Politics

Advice to Thompson, Stevenson et al

By ROBERT KIECKHEFER

HERE ARE SOME free strategy suggestions for the candidates of this year's election.

Governor. In the governor's race, the strategy is easy. Adlai E. Stevenson should leave the state and not come back until November 3. Gov. James R. Thompson should stay in the state — wearing sackcloth and ashes.

Thompson has developed an image problem in the past few months. A rash of stories about his finances left a general, if rather fuzzy, picture of a relatively poor man who likes to live high off the hog and doesn't care who pays the bill. Apparently there is nothing technically wrong with any of the things Thompson has done. But his actions have hurt his image and that could cost him votes.

So our advice to the governor is: No more fancy trips. Try to cut back on those flights on the state helicopter. No more shrimp in the mansion. Nose to the grindstone. Try to take a little more personal credit for the good work being turned out by aides and staff.

Stevenson, of course, has benefited from Thompson's troubles. As stories proliferated about Thompson's use of campaign funds to pay his daughter's babysitter, Stevenson closed the gap in the polls, and in some samplings Stevenson passed Thompson.

But Stevenson also has a problem — his almost total inability to work up any public display of enthusiasm. Put him before a crowd and you could put No-Doz people out of business.

The solution? To keep Stevenson out of speechmaking situations as much as possible. Use television ads to portray him as the kind of contemplative man who can grapple successfully with the state's problems.

The economy will also have a big impact on this race. Thompson, as a supporter of President Reagan, will be blamed by many people for Reagan's failings. Stevenson should let that process take its natural course.

On the other hand, Thompson should remind people that his administration painstakingly put together the surplus that so far has seen us through these hard times.

Lieutenant Governor. This is an interesting matchup.

House Speaker George Ryan will have to muzzle his gruff anti-ERA feelings some to edge onto the same ticket with Thompson. But if Ryan, a Kankakee resident, spends most of his time downstate, his record on that issue won't do the ticket any harm.

Meanwhile, Democratic candidate Grace Mary Stern should be able to do well in the Cook County suburbs and in the collar counties — normally strong GOP areas where many of the faithful are unhappy with Thompson on the issues of ERA and the cost of their commuter railroad tickets.

Secretary of State. Jim Edgar appears to be the best campaigner of any of Thompson's "ticket." He sounds like a downstater, dresses like a LaSalle Street banker, runs an open office and works like the dickens.

When he took over the office two years ago, Edgar realized that he could keep it only through hard work. That's still true and he's still doing it. Along the way, of course, he's making political hay with county chairmen and others who will have to turn out a big downstate vote for him November 2.

Edgar also is keeping a distance from Thompson, who appointed him. That distance will help blunt criticism that Thompson has surrounded himself with appointed cronies.

Democrat Jerry Cosentino, however, is going to need every vote he can get in Chicago if he is going to knock off Edgar. Cosentino, who has run the treasurer's office capably, does look like a downstater's caricature of a Chicago politician — an image that is reinforced by his service as commissioner of the Metropolitan Sanitary District. While Cosentino served with distinction, the MSD has acquired an unsavory reputation over the years. It's not fair or warranted, but his Italian heritage and his ownership of a trucking firm wiH also be hindrances in some areas downstate.

This should be an interesting race and could be decided in the suburbs.

Attorney General. The early polls showed former Lt. Gov. Neil Hartigan way ahead of the other guy appointed by Thompson, Tyrone Fahner.

Fahner is going to have to find some way to get his name better-known, both with the public and in political circles. His early efforts consisted largely of making contact with party leaders and issuing almost daily news releases about the activities of his office.

Hartigan, on the other hand, is well-known, but, like Stevenson, fits only uncomfortably into the current Democratic party structure. Although he is popular with senior citizens whose cause he championed during his years in Springfield, Hartigan is no favorite in Chicago City Hall.

Fahner may have to rely on Thompson to put him over the top. He's not going to generate enough publicity to win the office by prosecuting fly-by-night furnace repairmen. Perhaps Thompson will have to include Fahner in some of his advertising as the election nears. Hartigan, meanwhile, is organizing a close-knit campaign that will work both the grass roots and the media. If the polls are right, he can go through the motions and coast home.

Treasurer. Sen. James Donnewald and Peoria businessman John Dailey will battle it out for one of those offices that never attracts much attention. The only advice these two need is to make sure the party organizations are working for them and, more important, to raise money.

With no issues to speak of, a successful television ad campaign is about the only effective tool. And that's a big-bucks item — both to put together and to put on the air.

Comptroller. What's true in the treasurer's race is equally true in this contest between incumbent Democrat Roland Burris and former state Rep. Cal Skinner Jr.

Skinner can say that as a former county assessor, he's better qualified. Burris can point out the office has run smoothly during his administration. The fact is, the staff runs both the treasurer's office and the comptroller's office and a good case could be made that both officials should be appointed.

But again, if either Skinner or Burris can afford good television, it would help.

July 1982 | Illinois Issues | 5