Chicago Suburbs to Choose Our Next Governor

By Prescott Carlson in News on Oct 16, 2010 9:00PM

Scoff at Chicago's suburbs all you want, but those SUV driving soccer moms are going to decide the direction Illinois heads in for the next four years. As state Sen. Terry Link (D-Vernon Hills) tells the Sun-Times, "I believe the collar counties will decide who the next governor is going to be." And both major party candidates are both too clueless to realize it.

The S-T reports that both Gov. Pat Quinn and state Sen. Bill Brady have put campaigning in the Chicago suburbs low on their priority list, having spent very few days amongst the unwashed masses of Schaumburg and Naperville. The suburban voting bloc makes up 40 percent of Illinois' registered voters.

The decision to snub the suburbs comes as a surprise to both Republican and Democratic supporters, as the area has shifted from bright red to a shade of purple, with Brady only holding a slim lead amongst suburban voters. Instead, both candidates have chosen to preach to their respective choirs and put all their eggs in the basket of voter turnout. Brady, for instance, has been attacking Quinn in front of decidedly receptive audiences:

"Gov Quinn just doesn't get it. He thinks the solution to prosperity is to tax, borrow and spend, and we're not going to let him get by with it, are we?" Brady told about 150 Tea Party members in Springfield -- a group Brady believes statewide could add at least 10 percentage points to his overall vote totals.

Quinn has also played it safe, appearing in front of union groups and minority voters:

"They said who is this guy [Brady]? He wants to cut the minimum wage, abolish health insurance for children, throw 26,000 people out of work. They said, well, we think we should pray for Brady but vote for Gov. Quinn," the governor said, drawing applause and chants of "Yes Sir!" from the partisan crowd.

Apparently, both Quinn and Brady ignore the "race for the hearts and minds of suburban voters" at their own peril.