What to this point has been a temperate Democratic gubernatorial primary turned warmer Monday when the four candidates vying to take on presumptive Republican nominee George Ryan in November squared off in a debate aired live from Springfield.

The debate was the second of nine contests scheduled before the March 17 primary and served to sharpen a fuzzy picture of four candidates, whose agendas have blurred before a seemingly uninspired electorate. Topics discussed during the hour-long match ranged from the proposed Peotone airport to mega-hog farms.

According to a recent Chicago Tribune poll, Roland Burris, former Attorney General and state Comptroller, has run away with an 18-point lead over Rep. Glenn Poshard, D-Ill. He leads former U.S. Justice Department official John Schmidt by 24 points and retired U.S. Attorney Jim Burns by 25.

Advertisement

To many pundits and political professionals this suggests Burris, a four-time statewide candidate, has the highest name recognition among the field. Unfortunately for Poshard, Schmidt and Burns, their numbers have not budged since the first Tribune poll six weeks ago.

John Jackson, political analyst, contends voters oftentimes find it difficult to distinguish between candidates in a four-way primary. Despite this, he is surprised by the stagnation of Poshard, Schmidt and Burns, who have failed to generate enough momentum to break out of the pack and challenge Burris.

The lack of movement is the most surprising thing in there, he said. It’s hard in a multi-candidate race for one candidate to separate themselves from the rest of the field.

This trend, however, may die if voters listening to the debate Monday respond to the some of the issues highlighted during it.

Though Schmidt attacked the Democratic front-runner on gun control and the proposed Peotone airport, Burris emerged from the debate shaken but not scathed. The majority of the bickering occurred between Schmidt and Poshard, who warred over gun control, education funding and transportation.

At one point, Schmidt criticized Poshard’s recent anti-crime proposal press release that failed to include the word guns.

In the end the key issue is have we demonstrated a willingness to confront and challenge the NRA and the gun lobby and fight for these measures? Schmidt said.

Advertisement*

I got to tell you, only a candidate supported by the NRA would put out a two-page anti-crime initiative for the state of Illinois that never mentions the word guns.

Poshard ignored the assault on his crime proposal and attacked Schmidt for taking credit for the 1994 Crime Bill and COPS program, legislation that was passed before Schmidt entered the Justice Department. Though Schmidt admits it was crafted before he took office, he contends his responsibilities included its implementation and enforcement.

Schmidt pushed the gun-control issue further, chastising Poshard for voting to repeal the assault weapons ban.

[Poshard] voted to repeal that assault weapons ban when I was fighting to preserve it, he said.

Poshard fired back, I’ve had a strong law-enforcement record my entire career irrespective of one vote I may have cast which [Schmidt] wants to bring up in every debate we have.

Schmidt, before answering the next question, addressed Poshard’s statement with one final blow.

It’s not just one vote, he said. It wasn’t one vote to repeal the assault weapons ban, although that one vote in my mind is serious enough. It was the vote against the Brady Bill. It was what the NRA described as a 100 percent voting record.

To complement an assault weapons ban, Schmidt also supports a plan that would bar gun purchasers from acquiring more than one handgun in a 30-day period to prevent straw purchasing and a proposal that requires all gun sales to go through licensed dealers or state police.

This exchange characterized much of the debate as Poshard and Schmidt continued to pummel each other while Burns and Burris remained relatively sober. Burris did step into the fray at one point and responded to an attack mounted by Schmidt regarding the proposed Peotone airport. Schmidt criticized Burris and Poshard, who support the airport, of ignoring the financial risks and the effect such a venture might have on Midway Airport.

I really think [Burris] and [Poshard] and others who support the concept of a third airport need to explain to the 50,000 people whose jobs depend on Midway Airport what’s going to happen to them if we go forward, he said.

Burris asserted the construction of a third airport in Peotone would not affect Midway and ultimately would create thousands of jobs while stimulating transportation and the economy.

[Chicago] Mayor [Richard] Daley was going to build an airport (the proposed Lake Calumet airport) and within five months we would have been landing airplanes in Lake Calumet, Burris said. It’s all politics on the third airport. They would have built an airport and it wouldn’t have hurt Midway either.

Other issues tackled Monday were education funding, funding for the Illinois Department of Transportation and the proposed HMO bill of rights.