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You’d think that Illinois House Speaker Michael
Madigan, who is forever being touted as one of the smartest politicians in
Illinois history, would have realized long ago that Barack Obama was
immensely popular and needed to be treated differently than others. Yet it
wasn’t until last week that Madigan finally offered a public bow to
the man who is widely considered a top-tier candidate for the U.S.
presidency in 2008 and who has a rock star’s ability to turn grown
men and women into giddy teenagers.
Instead, Madigan has publicly chafed at Obama’s
attempted role at party-building. Madigan ran a brutally negative campaign
against the senator’s handpicked state-treasurer candidate, Alexi
Giannoulias, and then refused to endorse Giannoulias or even meet with him
(or take his calls) after he had won the primary against Madigan’s
own candidate, Paul Mangieri. Madigan derisively referred to Obama as
“the messiah” last year when asked about Obama’s growing
clout in the state. Madigan has long been criticized within his party for
acting too much like a House speaker and not nearly enough like the
chairman of the Democratic Party of Illinois, a job he also holds.
Madigan initially wanted the state party chairmanship
mainly to take advantage of special U.S. Postal Service rates that allowed his House
campaigns to save hundreds of thousands of dollars every election cycle.
Unlike all the other legislative leaders, Madigan doesn’t even have a
House Democratic campaign committee, using the state party’s
committee as the sole money conduit to his candidates. Madigan’s state party also gives precious
little assistance to non-House candidates other than those whom Madigan
deems crucial to maintaining his superiority at the Illinois Statehouse
— for instance in the hugely expensive Illinois Supreme Court race
two years ago. Party-building outside the narrow confines of the House
chambers has not exactly been Madigan’s forte. Obama soured completely on Madigan last year,
particularly during the weirdness leading up to the Illinois State Fair,
when it wasn’t even certain that Madigan would show up for the annual
Governor’s Day event because he didn’t want to sit on the
“unity” stage with Giannoulias.
Sources close to the usually easygoing Obama say he
has an enmity for Madigan unlike that for anyone else, and there have been
quiet grumblings for months that Obama might back his own statewide slate
in four years if Lisa Madigan tries to step up the political ladder to the
governor’s office. Obama and Senate President Emil Jones are closely
allied, and there is little love lost between Jones and Madigan, so
that’s definitely adding fuel to the fire.
Though last week’s widely reported news that
Madigan wants to move the 2008 Illinois primary up to Feb. 5 to help
Obama’s presidential campaign was welcomed by Obama’s friends
as a good sign, they made it clear that those personal wounds are going to
take a while to heal, and there is quite a bit of suspicion that Madigan
has some yet-unknown ulterior motive for offering the proposal, which, the
speaker claimed, would also ensure that a Midwestern state with a diverse
population would finally have a voice in the presidential selection
process. Still, something is happening. Not well known in
political circles last week was the fact that Madigan met with Giannoulias
just before the House swearing-in ceremony. Madigan had invited Giannoulias
to the party weeks before. Madigan’s staff has also been working with
Giannoulias’ people since the election to help with an extra $100,000
for the treasurer’s office budget.
Giannoulias unexpectedly bumped into the speaker at a
Springfield restaurant the night before the party, and the two men
exchanged pleasantries — the first time they had spoken to each other
since the ’06 primary. And Madigan went out of his way to praise
Obama’s “integrity” when he met with reporters after he
was sworn in for another term. He even struck some rare humble notes during that
availability. When a reporter asked Madigan about his reputation as a great
tactician, Madigan quipped, “Don’t believe that stuff.
I’m the guy that supported Hynes.” Madigan had backed
Comptroller Dan Hynes against Obama in the 2004 Democratic primary.
Apparently Madigan has learned from his mistakes.
We’ll just have to see whether Obama ever forgives him.
Rich Miller publishes Capitol
Fax, a daily political newsletter. He can be
reached at capitolfax.blogspot.com.
This article appears in Jan 11-17, 2007.
