Illinois - Governor

Seeing as this is my first post, here's a little structure on how it will work. I will either start with an election, candidate, state, or issue and expand on it as I go - for example, right now I am focusing on Illinois (I know the most about it because I see it everyday!), but I may focus on California, South Carolina, Kentucky, or even Alaska.

So in Illinois right now, there are two big elections to be decided in November: Governor and U.S. Senator. I will cover these two mainly.

Governor: Gov. Pat Quinn (D) v. State Sen. Bill Brady (R)

I'm a bit unenthusiastic about this election, mainly because I don't see a leader in either of them. Pat Quinn became Governor as a result of embattled former Governor Rod Blagojevich being indicted and then impeached with removal from office because of accusations that he tried to sell President Barack Obama's old senate seat. Pat Quinn came into a rough time - the people of Illinois were disgruntled with politicians, and we had just lost Barack Obama to the whole country. However, when it came to the primary, Pat Quinn was really the best option - he ran against State Comptroller Dan Hynes (no one knows what a comptroller does, but I'll give you a hint: whatever you think the treasurer does, the comptroller probably actually does it). Hynes ran a smear campaign, so it was a very close primary that was more about picking the best of two evils.

Brady, on the other hand, is a hardcore conservative from downstate. What concerns me about him are his views on abortion (staunchly pro-life) and his views on gun control (pro-gun). Brady is not an Illinois politician in the sense that I don't think he can win because of his views. Illinois is a D-leaning state that will rarely vote moderate. Brady very narrowly won his primary to State Sen. Kirk Dillard, who is from the northern part of the state and is much more moderate. If Republicans wanted to win, they should have gone with Dillard.

My Predictions: Brady is up in the polls now (about 10 points last I checked), but Quinn hasn't even begun the core of his campaigning. Quinn is going to pull ahead and easily win, even with the anti-incumbent mood across the country. I'll go with a 52 - 47 result, with the Green Party candidate (can't remember his name) getting 1%.

Stay tuned for the Senate and other executive races.