Third-party candidates even lose to jailbirds

By Rich Miller

Ever since I published a poll last month showing indicted former state Rep. Derrick Smith, D-Chicago, leading third party candidate Lance Tyson in the 10th Illinois House District race by a mind-boggl

Politics - Rich Miller | Thursday, October 18,2012

Campaign committees dodge money cap law

By Rich Miller

One way of getting around the state’s new campaign contribution caps is by forming a lot of different campaign committees. State law forbids people from forming more than one committee (except f

Politics - Rich Miller | Thursday, October 11,2012

Presidential race bloopers trickle down

By Rich Miller

There’s not a lot that a state legislative candidate can do when his or her party’s presidential nominee starts to tank. The presidential race drives turnout to the point where down-ballot

Politics - Rich Miller | Thursday, October 4,2012

Legislators vow not to take pension

By Rich Miller

For the past couple of election campaign cycles, this one included, incumbent state legislators have bragged in their campaign ads about cutting their own pay. They didn’t actually cut their own

Politics - Rich Miller | Thursday, September 27,2012

Polls blind to state representatives’ shenanigans

By Rich Miller

I have two poll results to tell you about today. One is about an alleged criminal; the other is about a proven liar.Expelled state Rep. Derrick Smith (D-Chicago) is leading his only opponent by 38 poi

Politics - Rich Miller | Thursday, September 20,2012

Teachers union shows who’s boss

By Rich Miller

For several months, beginning in late 2010, teachers union lobbyists warned that teachers went out on strike a whole lot more back in the days when they were prohibited by law from striking than in th

Politics - Rich Miller | Thursday, September 13,2012

Obama’s ahead, but not like 2008

By Rich Miller

On the eve of President Barack Obama’s acceptance speech to the Democratic National Convention last week, a statewide poll showed the native son was leading his Republican opponent by 17 percent

Politics - Rich Miller | Thursday, September 6,2012

Quinn’s “Framework for Gambling” takes center stage

By Rich Miller

Most people looked at last week’s veto by Gov. Pat Quinn of the big gaming expansion bill and saw nothing except defeat for the issue. But the governor appeared to deliberately leave some doors

Politics - Rich Miller | Thursday, August 30,2012

Is Preckwinkle preparing to run against Quinn?

By Rich Miller

“We’ve got to activate the taxpayers of Illinois,” Gov. Pat Quinn told reporters after his legislative special session failed to move any sort of pension reform forward, promising to

Politics - Rich Miller | Thursday, August 23,2012

The story behind the State Fair boos

By Rich Miller

If you were following the news last week, you already know that hundreds of AFSCME members packed the Illinois State Fair Director’s Lawn last Wednesday afternoon and booed pretty much everybody