I would obviously prefer Brady. However, at the risk of getting flamed, I don't think that Dillard could be quite as terrible as most FReepers assume that he is. Here's a defense of Dillard's pro-life record by none other than Chris Lauzen, the pro-life conservative stalwart of the Illinois Senate
Apparently Dillard's only pro-abortion vote was for funding of embryonic stem-cell research (which I find despicable but that a fairly big percentage of otherwise pro-life politicians got conned into supporting), and Lauzen states that he was a good conservative on a host of other issues.
My take is that Dillard is more of a John McCain than a Dede Scozzafava, and, from my outside-the Land-of-Lincoln vantage point, Dillard appears to be more conservative than any successful IL GOP gubernatorial nominee since Jim Thompson.
So, my point is, we should be ecstatic if Brady ends up winning, but should not slit our wrists if Dillard is the GOP Senate nominee.
With the final vote totals now reported, our campaign has a 406-vote lead over Senator Kirk Dillard at the top of the Republican gubernatorial contest. Still to be counted are absentee ballots that were not included in Tuesday's balloting and provisional ballots that will not be counted for several days. Our legal and political team does not believe those votes will be sufficient to offset our lead.
We're confident our vote will hold up and we will move onto victory in November.
I have great respect for Senator Dillard and all the others who traveled with me during this gubernatorial primary campaign season. Every one of them stands head and shoulders above the Democrat candidates.
This state is going to go like Massachusetts, Virginia and New Jersey. The Republican Party is here to support Illinois families and business and to take this state back with positive politics.