After a barrage of television ads asking whether Illinoisans have “had enough” of Governor Rod Blagojevich or can fathom what Republican challenger Judy Baar Topinka is thinking, a slight majority of voters polled by the Tribune this month concluded that they’re not happy with either candidate.
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The centerpiece of Whitney’s campaign is a plan to make the state income tax more progressive and broaden the sales tax to include services, using the new revenue to eliminate the state’s persistent budget deficit (which is forecast to continue even with a strong economy), increase funding for education, and reduce local property taxes. The rest of Whitney’s platform is equally ambitious; it includes typical progressive planks like developing a sustainable energy strategy, adopting a statewide single-payer health insurance system, and enacting living wage legislation. But some of his proposals appeal in particular to conservatives: he’d permit gun owners to carry their guns, oppose government powers to take property for commercial developments, and reject more state-sanctioned gambling.
Could Whitney do even better? A recent poll by the Glengarrif Group, a Chicago research firm, reported that he’s supported by 6 percent of both Democrats and Republicans, as well as by 15 percent of independent voters. “I think he could go up to 15 percent, if there’s a halfway serious push,” says political consultant Don Rose. “A lot of people don’t know he’s out there as an alternative.” But there’s no money for a last-minute push; in mid-October Whitney had only $8,000 in the bank. For candidates like Whitney, victory is a lot less likely than a spoiler label like the one that dogged Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader in 2000. Wouldn’t a vote for Whitney, many Illinois Democrats might be wondering, simply help Topinka?
