Brady bides time, but looks ahead to race with Quinn

Without yet claiming victory in the Republican gubernatorial primary, state Sen. Bill Brady sounded the main themes of his fall campaign after a series of meetings Friday with GOP leaders - including Arizona U.S. Sen. John McCain and U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Mark Kirk - at the Union League Club in downtown Chicago.

"I'm not the official candidate today," Brady said. "So we've been delicate with how we've dealt with the situation. I hope we've handled that right. Kirk Dillard and the voters of Illinois certainly deserve that respect."

Illinois counties have until Tuesday to accept and count provisional and absentee ballots in the primary, with Brady's lead over Hinsdale state Sen. Dillard hovering at about 400 votes, a margin Brady said he was confident "will hold."

Brady, of downstate Bloomington, was all but anointed as the Republican nominee in meetings with McCain and Kirk, but he said others shouldn't read anything into that, including Dillard.

"I don't believe he should take that as a sign," Brady said. "Sen. Dillard's counting votes just like we are as they come through. We're confident, but respectful of Sen. Dillard's desire to see this through to the conclusion on Tuesday."

Yet he just as quickly seized on the opportunity to turn and face incumbent Gov. Pat Quinn with what should prove to be a familiar campaign theme: It's the economy, stupid.

"It boils down to the economy, jobs," Brady said. "Gov. Quinn wants to increase your taxes by 50 percent. That's just going to drive private-sector investment out of the state. I want to reduce the tax burden a billion dollars."

Pressed on his conservative stances on social issues in what has traditionally been a moderate state, Brady again and again turned the topic.

"The issue here is the economy," he said. "Am I going to keep my job? Is my neighbor going to get one?"

He promised "less government, not larger government" and "bigger private-sector investment for more jobs for Illinois families."

He said he expected that issue to resonate with Chicago-area voters, even after he pulled in just 5 percent of the vote in Cook County. "That's why we're here," Brady said. "We're going to camp out in Cook and the collar counties."

He blamed the poor showing on not having the money to buy ads on Chicago TV stations - a problem he does not expect to have in the fall.

He also repeatedly lumped Quinn in with the governor he served under as lieutenant governor, Rod Blagojevich, and the corruption scandals of fundraiser Tony Rezko, citing "Blagojevich-Quinn policies" and at one point referring to the "Blagojevich-Quinn-Rezko regime."

He dismissed talk of eliminating the lieutenant governor's position as a distraction, and embraced Jason Plummer as his running mate, even as he said he might reconsider his position on the office after the election. "I think this is a poor time to be talking about constitutional officers," Brady said. "I understand that Democrats are struggling right now with the catastrophe that inflicted their party with Scott Lee Cohen," adding, "The Democrats are trying to push off their disgrace."

Brady pointed to the recent U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts as a sign the political momentum has switched to Republicans, here in Illinois as well. "We are starting to see national attention on this race," he said. "The opportunity to elect a Republican United States senator and a Republican governor in Barack Obama's home state is here. We're ready to take it."