Election 2010: Thinning The Herd

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Nov 11, 2009 8:20PM

Monday was the deadline for candidates to drop from races - a la Danny Davis in the Cook County Board President's race - and to file challenges to petitions. WBEZ is on top of the latest developments with an updated candidate list as is Chicago Current. Perhaps the most noteworthy challenges come in the aforementioned Cook Co. race as both Dorothy Brown and incumbent Todd Stroger have had their petitions challenged. Brown's challenge is no surprise given the recent accusations of shenanigans but we're a little surprised to see Stroger challenged but given the heated nature of this campaign, maybe we shouldn't be.

As for one other challenge that's raised eyebrows, today Gov. Quinn admitted that supporters of his may be behind the challenge of William "Dock" Walls, the lone black candidate in the Democrats' gubernatorial primary.

Asked if he had anything to do with the Walls petition challenge, Quinn said “well personally, I don’t. I think there are people who are supporters of mine that may have challenged his petitions.”

The Tribune noted Tuesday that only two people obtained copies of Walls’ petitions from the State Board of Elections -- a worker for Quinn and one for another candidate in the race, Comptroller Dan Hynes. Hynes aides said they did not file a challenge to Walls and did not provide copies of his petitions to the objector listed by the elections board.

Quinn’s campaign has refused comment on the petition challenge.

In the same interview, Quinn also indicated he wouldn't be backing any candidate in that Cook Co. Board race.