Illinois Presidential Primary: The Day of Reckoning Has Arrived

After months and months of listening to these people talk, Illinoisans finally get their say in picking a presidential nominee. And for the first primary in a long while, the votes will matter.

By the time Illinoisans get a chance to vote, the fields traditionally have been cleared by the early contests in Iowa, New Hampshire and the Super Tuesday states. More often than not, with the Illinois primary rendered irrelevant, our votes have been nothing but a symbolic exercise in democracy.

But March 15, 2016, your votes really matter for both Republicans and Democrats, as they do in Ohio, Florida and North Carolina. This is Super Tuesday 2, a second chance for frontrunners to move ahead and insurgents to sow even more uncertainty and doubt.

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Who gets your vote?

Will it be the person who embodies your hopes and dreams, true believer, the shining example of your perfect president to be?

The accomplished woman, who grew up in suburban Chicago, with decades of practical experience in government and on the world stage dealing diplomatically with our allies and enemies, who could be the nation's first female president? The frank, independent billionaire who calls 'em as he sees 'em, unabashedly, with fervor, vowing to "Make America Great Again" and make our enemies fear us?

Or the independent maverick who would uplift the poor and downtrodden, who would send everyone to college, who would expand universal healthcare and cast out the moneychangers of Wall Street? Perhaps the strident arch-conservative, hated by many of the leading figures in his own party for his independent streak, who marches to the beat of his own drummer? Or the young senator with the compelling story of how he rose from humble Cuban immigrant roots? Or the determined, business-minded governor with the job-creation record who seems to talk more common sense than the others with whom he shares the stage?

They all seem kind of awesome and capable.

However, politics ain't beanbag, to quote the fictional Mr. Dooley. Everyone is tarred by the opponent's smeary brush. There are no white knights on the Super Pac-bricked road to the White House. And knowing that, will your vote go to the Giant Douche or the Turd Sandwich?

The striving, shrill, harpie first-lady-turned-senator-turned-secretary-of-state whose every other word is a lie and who probably should be indicted for what's in her email and Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi! Or the hateful, blithering, billionaire opportunist-misogynist-racist with a predilection for war crimes, who wants to make Mexico pay for a border wall and bar all Muslims from entering the U.S., whose self-serving statements bear no resemblance to the truth but bear a remarkable resemblance to fascism, whose wife (No. 3) posed for nude photos, who could be the nation's first president with a hair transplant!

Or the American socialist who's really a communist and a total fabulist who wants to tax away all your money and redistribute your cash to the welfare cheats. Or the liar born in Canada with the scary, narrow constitutional vision who could be murdered in the senate with impunity because no fellow senator would convict. Or the dry-mouthed lightweight who needs to wet his whistle every five minutes. Or the seemingly normal governor who wants to sneak his policy fingers into every woman's babymaker.

They all seem kind of scary and disastrous.

Just know, if you make the wrong choice, there could be hell to pay. The skies could fill with thunder and lightning and a torrential rain may wash down upon you. Hail may plummet to the earth, damaging winds may batter us. A tornado or two might even rip across Illinois. Yes, that really could happen. The National Weather Service says so.

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However you see your preferred candidate, hero or hellhound, your vote actually matters this time. That's why every presidential candidate has been pouring time and money into Illinois the last two weeks, hoping to snare that vote and the precious delegates that come with victory.

Well, every candidate except for the only one endorsed by the Chicago Tribune, who also happens to have collected the most money from individual Illinois Republican campaign donors. (That would be Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, trailing in everybody's polls with absolutely no chance of winning Illinois or even his home state of Florida.)

We've really experienced a rare treat this election season, with appearances in the Land of Lincoln by Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton and Republican frontrunner Donald Trump. With big rallies for surging Democratic hopeful Bernie Sanders, and strong, grassroots appearances by Republicans Ted Cruz and John Kasich.

Late Monday night, Sanders hosted a packed town hall at Roosevelt University in Chicago on the heels of a Friday-night rally attended by thousands in the south suburbs. Sanders supporters began lining up 10 hours before the doors opened.

It's almost like he's like an elderly, Jewish Beyonce.

Clinton has campaigned in Chicago with Geneva Reed-Veal, whose daughter Sandra Bland, of Naperville, died under questionable circumstances in a Texas jail cell. Actor Morgan Freeman has cut TV ads for Clinton. She appeared Monday at the Plumbers Union Hall in Chicago, her second visit here since last Thursday.

Trump appeared in downstate Bloomington for a rally, a safe distance from Chicago where activists and protesters intimidated Trump's campaign into canceling his speech at the University of Illinois at Chicago Friday night.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich rallied his supporters in DuPage County last week, a Republican stronghold, telling them "don't be thinking it's over yet" and touting his record. If he wins Ohio, that changes the complexion of the race heading toward the GOP convention in Cleveland this summer. (He also compared himself to Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner ... which probably wasn't the best of comparisons to make.)

Ted Cruz was a hot commodity. He gathered with suburban Republicans and spoke at a Lincoln Day dinner in Rolling Meadows last week. On Monday, Cruz barnstormed around the state, speaking in Decatur, Rockford, Peoria and Glen Ellyn about his three key issues: jobs, freedom and security.

The last presidential candidate to make an appearance in Decatur? That would be Ronald Reagan, native son of Illinois.

Cruz, pointing out how his rival Trump had contributed campaign money to disgraced, imprisoned Illinois ex-governor Rod Blagojevich, had one of the best stump-speech lines of the week, too.

"How high would your temperature have to be … where you wake up and say, ‘I know, I need to give seven grand to Blago?” Cruz asked to peals of laughter.

Trump also gave Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel $50,000. He gave a lot of Democrats money. Even Hillary Clinton.

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It seems but a distant memory that this primary season began with an air of unchallenged inevitability surrounding Clinton's candidacy on the one side and 17 candidates in a Republican clown car on the other — a field so absurdly packed that debates were segregated into two tiers: the outrageously absurd and the irrelevantly absurd.

This election has so defied expectations, the contender many picked to co-headline Clinton vs. Bush II, known as Jeb! to his tepid base of support, proved to be no contender at all.

And so here we are, at our day of decision with six still standing.

If the Republican field can deny frontrunner Trump more delegates, they could maneuver to deny him the nomination at the convention this summer.

And for the Democrats, the RCP average has Clinton leading Sanders by 2.3 points, with 48.3 percent of the vote to Sanders' 46 percent. Though Clinton leads in the delegate count, she would really prefer to nail the door shut on Sanders sooner rather than later.

And that, folks, explains why everyone is fighting so hard for your vote.

Perhaps you cast an early ballot already. Or you're striding into your polling place today.

Perhaps you're voting with a swell of pride in your patriotic heart for the white knight who deserves four years in the White House, who will make our lives and our country better. Or you're holding your nose and voting for the least objectionable turd sandwich.

Whatever the case may be, you're making history in the grand experiment of self governance our forebears launched us on almost two-and-a-half centuries ago.

They probably never imagined an election quite like this one, either.