The Illinois Republican Party’s process of filling its 1998 statewide election slate seems a little strange.
Party bigwigs convinced Illinois Comptroller Loleta Didrickson to run for the U.S. Senate. She had already openly declared her desire to run for secretary of state because she wanted to work for the people of Illinois from a state office, not a federal one. But the GOP convinced her to run for the federal job so they would have a moderate woman running against Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun. How inspiring.
Then the GOP gubernatorial candidate, George Ryan, handpicks a no-name, generally inexperienced state representative, Corinne Wood, for lieutenant governor–not because she showed a huge desire for the job but because Ryan needs a moderate woman on the ticket to offset his conservative tendencies (read anti-abortion stance).
And all these years I thought the GOP was against quotas.
