Politico takes an in-depth look at how GOP gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner is emulating Senator Mark Kirk’s election strategy:
Fresh off a closer-than-expected primary victory over three underfunded opponents, Rauner is avoiding social issues at all costs and hewing to a throw-the-bums-out message against the unpopular Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn Rauner has on his staff four Kirk alumni in his effort to replicate the moderate GOP senator’s path to blue-state victory. And like Kirk — and unlike Republicans in almost everywhere else in the country — Rauner avoids bashing President Barack Obama, who remains popular in his home state. It is all part of a recipe for victory Rauner’s team is banking on working again four years later in what is shaping up to be one of the most expensive and nastiest governor’s races in the country.
