Illinois 2010 Elections: Illinois GOP Treasurer Candidate Dan Rutherford Rolls Out New Campaign Team

(Chicago, IL) – November 25, 2009. Republican Candidate for Illinois State Treasurer State Senator Dan Rutherford (R-Pontiac) has tapped a top-flight campaign team for his 2010 statewide bid.

New York-based McLaughlin & Associates will serve as the campaign pollster and strategist, while Virginia-based Wilson Grand Communications will supply the media advisor.

McLaughlin clients have included Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Paul Wilson, who has worked with Rutherford in the past, has helped spearhead communications for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, a gaggle of U.S. Senators, and Governors.

To help finance the operation, Rutherford, who was elected to the Senate in 2002 after a 10-year stint in the Illinois House, has hired Illinois-based Lisa Wagner and Company to lead the fund raising efforts. Wagner has been instrumental in raising money for Mitt Romney’s well-financed but fizzled run for President, and former U.S. Speaker Denny Hastert.

“We have assembled an ‘A’ Team,” said Rutherford.

He has.

But Rutherford has long-been a one-man media whirl. He has regularly courted the traditional—but shrinking—news media while early and aggressively harnessing new social media platforms such as YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook–currently clocking in at 3,418 fans–and courting bloggers.

Someone over 40 who gets social media. Imagine.

Rutherford, who started 2009 with $400,241 in bank, has been on a fund-raising tear across the state and faces no opponent in the GOP primary on February 2, 2010.

Next week, State Senator Pam Althoff and State Rep. Michael Tryon help Rutherford bring in some dough by headlining a fund-raising breakfast in Crystal Lake on Thursday, December 3 at 7:30 a.m.

The early political birds will gather for a some red meat-and-eggs at the 1776 Restaurant located at 397 Virginia Street.