Rauner’s narrow lead leaves little margin for error in fall

Never take anything for granted in a low-turnout primary election.

How many times have we been taught that lesson in Illinois, and there it was, coming at us again in the Republican primary for governor.

Bruce Rauner was supposed to run away with the election after spending a gazillion dollars.

Anticipating a Rauner nomination, Gov. Pat Quinn circulated to reporters an anti-Rauner attack ad he planned to begin airing late Tuesday.

Rauner did prevail, but not before state Sen. Kirk Dillard threw a scare into his campaign by making the race much closer than expected.

If only more of us had taken Cinda Klickna’s advice.

Klickna is the president of the Illinois Education Association, one of those evil “union bosses” in Rauner’s world, and she left a message on my home answering machine on the eve of the election urging me to cross over to vote in the Republican primary against Rauner — and for Dillard.

It wasn’t anything personal. The IEA, which represents teachers, made “hundreds of thousands” of such robocalls in the days before the election, asking likely Democratic voters to pull a Republican ballot instead.

I couldn’t heed her suggestion, too worried about my fellow Democrats possibly electing a felon to the Cook County Board of commissioners.

And anyway, Dillard didn’t have a chance, did he? As it turned out, Dillard did have a chance, and the felon didn’t.

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