We just lost Illinois.

[Codeine]

Argh.

[still_one]

1. Durbin won

[Cha]

3. Good! Now Let's see how Illinoisans like the repub gov.

[mucifer]

8. He bought the election. He's a billionaire.

Quinn had a low approval rating for the past few year. rauner was allowed to put millions into buying newspaper support and church support.

I feel sick.

And a bit offended at your statement.

I am an Illinoisan and so are many of my friends and family who voted for Quinn.

[Cha]

16. Mucifer.. I meant the ones who voted for rauner on the whole.. I know how awful it

will be for those who Voted for Quinn!

Sorry.. I bet you feel sick.. me too and I'm in Hawaii(don't know our results yet).. and I'm this close to crying.. I just ranted to a friend on the phone about all the stupid people out there Voting to give Billionaires a better life. Chickens for Colonel Sanders..

[ballabosh]

25. Most of my life I've lived under republican governors

I didn't want to go back. Looks like quinn even lost Cook County. Puke.

[Cha]

27. Wow.. the Lies and the Hate Won.. live to fight another day.. ballabosh. :(

[Codeine]

4. Governor. I should have been clearer. nt

[jillan]

6. Oh shit! I can't believe it.

[SummerSnow]

2. Chris Matthews was really shocked at that.

[maced666]

5. He was.

He's been shocked a couple times tonight.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

7. Fuck. I'm shocked.

[Aerows]

9. Fuck. n/t

[GoCubsGo]

10. So, Rauner bought himself a governorship, eh?

To my native state: Bed. Made. Lie. I just hope the state legislature stays Dem and can lessen the damage.

[Freethinker65]

15. amazing what millions can buy...

I agree. I do not think he will be able to do as much damage as Walker did to WI. Voted for Quinn. Did not hear much from running mate Vallas. Sad.

[Chisox08]

11. Fuck the Koch brother Jr. won.

What the hell where people thinking? I know Quinn wasn't the best candidate but he was miles better than Bruce Romney.

[BarackTheVote]

30. Very true, and I voted for Quinn

but he made a lot of enemies, especially in the teacher's union, through this pension thing and promoting some austerity budgeting in order to claw us out of the debt we're in. It's not his fault, by and large, but sometimes (read: usually) the one stuck dealing with the problem is the one who gets bit in the end. All of the progressive referendum passing, which are totally antithetical to Rauner's agenda, is a sure sign that Illinois is still progressive at heart; we just got tired of Quinn's management. The lame duck session will have its work cut out for it to shore up the bulwarks before the Rauner administration comes in, I just hope they have the heart to do it.

[lunasun]

12. They have all of Lake Michigan now Wisc Il indiana Michigan

[Zorra]

13. Rahm must be ecstatic. nt

[Stellar]

17. He must think he's got a chance now.

Rahm always played dirty.

[hedda_foil]

14. Crap, crap, super crap.

The hedge fund billionaire who seemed ideal governor is Scott friggin Walker. Illinois is now officially toast.

[Chisox08]

19. The Democrats still hold the legislature so it might not be all bad.

It's going to take them finding their spines and overriding a lot of vetos. It also looks like we can forget a raise in the minimum wage until the next election when we can vote this bum out.

[pstokely]

21. Will there be enough for a veto override?

Or one or two Dems join the Repukes?

[BarackTheVote]

28. Having an argument about that now

According to the referendum, the hike would take effect Jan 1 2015, a couple weeks before inauguration day, so this was going to be a lame duck vote no matter what. The question is, will the Dems have the heart to stick this down Rauner's craw as Quinn's on the way out, because I must say, if I were Quinn, that'd be quite satisfying. Along with the 3% millionaire's tax, it would also be a big stumbling block for Rauner pursuing his pro-corporatist agenda for the next few years. Thoughts?

[Chisox08]

29. I would love for that to happen

I'm going to have to wait and see if anything comes of it. Right now my focus is on removing Rahm Emanuel from the Mayor's office.

[AZ Progressive]

18. To be fair, Pat Quinn's approval rating has been less than 40 percent

[Chisox08]

20. Yes that and Koch brother Jr. spending more of his personal money on this election than

Quinn had available for his campaign. Rauner bought the governor's mansion

[davsand]

22. Not all of Cook County is in. Only about half of St Clair is in.

St Clair is traditionally an extremely strong Dem machine in Metro East St. Louis. I'll grant it looks bad right now, but Quinn has not lost yet...

Capitol Fax has not called it yet.



Laura

[BarackTheVote]

23. Republican strategy that wins every time:

Put a ticking timebomb in the economy, either by putting it under-cover, or by dropping it at the last minute so people don't know there as they're strutting out the door. Leave it for the Democrat to find and deal with. They will waste their entire term trying to deal with the Republican fuck-up while they scream the entire time that it's the Democrat's fault, while also fighting you the entire time you're trying to fix the damn problem. You never get to your agenda, people get tired and frustrated watching you try to disarm this Gordian's Knot of a bomb that is virtually impossible to defuse without inflicting pain on your constituents (especially those who voted for you).

You try to explain it wasn't your fault? That this was an act of intentional sabotage by your predecessor? They'll just call you a whiner, and incapable of doing the job; they'll say, "if you give us another chance, we'll fix the whole thing"--but of course they're idiots and have no idea how to disarm the bomb either, but that's something the constituents will never catch on to. Besides, once they come into office, it's suddenly not a big deal anymore! Pump up the fear about something else, distract, obfuscate, and before you know it, the Democrats are back in office with an even bigger clusterfuck to deal with than they had the last time.

It's what's happened to Obama with the war funding and economy, it's what happened to Quinn. And I doubt Americans will ever wake up, even though it happens time after time after time. I wish I could say "fuck it"--you're too stupid and lazy to care for the democracy your ancestors fought and died to form? Maybe you don't deserve it. But, then, I live here, too, so...

[damnedifIknow]

24. Unreal

One hell of a night.

[ballabosh]

26. I really thought we forever trending blue

Guess not....

[ballabosh]

31. Quinn is not conceding. NT