Rod Blagojevich the Democratic Bob Taft?

[Kevin]

I read from someone else on the Forums that the Democratic Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich disapproval ratings are approaching 80%.

Is this true?         

[muon2]

It's pretty bad for the Gov in the polls. I posted this from Rasmussen a couple of weeks ago.

If you want vulnerable, check out the latest Rasmussen poll from IL. Gov Blagojevich is polling at half the approval rate of Bush.

Key numbers:
Pres. Bush (31% approval):
14% Excellent
17% Good
16% Fair
52% Poor
1% Not Sure

Gov. Blagojevich (16% approval):
5% Excellent
11% Good
37% Fair
46% Poor
1% Not Sure

Since then another poll came out with Blago at 23% approval. Now today there is yet another survey that puts him at 31% (with 42% strongly disapprove). The fallout is causing talk of adding a recall provision to the state constitution. If that option were available he would lose in every segment of the population including in Chicago and among Democrats.

[Kevin]

It's pretty bad for the Gov in the polls. I posted this from Rasmussen a couple of weeks ago.

If you want vulnerable, check out the latest Rasmussen poll from IL. Gov Blagojevich is polling at half the approval rate of Bush.

Key numbers:
Pres. Bush (31% approval):
14% Excellent
17% Good
16% Fair
52% Poor
1% Not Sure

Gov. Blagojevich (16% approval):
5% Excellent
11% Good
37% Fair
46% Poor
1% Not Sure

Since then another poll came out with Blago at 23% approval. Now today there is yet another survey that puts him at 31% (with 42% strongly disapprove). The fallout is causing talk of adding a recall provision to the state constitution. If that option were available he would lose in every segment of the population including in Chicago and among Democrats.

Is he going to make through his term or is he just going to resign by his own will or be forced to?

[muon2]

It's pretty bad for the Gov in the polls. I posted this from Rasmussen a couple of weeks ago.

If you want vulnerable, check out the latest Rasmussen poll from IL. Gov Blagojevich is polling at half the approval rate of Bush.

Key numbers:
Pres. Bush (31% approval):
14% Excellent
17% Good
16% Fair
52% Poor
1% Not Sure

Gov. Blagojevich (16% approval):
5% Excellent
11% Good
37% Fair
46% Poor
1% Not Sure

Since then another poll came out with Blago at 23% approval. Now today there is yet another survey that puts him at 31% (with 42% strongly disapprove). The fallout is causing talk of adding a recall provision to the state constitution. If that option were available he would lose in every segment of the population including in Chicago and among Democrats.

Is he going to make through his term or is he just going to resign by his own will or be forced to?

As the Tribune notes:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

There are some who anticipate that change could come from US Atty Fitzgerald. Generally though, no one expects any change until after the 2010 election.

[Kevin]

It's pretty bad for the Gov in the polls. I posted this from Rasmussen a couple of weeks ago.

If you want vulnerable, check out the latest Rasmussen poll from IL. Gov Blagojevich is polling at half the approval rate of Bush.

Key numbers:
Pres. Bush (31% approval):
14% Excellent
17% Good
16% Fair
52% Poor
1% Not Sure

Gov. Blagojevich (16% approval):
5% Excellent
11% Good
37% Fair
46% Poor
1% Not Sure

Since then another poll came out with Blago at 23% approval. Now today there is yet another survey that puts him at 31% (with 42% strongly disapprove). The fallout is causing talk of adding a recall provision to the state constitution. If that option were available he would lose in every segment of the population including in Chicago and among Democrats.

Is he going to make through his term or is he just going to resign by his own will or be forced to?

As the Tribune notes:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

There are some who anticipate that change could come from US Atty Fitzgerald. Generally though, no one expects any change until after the 2010 election.

Hey Illinois maybe a lock for the Democrats at the national level but it certainly could be argued that it's still very much competitive at the state one! Also the right candidate for us could do it so hold out hope. In addition remember the Republicans made huge gains in the 98 elections only to lose it all under Governor George Ryan.   

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Illinois is getting what it deserves.

[Gabu]

What has caused such terrible approvals?  I'm not familiar with the content of Blagojevich's terms in office.

[Sam Spade]

What has caused such terrible approvals?  I'm not familiar with the content of Blagojevich's terms in office.

You don't want to know, although I'm sure that muon2 will be happy to oblige you.  I'm not doing it, however.

[Gabu]

What has caused such terrible approvals?  I'm not familiar with the content of Blagojevich's terms in office.

You don't want to know, although I'm sure that muon2 will be happy to oblige you.  I'm not doing it, however.

What, did he rape the entire occupancy of his office?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

From a quick glance at wikipedia:

-He's been accused of the same type of scandals that dogged Fletcher, appointing political cronies to positions and abusing the system to ignore qualifications.
-He came on The Daily Show and was teased by a reporter who simply called him "Governor Smith" joking about his hard to pronounce name. He kind of got a little mad and went at the guy over it despite the fact that it was just a joke. Later he claimed that he wasn't aware The Daily Show was a comedy show and thought it was a serious news program.
-He let a feud with his father-in-law effect policy when he shut down a landfill owned by a distant cousin to whom the father-in-law acted as an advisor to. This prompted legislation allowing the Illinois EPA more authority over landfill closings.
-Even during a state budget crisis, he continued an expensive commute from Chicago to Springfield, rather than opting to live in the governor's mansion full time. He did this nine times in a two week period on a state plane, which resulted in an estimated cost of $75,000. This was far more expensive than a commercial flight would've cost, but he refused to take even that. He also criticized state lawmakers for not working five days a week, only for state records to reveal that he was only in his office on average three days a week.

[Gabu]

From a quick glance at wikipedia:

-He's been accused of the same type of scandals that dogged Fletcher, appointing political cronies to positions and abusing the system to ignore qualifications.
-He came on The Daily Show and was teased by a reporter who simply called him "Governor Smith" joking about his hard to pronounce name. He kind of got a little mad and went at the guy over it despite the fact that it was just a joke. Later he claimed that he wasn't aware The Daily Show was a comedy show and thought it was a serious news program.
-He let a feud with his father-in-law effect policy when he shut down a landfill owned by a distant cousin to whom the father-in-law acted as an advisor to. This prompted legislation allowing the Illinois EPA more authority over landfill closings.
-Even during a state budget crisis, he continued an expensive commute from Chicago to Springfield, rather than opting to live in the governor's mansion full time. He did this nine times in a two week period on a state plane, which resulted in an estimated cost of $75,000. This was far more expensive than a commercial flight would've cost, but he refused to take even that. He also criticized state lawmakers for not working five days a week, only for state records to reveal that he was only in his office on average three days a week.

Ah, well, yes, that would do it.

[Sam Spade]

I also think there's something about paying off an ex-mistress (or maybe I'm thinking of someone else), not to mention that the budget he proposed got zero votes support from Republicans and Democrats.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Yes, I heard about that too. It was defeated in the state House on a vote of 107-0, with nine voting Present.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

It's pretty bad for the Gov in the polls. I posted this from Rasmussen a couple of weeks ago.

If you want vulnerable, check out the latest Rasmussen poll from IL. Gov Blagojevich is polling at half the approval rate of Bush.

Key numbers:
Pres. Bush (31% approval):
14% Excellent
17% Good
16% Fair
52% Poor
1% Not Sure

Gov. Blagojevich (16% approval):
5% Excellent
11% Good
37% Fair
46% Poor
1% Not Sure

Since then another poll came out with Blago at 23% approval. Now today there is yet another survey that puts him at 31% (with 42% strongly disapprove). The fallout is causing talk of adding a recall provision to the state constitution. If that option were available he would lose in every segment of the population including in Chicago and among Democrats.

Why would he? He's not any less popular than Gray Davis, and Gray Davis didn't lose the recall so badly. Is Blagojevich also un-charamastic? In the recall election, if the counties had an electoral college, and there was no bonus electors, Gray Davis would not have been recalled. 

[HardRCafé]

He and the state senate president also won't let the senate vote on much of anything even though they have a supermajority.

[muon2]

It's pretty bad for the Gov in the polls. I posted this from Rasmussen a couple of weeks ago.

If you want vulnerable, check out the latest Rasmussen poll from IL. Gov Blagojevich is polling at half the approval rate of Bush.

Key numbers:
Pres. Bush (31% approval):
14% Excellent
17% Good
16% Fair
52% Poor
1% Not Sure

Gov. Blagojevich (16% approval):
5% Excellent
11% Good
37% Fair
46% Poor
1% Not Sure

Since then another poll came out with Blago at 23% approval. Now today there is yet another survey that puts him at 31% (with 42% strongly disapprove). The fallout is causing talk of adding a recall provision to the state constitution. If that option were available he would lose in every segment of the population including in Chicago and among Democrats.

Why would he? He's not any less popular than Gray Davis, and Gray Davis didn't lose the recall so badly. Is Blagojevich also un-charamastic? In the recall election, if the counties had an electoral college, and there was no bonus electors, Gray Davis would not have been recalled. 

He's actually quite telegenic and is execllent at staying on message. The precipitous drop this year is almost entirely do to the fueding with top leaders of his own party, leading to record gridlock in state government. The gridlock resulted in a much delayed budget with state shutdown imminent on one occasion. All through this time the Governor issued 16 special session proclamations whose sole purpose was to keep the Legislature in the capital, even though there was nothing to vote on.

After a budget was passed in August the Governor vetoed about 1 percent of the line items, but many of these directly impacted projects in House Democrat districts, who were seen as on the side of the Governor's nemesis the Speaker of the House. The Governor also sued the Speaker and House Clerk in moves to force the House to meet on his choice of dates. No action was taken against Senate Democrats since the Senate president reneged on his pledge to support all the August budget and insted supported the Governor's selective line item vetos.

School funding became a pawn. The full state portion of school funding was only released last week after many weeks of pressure and just before a key date that would have caused a negative recalculation of futre aid payments. This put many districts in the position of borrowing money and looking at staff cuts for next year. No one opposed the appropriation but the bill to release it was used as leverage between the House Speaker and Senate President.

Chicago area mass transit has been another big casualty of the infighting. A March audit pointed at a need to reform accountability and long term funding before the system went broke later in the year. The bill crafted in May hasn't moved due in large part due to the Governor's pledged veto. Instead, two doomsdays this fall that would shutdown half the bus lines in Chicago have been averted only by short term loans and grants cobbled together by the Governor at the last minute.

Note that these categories have huge impacts on some of the Democrats big constuencies: public service employees, teachers, and Chicagoans who depend on transit. The Republicans were already lost by the Governor's 9 B$ tax proposal floated in February, ongoing scandals involving key supporters, and neglect of many big issues in downstate IL. That doesn't leave many supporters.

[muon2]

Things seem to go from bad to worse for the Gov. This segment that aired on Wednesday has been all the talk for the last two days - enough so that other major media are commenting on it. What makes it all the more incredible is that the Gov knew this was going to air at least two days in advance and still took the actions the report notes that night.

[memphis]

Unlike Bob Taft, Blagojevich's unpopularity is not going to spill over into the Presidential race. No way is Illinois voting Republican for prez next year.

[ottermax]

Illinois should have voted Green...

[SamInTheSouth]

It's pretty bad for the Gov in the polls. I posted this from Rasmussen a couple of weeks ago.

If you want vulnerable, check out the latest Rasmussen poll from IL. Gov Blagojevich is polling at half the approval rate of Bush.

Key numbers:
Pres. Bush (31% approval):
14% Excellent
17% Good
16% Fair
52% Poor
1% Not Sure

Gov. Blagojevich (16% approval):
5% Excellent
11% Good
37% Fair
46% Poor
1% Not Sure

Since then another poll came out with Blago at 23% approval. Now today there is yet another survey that puts him at 31% (with 42% strongly disapprove). The fallout is causing talk of adding a recall provision to the state constitution. If that option were available he would lose in every segment of the population including in Chicago and among Democrats.

Is he going to make through his term or is he just going to resign by his own will or be forced to?

As the Tribune notes:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

There are some who anticipate that change could come from US Atty Fitzgerald. Generally though, no one expects any change until after the 2010 election.

I don't think Blagojevich should be recalled.  You guys just had an election last year and the voters decided to keep him knowing what an abomination he is.  Illinois made their bed and they can lay in it.

[Kevin]

Unlike Bob Taft, Blagojevich's unpopularity is not going to spill over into the Presidential race. No way is Illinois voting Republican for prez next year.

We know that but he can hurt the Democrats at the State and Local levels though.

[Verily]

Unlike Bob Taft, Blagojevich's unpopularity is not going to spill over into the Presidential race. No way is Illinois voting Republican for prez next year.

We know that but he can hurt the Democrats at the State and Local levels though.

Not really. He's unpopular because he's fighting with the Democrats in the state legislature. From an outsider's perspective, that would imply that the Democrats in the state legislature are popular.

[Хahar 🤔]

Blagojevich is Gray Davis, plain and simple. This has no impact on the netional level.

[muon2]

Blagojevich is Gray Davis, plain and simple. This has no impact on the netional level.

Perhaps, but IL has no recall provision, so the fighting is exacerbated by the prospect of no escape for the next three years. Don't discount the possible effect on national politics since Obama is a national candidate, and Blago would like to return to DC.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Unlike Bob Taft, Blagojevich's unpopularity is not going to spill over into the Presidential race. No way is Illinois voting Republican for prez next year.

We know that but he can hurt the Democrats at the State and Local levels though.

Not really. He's unpopular because he's fighting with the Democrats in the state legislature. From an outsider's perspective, that would imply that the Democrats in the state legislature are popular.

I'm not sure of the ins and outs of Illinois politics, but I severely doubt that the leaders of the state legislature are popular in the slightest.