Blago, David Duke And The Illinois Governor's Race

The Illinois gubernatorial election is gearing up to be a battle of the billionaires, with Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democratic frontrunner J.B. Pritzker spending a whooping $28 million over the last three months in the most expensive state election in Illinois history. The specter of two notorious figures — imprisoned ex-governor Rod Blagojevich and former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke — is also looming over the hotly contested race.

This week, a spokesman for Rauner confirmed that the governor's campaign will release another ad statewide featuring wiretap audio of Pritzker and Blagojevich. This time, the ad will include the entire 11-minute conversation between the ex-governor, who has since been convicted on corruption charges, and the billionaire venture capitalist.

The new ad comes after the Pritzker campaign complained that a previous campaign ad was selectively edited. Now, the Rauner campaign has promised to include the “full, unedited, original wiretap recording," according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

The previous ad featured one minute of conversation between Pritzker and Blagojevich from 2008, when the ex-governor was famously captured on federal wiretap attempting to "sell" Barack Obama's U.S. Senate seat after his election to the presidency. The now-infamous recordings were peppered with profane comments as Blagojevich discussed the appointment he could make and what he could get in exchange.

Although it was known that Blagojevich considered Pritzker for the Senate seat, Pritzker can be heard on the wiretaps asking Blagojevich to instead make him state treasurer. The latest Rauner ad notes, “What you will not hear is Pritzker rule out an appointment," the Sun-Times reported.

Prizker told WLS he "regrets the tone" of the conversation.

The new, longer ad will air across Illinois on Saturday and Sunday, according to the Rauner campaign.

Meanwhile, Rauner is facing backlash after being asked for his opinion on white supremacist David Duke during a radio interview on Martin Luther King Jr's birthday. Asked by WVON-AM host Charles Thomas if Duke is a racist, Rauner replied, "we have racism in our society."

Two days later, a spokesman for Rauner clarified that the governor does believe Duke is a racist, according to CBS News.

Rauner also declined to answer when asked if President Donald Trump is racist after the president reportedly used vulgar language to refer to Haiti and African countries, saying only," That language has no place in our political conversation." Thomas repeated, "But is he a racist?" only to get the same reply from Rauner.

Pritzker, meanwhile, seized on the opportunity to take Rauner to task for failing to condemn Trump's words more strongly.

"To have the governor of this state remain silent and refuse to call Trump what he clearly is — a racist — is an embarrassing insult to communities across Illinois. Bruce Rauner’s corrupt pact with Trump, ratified by his silence, must end," Pritzker said in a statement on Tuesday. Pritzker's campaign also included video of Rauner's radio interview, accusing him of "(dodging) questions on Trump's racism five times."

David Duke himself, meanwhile, appeared to appreciate Rauner's interview. His website posted an article with the headline "Illinois Gov Refuses to Call David Duke a Racist! & The Truth about the Real Racist Anti-White System in America!" The article included a meme with Rauner appearing to proclaim that Duke is not a racist.

Watch the original one-minute Rauner ad:

Watch the Pritzker campaign's take on Rauner's Martin Luther King Jr. Day radio interview:

Images: Rauner (left), State of Illinois. Pritkzer (right) via Pritzker campaign