Rauner Enlists Bipartisan Support In Seeking "New Solutions" For Illinois
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Republican candidate for governor Bruce Rauner said he's not going to agree with his supporters on every issue, even his own wife.
WBBM Newsradio Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports Rauner, who is challenging Gov. Pat Quinn in the November election, has trotted out nearly two dozen Democratic and Independent supporters in an effort to show bipartisan support for his campaign.
"We want to bring everyone together in our state to address our biggest challenges and come up with new solutions," Rauner said.
His wife, who said she's a lifelong Democrat, was not surprisingly among those at Rauner's side when he announced the formation of a committee of Democratic and Independent supporters, but Diana Rauner said she and her husband argue heatedly about things all the time.
"I believe that leadership is more important than ideology," she said. "We need pragmatic leadership that is not beholden to anyone, and so for me, it's not about Republican or Democrat. It's now or never. We need a warrior to go to battle for our children and for the future of our state."
Rev. James Meeks, a former state senator, fought same-sex marriage while in the General Assembly, but Rauner has said he supports allowing same-sex marriage – although only through a voter referendum, rather than through the legislature as was done in Illinois.
"Nobody, in my world, agrees 100 percent on everything; and, frankly, sometimes I disagree with myself," Rauner said.
For example, he once said he wanted to lower the minimum wage in Illinois, but has since said he'd support raising it under certain conditions.