Lackluster Democratic and Republican candidates present ‘an opening for Greens’

From the News-Gazette in Illinois:

llinois Democrats have a gubernatorial candidate favored by only half the members of his own party, who faces a difficult budget battle this spring and – for now – is stuck with a running mate who is a political nightmare…

The Republican ticket has a gubernatorial candidate favored by 20 percent of his party, with views on social issues that are to the right of the mainstream and who has run poorly in the Chicago area and the suburbs, where the vast majority of the general election votes lie. Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, got 11 percent of the primary vote in the six-county Chicago area last Tuesday – where 53 percent of the GOP vote was cast…

Are either of these candidates electable?

“Gentlemen, many voters see you as flawed candidates,” opined the Chicago Tribune last week…

“Our position is better because we’re able to run a full-year campaign which we weren’t able to do in 2006, plus we have Green Party candidates all around the state (although not in Champaign County). We should get some synergy with that.”

The Greens, now an officially established party in Illinois, ought to be included in any gubernatorial debates, Whitney said.

“It will be much more difficult for news organizations or sponsoring organizations to exclude me from debates,” he said. “If they do there will be a political price to pay if the other candidates go along with that.”

Whitney got a higher percentage of the statewide vote four years ago than Dan Proft, who was invited to all the Republican gubernatorial debates, got this year. Whitney, in fact, got more than twice as many votes four years ago (361,336) as Brady got Tuesday (approximately 156,000).

“I think we have a fair shot at winning,” said the Carbondale attorney, who said he is campaigning to win, “not to make a statement or to be a protest candidate.”

H/T to Richard Winger.