Niles Rally Draws Quinn, Madigan and Preckwinkle

Illinois Democrats brought the big guns in the party, including Gov. Pat Quinn and Attorney General Lisa Madigan, to Niles on Sunday to inject some energy into a get-out-the-vote rally for U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky.

Toni Preckwinkle, a candidate for Cook County Board president, and a complement of Democratic candidates for state representative and senator also took their turn at the lectern at White Eagle Banquets. 

After praising Schakowsky's performance in Congress, Quinn took the opportunity in this anemic economy to link Democrats with job creation.

"I'm the jobs governor," he said, adding that the Put Illinois to Work campaign has put 26,000 people to work from early May to Sept. 30, when it ended.

"When people have a J-O-B, that's the best way to fight poverty," said Quinn, who faces a stiff Republican challenge to remain governor after replacing the ousted Rod Blagojevich.

Madigan similarly started off by heralding Schakowsky, calling her a fearless leader, then stressing her own performance as the lawyer for the most vulnerable in the state. After Illinois passed the first law in the country that requires DNA collected after a sexual assault to be tested, Madigan said it couldn't have passed without the legislature voting on it, the governor signing it and the resources necessary to make it happen.

"The very week it was passed, Jan Schakowsky said she would work to find a federal earmark to ensure we have the resources in Illinois to prosecute sexual offenders, get them out of our communities and protect the children and women who are the primary victims of sexual assault," Madigan said.

Moving from the state level to Cook County, Preckwinkle jolted supporters and campaign workers in the audience with a number.

"I have a disturbing statistic. Between the primary in 2008 and the primary in 2010, we lost 800,000 Democratic voters in Cook County," she said, referring the turnout during nonpresidential election years.

"It's important for us to remind friends, neighbors and family how important this election is," added Preckwinkle, the alderwoman in Chicago's 4th Ward.  

After the rally, Alex Armour, the Schakowsky campaign's political director, said that in Illinois' 9th Congressional District, about 80,000 more people voted in the 2008 presidential election than in the 2006 midterm election, a difference of about 25 percent.

"This rally was meant to focus attention on these mobilizable voters who are likely to vote Democratic," he said.