Andrzejewski for Governor

12:05 am, 2/2/10

So it seems that Rush Limbaugh is pushing Adam Andrzejewski in Tuesday's Republican primary. Bruno Behrend at Extreme Wisdom has been a stalwart Andrzejewski supporter from day one, and had been trying to get me on board, but until the last few weeks, I hadn't been able to invest enough time in politics to make heads or tails out of the race.

However, the last week alone has been quite remarkable, in that Andrzejewski, an unknown running on an anti-corruption and limited government platform in a state where government is so bloated and chronically corrupt that it defies the comprehension of mortal men, has attracted the public endorsement of former Polish President and anti-Soviet freedom fighter Lech Walesa, rallying conservatives, libertarians, and the Polish community in Chicago, the world's largest outside of Poland.

Now, internal polling at the Andrzejewski campaign is said to suggest that he may be only a few points behind, and that was presumably prior to any much-needed exposure Limbaugh's endorsement will generate tomorrow.

I was remiss to not have found the time to give this race the attention it warranted months ago, but given the choice, Adrzejewski, though still an underdog, has a solid message for the times, for Illinois state government, and for an Illinois GOP desperately in need of new... well, new everything. I've spent years chronicling just some of the epic waste, criminality, and incompetence of Illinois state government (too much of it bipartisan) on this blog, and I hope Illinois readers will take tomorrow's opportunity to signal their disapproval.

Update: The Hill's John Feehery argues that the outcome will really be about Obama's budget.

All of these Illinois Republicans are campaigning on the long-term fiscal situation in this country. All of them are getting significant traction on the issue of out-of-control Washington spending. And all of them, should they win, will be faced with the tough choices that come with declining revenues and expanding interest payments.

President Barack Obama consciously invoked Abraham Lincoln's memory when he started his campaign in Springfield, Ill. The imagery was inspirational, and because Obama was our first very serious black presidential candidate, it was historically fitting.

But there was another Illinois politician who left a mark on our body politic who might serve as an inspiration to these young guns. Everett Dirksen was the one who said, "A billion here and a billion there, and pretty soon you are talking real money."

The Obama budget has hundreds of billions here and hundreds of billions there, and that budget is making the taxpayers very nervous. The next generation of Illinois leaders, led by Kirk, will have to deal with this spending spree for the rest of their political careers.

Yes, they will. In fact, as the Wall Street Journal notes, the ship of state is taking on water so fast that voters seem to have at least partially forgotten about Rod Blagojevich.

The race, which ends with Democratic and Republican primaries on Tuesday, has become a contest to convince voters who best can pull the state out of a financial ditch.

In the Democratic primary, current Gov. Patrick Quinn and Comptroller Daniel W. Hynes, who are roughly tied in recent polls, have battled over short-term borrowing to pay state bills. The Republican primary is a close race between former Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan; state Sen. Kirk Dillard; and Andy McKenna, the former chairman of the state Republican Party.

The state budget deficit could exceed $11 billion. The pension fund is nearly $80 billion underfunded. Unemployment, at 10.8%, is among the worst in the country. Michigan, ground zero for the auto industry's collapse, is the only state with a higher ratio of residents leaving to those moving in over the past 12 months, according to a United Van Lines survey.

"Jobs, population growth, economic growth-it's all going in the wrong direction, and that was true before the downturn," Mr. McKenna says. "People blame weak leaders who allowed spending to get reckless."

Speaking of weak leaders who guided people right into a ditch, isn't that how a lot of people view McKenna's time at the helm of the Illinois GOP?