Quinn Uses Same Three-Word Refrain -- Again -- In Final Campaign Push
(CBS) -- For the third day in a row, Gov. Pat Quinn has announced the creation of new jobs.
It's the same pre-election strategy he used four years ago. But it's not the only tradition he repeated Wednesday.
CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine thought he spotted something familiar in the governor's closing campaign ad.
Three words. The same three words he used four years ago that sum up the Quinn campaign and the candidate himself.
"You know me," Quinn says. "I've fought for everyday people all my life."
The words were familiar, and so we froze the tape and turned back the clock four years, to the final days of his race against Republican state Sen. Bill Brady.
"You know me," he said then. "I've been a fighter all my life."
Stop right there. And go back to the 2010 primary: "You know me, for years I've fought the big shots on behalf of everyday people."
It's a one-size-fits-all, last-minute campaign slogan, designed to appeal to voters he and all the others are urging to vote sooner rather than later.
While Rauner won't vote until Election Day, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel turned up Wednesday morning in the Loop. Quinn runningmate Paul Vallas voted not far from his home in Palos Heights.
And both locations were packed with early voters. In Chicago, early voters are up 30 percent from four years ago, though the question is whether more early voters, really mean more voters on Election Day.
On the campaign trail today, Quinn, in downstate Tuscola, breaking ground for a $2 billion fertilizer plant. But his opponent, Republican Bruce Rauner, before roaring off on his Harley today, told reporters that voters aren't buying this week's Quinn good news tour. He says Quinn is "scrambling."
You'll probably notice that Rauner last week -- and Quinn with his final ad today -- are less strident and confrontational. The final week strategy: kinder, gentler candidates as they make their final appeals to voters.