{"id":285451,"date":"2010-02-05T17:36:00","date_gmt":"2010-02-05T22:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c60fd53ef0120a867d72a970b"},"modified":"2010-02-05T17:44:46","modified_gmt":"2010-02-05T22:44:46","slug":"brady-meets-with-republican-leaders-as-governor-contest-still-in-limbo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/285451","title":{"rendered":"Brady meets with Republican leaders as governor contest still in limbo"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Posted by Rick Pearson<\/em> at 4:45 p.m.<br \/><\/br><\/p>\n<p>Republican governor candidate Bill Brady today met with one of his vanquished rivals in the contest as the GOP awaits the formal process of election authorities trying to validate provisional ballots and count absentee votes to be completed.<\/p>\n<p>Brady, who is leading fellow state Sen. Kirk Dillard by about 420 votes according to unofficial totals, met with former state GOP Chairman Andy McKenna, McKenna\u2019s unsuccessful running mate Matt Murphy and House GOP leader Tom Cross of Oswego.<br \/><\/br><\/p>\n<p>\u201cAndy McKenna wanted to meet with me and congratulate me, and Cross and Murphy came along and we talked a little bit of strategy for the general election,\u201d Brady told the Tribune.\n<\/p>\n<p>Given the ballot-counting process has placed the contest in limbo, Brady said, \u201cThere are certain things I can do and certain things I can\u2019t do, but I\u2019ve got to try to do what I can do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Brady, who maintained he expected to be the winner in the contest, also said he talked to McKenna about financial help for a fall campaign. McKenna spent more than $2.2 million in family funds in the primary out of more than $5.6 million that he raised in finishing third on Tuesday, about 8,000 votes behind Brady.<br \/><\/br><br \/><\/br>Brady, a state senator from Bloomington, said he respected Dillard\u2019s desire to want every vote counted in the race. Dillard, of Hinsdale, also is a state senator. But Brady also noted that by waiting \u201cit delays our ability, without question, to move 100 percent forward\u201d with the general election contest against Democratic nominee, Gov. Pat Quinn.<br \/><\/br><br \/><\/br>Brady said it is difficult to raise money for the fall campaign with the contest still unsettled, though he acknowledged he had received some funding for a possible legal challenge to the final results as well as to help pay for campaign staff.<br \/><\/br><br \/><\/br>\u201cWe feel, based on expert advice that we\u2019re given, that we will continue to prevail and (gain a) victory,\u201d Brady said.<br \/><\/br><br \/><\/br>Brady said the travails of the Democratic ticket because of the controversies surrounding its lieutenant governor nominee, Scott Lee Cohen, were \u201cembarrassing\u201d and \u201cnot good for anybody\u201d in a state that has been \u201cstained\u201d by political scandal.<br \/><\/br><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Scott Lee Cohen issue is a permanent embarrassment, not just to the state of Illinois but a critical problem for the Democratic Party,\u201d Brady said. \u201cIf I were officially declared (the GOP winner) and everyone conceded today, I could hit the ground running right now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dillard held a news conference today to insist that every vote be counted, including remaining absentee and valid provisional ballots. That could take place by Feb. 15 or so, he said. State elections officials could certify the election results March 5, then Dillard likely would be faced with the decision of whether to seek a partial recount.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Posted by Rick Pearson at 4:45 p.m. Republican governor candidate Bill Brady today met with one of his vanquished rivals in the contest as the GOP awaits the formal process of election authorities trying to validate provisional ballots and count absentee votes to be completed. Brady, who is leading fellow state Sen. Kirk Dillard by [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3992,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-285451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3992"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285451\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}