Here's the latest from the Democratic gubernatorial primary ...

New Poll Shows Quinn And Hynes Even Against GOP

A Rasmussen survey released today suggests that both Gov. Pat Quinn and Democratic challenger Dan Hynes would fare about the same against three of the possible GOP gubernatorial nominees: Andy McKenna, Bill Brady, and Kirk Dillard.  Their write-up of the poll states that Hynes runs "slightly stronger" -- and they really mean "slightly."  In a one-on-one matchup against McKenna, Hynes has a two percentage-point advantage over Quinn.  He has a one percentage-point edge against both Brady and Dillard.

As Capitol Fax notes, Rasmussen bizarrely chose not to test the Democratic candidates against Republican frontrunner Jim Ryan.  Oops.

Early Release Fallout Continues

For those who haven't been following the "early release" controversy -- which emerged as a campaign issue this week -- here is a quick rundown.

The "early release" policy in question is the Department of Correction's "meritorious good time" program, or “MGT Push."  This is entirely separate from the early release program that Quinn announced earlier in the year (under which 117 inmates had been sent home as of last week).

Under MGT, IDOC chief Michael Randle may grant any inmate 90 days' worth of credit based on their behavior behind bars. The program was aimed at saving hundreds of millions of dollars as the state faces a massive budget deficit.

The AP, however, found that hundreds of inmates were given the good-conduct credit immediately upon entering prison, and more than 850 inmates have been released under the program since September. By immediately awarding them discretionary good-conduct credit, IDOC appeared to abandon a policy requiring inmates to serve at least 61 days. The AP also found that "more than 100" inmates with past convictions for drunken driving, battery and weapons violations spent mere weeks behind bars before release.

On Sunday, Quinn ordered an exam by his chief of staff and Department of Corrections Director Michael Randle.  But his public statements about the program over the past week have created a great deal of confusion, leading Hynes spokesman Matt McGrath to describe him as "all over the place" on the issue.  Meanwhile, the State Journal-Register editorial board posed a few questions to the governor yesterday:

* Quinn told reporters Wednesday that the policy change wasn’t a secret, as the AP described it in its story, and that Randle had briefed newspaper editorial boards across the state on it, including us.

That seems to contradict the Quinn administration’s statement in the AP story — that MGT Push was separate from the early-release program announced in September, which calls for 1,000 inmates to be released early. That was the program Randle outlined to us.
He did not discuss MGT Push. We reviewed a transcript of the meeting, and Randle never mentioned that inmates could be awarded discretionary good time credit in advance of starting their sentence. Why not?

* Quinn said Wednesday that he signed off on the program. Why? And did he know some inmates convicted of violent offenses would be released?

Expect to hear a good deal more about this story between now and primary day.

White Endorses Quinn

Secretary of State Jesse White threw his support behind Quinn this week. Here's a video produced by the campaign following the endorsement:

And the latest episode of "Quinn Stories" features Dr. Quentin Young:

Walls And Scanlan Exit Race

The other two Democratic candidates for governor, William "Doc" Walls and Ed Scanlan, will not be appearing on the February 2 ballot, after all.  The Tribune reports that Walls withdrew from the race and Scanlan was removed by the Board of Elections.