HOME STRETCH
Obama stumps for Democrats at UIC Pavilion; Rauner hits GOP strongholds
Ten years to the day of being elected president, former President Barack Obama came home Sunday to turn out votes for the Illinois Democratic ticket, mixing the message of hope that propelled him to the White House with an urgent call to repel President Donald Trump’s divisiveness, though Obama did not use his name.
Embattled Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, stumping in Chicago-area GOP strongholds, told his supporters not to count him out of the race, vowing that polls that show him down by double digits to Democratic opponent J.B. Pritzker are “baloney.”
Sunday marked the last of a series of rallies Obama was headlining across the nation for Democrats, with the former president pumping up Indiana Democrats in Gary before hitting the University of Illinois at Chicago Pavilion, 525 S. Racine Ave.
“Hope is still out there,” Obama told the youngish crowd.
“We just have to stand up and speak for it. And in two days, Illinois, in two days, you get to vote in what might be the most important election of my lifetime, maybe more important than 2008.”
“. . . America is at a crossroads right now. There is a contest of ideas that is going on, about who we are and what kind of country we are going to be.
“Health care for millions is on the ballot.
“A fair shake for working families is on the ballot.
“And most importantly, the character of our nation is on the ballot.”
“When you vote, when you participate in the political process, you can be a check on bad behavior,” Obama said.
Obama spent Saturday night at his Kenwood home, a source told the Sun-Times.
While former presidents often stay in the political background for a few years after leaving office, the Trump-led attacks on Obama’s legacy drew him back onto the campaign trail. Republicans, said Obama, are “blatantly, repeatedly, baldly, shamelessly lying.” And the Trump administration, which promised to “clean the swamp,” instead, Obama said, “racked up enough indictments to field a football team.”
Illinois Democrats and Republicans worked their base votes on Sunday, with two days to go until Election Day.
While every poll has Pritzker ahead of Rauner, Democratic attorney general nominee Kwame Raoul is struggling in his battle to beat GOP contender Erika Harold.
Raoul told the crowd, “I’m a proud son of Haitian immigrants who did not come from [a] s---hole,” referencing the report from Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., on Trump’s disparaging remarks about several countries earlier this year. “I am a birthright baby,” Raoul said.
Durbin and Sen. Tammy Duckworth were more direct in slamming Trump.
“On Tuesday, I want to be there to say no to Trump, no to Rauner,” she said, calling Trump a “petulant, schoolyard bully of a president.”
Durbin, who recounted how 12 years ago he urged Obama, then a senator, to run for president, said, “This is not just another election . . . It’s saying no to hate and fear we hear from this president every day.”
Pritzker, who is closing the campaign with an ad featuring Obama, said, “Hatred and misogyny should have no place in America . . . . This election is about what Illinois can be.”
Rauner focused on fertile GOP territory — in suburban Cook, Grundy, DuPage, Kane and Macon counties — and continued to rail against his political nemesis, Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan, who is also the chairman of the Democratic Party of Illinois.
The governor and first lady Diana Rauner spent the rainy day on a campaign bus, traveling to cafes and bars in Decatur, Gibson City, Morris and St. Charles, with a get-out-thevote rally in suburban Orland Park.
At Honest Abe’s Tap & Grill in Morris, the governor spoke of an uphill battle back to a second term, while warning a victory by Pritzker would turn the state into a “nightmare.”
“People are counting us out now. They’re saying, ‘Oh the polls are showing this or that,’ ” Rauner said. “You know what? The polls are baloney. These polls don’t mean anything. The only poll that matters is on Election Day,” Rauner said.
In the waning days of his campaign, Rauner continues to paint himself as the underdog change agent, recalling that “no one thought we could do it” four years ago while also pledging some ambitious and likely unrealistic goals.
“We had a supermajority against us, and it was brutal,” Rauner said of the Democratic majority in both the Illinois House and Senate. “But you know what? Two years ago, thanks to your hard work, we picked up six seats in the General Assembly to knock Mike Madigan out of the supermajority. And you know what? what we’re going to do this time . . . we’re going to pick up nine seats in
the House and knock Mike Madigan out. He’s not going to be the speaker of the House anymore.
“That’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to get him out,” Rauner said.
Rauner said Pritzker and Madigan in charge will mean “one-party, one-person rule” with gerrymandered districts, more taxes and more spending.
Madigan, demonized by Republicans up and down the ticket, did not attend the Obama rally.
Rauner was stumping with running mate Evelyn Sanguinetti; Illinois comptroller candidate Darlene Senger; Illinois treasurer candidate Jim Dodge; and U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill.
Democrats have been talking about a “blue wave” of voters coming out to repudiate Trump. Kinzinger told a packed Grundy County bar he envisions a “red wave” on Tuesday.
But Democrats tried to show off their unity. At the end of the UIC rally, the Democratic ticket joined hands onstage: Pritzker; his running mate, Juliana Stratton; Raoul; Comptroller Susana Mendoza; Treasurer Mike Frerichs; and House hopefuls Sean Casten and Lauren Underwood.
Underwood, a political rookie who has attracted national attention, drew big cheers. Underwood, running against Rep. Randy Hultgren, R-Ill., and Casten, challenging Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Ill., have turned these races in GOP territory into toss-ups.
Grammy- and Academy Awardwinning rapper and actor Common, a South Sider, energized the crowd before Pritzker and Obama spoke.
“They said stay down, and we stand up,” said Common as he urged people to “text at least five friends a day” to get them to vote.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Senate President John Cullerton huddled with Obama backstage.
Rauner bucked a campaign tradition of visiting churches the Sunday before Election Day, choosing instead to target his voter base elsewhere. But Harold visited a Chicago church with family on Sunday morning.
Harold, in a close race against Raoul, spent her Saturday canvassing with Roskam in Naperville; state Sen. Mike Connelly, RNaperville, and state Rep. Grant Wehrli, R-Naperville, in Lisle; and state Sen. John Curran, R-Downers Grove, in Western Springs, her campaign said.
And combating the Democratic get-out-the-vote rally, Rauner’s campaign on Sunday evening announced the Republican ticket will hold a rally Monday evening at Benedictine University in Lisle.
Ten years ago, Chicagoans filled Grant Park to celebrate Obama becoming the first African-American president. While he won two terms, Obama’s personal popularity can’t always be transferred to other candidates. In 2010, Obama headlined a rally on the Midway Plaisance for then-Gov. Pat Quinn — who won — and Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias — who lost. In 2014, Obama unsuccessfully pleaded for Quinn’s re-election at a Chicago State University rally. Democrats are pushing to reclaim some of the power they lost with Trump’s surprise victory in 2016.