Sam McCann has joined the race for Illinois Governor. He made the announcement last Thursday.
In his coming out talking points to media, he said this as reported by the Chicago Tribune:
“I’m the only person in this race who has consistently stood up to Rauner and (Democratic House Speaker Michael) Madigan and their machine when it came time to fight for the rights of working people in Illinois. As your governor, I will continue to lead that fight,” McCann said.
“They have failed us: Rauner and Chicago Democrats have led our state down the wrong path. Higher taxes, backward morals and disregard for the rule of law is the Illinois they’ve created. It’s time for a real transformation for the state of Illinois,” he said.
Of course, Bruce Rauner has tried to paste McCann as a stooge of Michael Madigan. Cue up the "The Real Sam McCann" website. (Gee, doesn't that look a lot like the Rauner campaign's template against Jeannie Ives?)
I like Sam McCann and consider him a friend of gun rights.
At the same time, as I see things, Sam McCann is not running to preserve and protect gun rights in Illinois. He's running as payback to Governor Bruce Rauner.
See, Bruce Rauner bankrolled not one, but two primary opponents in a row against the wildly popular Senator McCann. McCann soundly trounced the first. This time around, McCann threw in the towel and walked away.
However, as a parting gift to Bruce Rauner, Sam McCann is running as a conservative for Illinois governor.
Without a doubt, Sam McCann knows that Bruce Rauner needs every vote from every conservative in Illinois to win re-election. In fact, Rauner must energize Republicans, first and foremost, to get them to the polls. And then to motivate them enough to pull the lever for "Bruce Rauner for governor".
McCann knows that if he siphons off even 2 or 3 percent of disaffected conservatives, Rauner is toast. The Democrats know this too. The Operating Engineers Local 150 just dropped 50G on the conservative Sam McCann's campaign just days ago. Best money they ever spent, they're thinking. Hence also why JB Pritzker has had nothing but nice things to say about McCann's entry into the race.
Literally every vote that is not cast for Bruce Rauner is one less vote JB Pritzker needs to win. Or, written another way, a vote for any candidate but Rauner translates to a vote for Pritzker.
And with Chicago residents casting 14,000+ more votes than they have registered voters in November 2016, Rauner needs every vote he can get. Yes, "vote early and vote often" really happens in Chicago.
While Sam McCann stands as a true 2A patriot, JB Pritzker has never met a gun control measure he does not support.
In running this race as a spoiler to punish Bruce Rauner, Sam McCann does not have gun owners' best interests at heart. Not by a long shot. Instead, he's out for revenge.
And, I might add, this proves that not only are third party votes literally wasted, but they often become counter-productive. Certainly in this case, they will set us up to have our gun rights further eroded.
But Sam McCann will have the final laugh against his nemesis Bruce Rauner – assuming he can get enough petition signatures to get on the ballot. If you're like me and asked to sign one of those, it might be in the best interests of your gun rights if you refuse.
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