Dan Walker won't be running,
but could he beat Jim Thompson?

QUESTION: Why was everyone laughing when Dan Walker said he could beat Jim Thompson next year? Why was the skepticism so large regarding the "intensely personal" reasons Walker averred in declining to make the race?

I'm not so sure he wasn't right.

And, were I Thompson, I'd have sighed with relief when I heard Walker's decision, counted my chickens for next year and started thinking hard about running for president in 1980. Dan Walker is one tough cookie.

Remember, if you're laughing at his chances against Thompson — that some of the people who knew politics best thought he might lose to Paul Simon 2 to 1 in the 1972 primary. And Simon had a lot longer and deeper association with Illinois politics than Thompson has. Remember, too, that even though Richard Ogilvie wore the income tax around his neck like an albatross made of greenbacks, he was an effective governor who had all the advantages available to an incumbent.

Walker beat them both. Close races, yes. But he won when people thought he had no chance. Then the battles really started. Daley was mad at Walker, and Walker found it convenient to use Daley as a punching bag. They fought and, if you cut through all the verbiage and all the image boosting. Walker did pretty well against the leader of "the last of the big-city machines."

Daley won some, but while Walker was governor, there was no Crosstown Expressway. Daley had to come into the governor's conference room to get a final okay on the Regional Transportation Authority. School funding was reduced to less than the level called for in the school aid formula to help Walker hold the budget line. Daley's congressional reapportionment plan died on the House floor. Daley's control in the Illinois Senate eroded as the "Crazy Eight" and others began to pay more attention to the second floor of the Capitol than the fifth floor of Chicago City Hall. And when Walker finally lost, it took everything Daley had in his bag of tricks to beat him, including the sacrifice of the governor's office to the Republicans.

Even then, Daley might have fallen short if Walker's camp hadn't made a tactical blunder and started paying too much attention to the governor's chances in the presidential sweepstakes. Some Walker aides argue to this day that the dual targeting for both governor and president significantly hurt Walker's primary effort.

So why was everyone laughing when Walker said he could beat Thompson? Maybe it's because Walker has been out of office for a while and his supporters have started to scatter and he's still in debt from the 1976 primary. But these reasons are not sufficient. Anyone who watched Walker operate on that walk in 1971 or shake hands at plant gates in 1976 — when he went one-on-one with Daley and ignored Hewlett — will tell you Walker doesn't need much besides his political instincts to regroup the constituency that put him in the Executive Mansion in the first place. It should be remembered that no one, except students of the 1968 Democratic National Convention riots, had ever heard of him when he stepped off that bridge in Brookport in 1971.

Maybe people laughed because they think Thompson can't be beaten by anyone. There's some reason to think that. Alan Dixon, who obviously wants to be governor, tested the water and decided another four years of handing out drivers' licenses and license plates will be just fine, thank you. Some of the polls commissioned for other potential candidates reportedly show a substantial bloc of voters who would vote against Walker, no matter what office he ran for and no matter whom he ran against. And Walker himself admitted the polls his analyst studied showed Thompson beating any Democrat.

These are good reasons, but they're not good enough because (1) Walker beat the odds twice before against Simon and Ogilvie, and (2) Walker also points out, Thompson hasn't faced a real campaign yet. Heck, you and I could be elected governor if all we had to do was get past Richard Cooper and a Michael Hewlett who had been filleted and left hanging out to dry. It would be an understatement to say Thompson would be in a real campaign if he faced Walker. So why was everyone laughing?

When Daniel Walker says he would have a chance against Thompson, I believe him. And I have not always been able to say that about the former governor's statements. So what's the real reason why he decided not to run? Probably money. Walker has spent seven of his prime money-earning years in politics. The decision to do that cost him a bundle, both in lost income and in use of his personal funds for campaign purposes rather than money-making investment. Personally, he probably wants to put a little bigger cushion under him.

As a politician, he also has money woes. He still owes around $50,000 from his 1976 primary campaign, even after convincing a lot of people to forget about repayment of loans. He had some of the same problems in 1972. The thought of stooping to another "$2 for Dan" promotion, or accepting any more last-minute, desperation loans from the likes of Anthony Angelos, must be a powerful incentive to shy away from another race. It's a shame in a way. A Walker-Thompson race would have been a mighty interesting donnybrook!ž

November 1977 / Illinois Issues / 33