Posted by David Heinzmann and Rick Pearson at 2:53 p.m.
Former Illinois Comptroller Dawn Clark Netsch endorsed the current comptroller, Dan Hynes, today over Pat Quinn in the race to be the Democratic nominee for governor.
Netsch, the Democrats’ unsuccessful 1994 nominee against then-Republican Gov. Jim Edgar, called Hynes a straight shooter on state budget matters. It was a reference to her TV ads of that long-ago governor campaign which displayed her billiard-playing prowess.
"For years, he’s been signaling that our state’s finances are on the wrong track,” said Netsch. “Hynes is a competent manager who doesn’t stick his head in the sand."
The Netsch endorsement was aimed at gaining the support of progressives for a Hynes campaign that has made up significant ground to Quinn in recent weeks and is now in a tight race according to a new Tribune/WGN-TV poll.
But Quinn also touted a progressive endorsement today from Democrats For America — the fundraising and net-roots operation that was formerly Dean For America. That group was behind the 2004 presidential campaign of Howard Dean, the former Democratic National Committee Chairman and Vermont governor.
Quinn’s “fight against corrupt government officials and special interests, as well as his work for the people of Illinois, make him a real progressive champion,” said Jim Dean, the former governor’s brother who heads DFA.