Illinois recently elected Bruce Rauner, a businessman Republican with no previous electoral experience, as Governor. Rauner may have been in office only two months, but he could already be gearing up for a Presidential run, said William S. Bike, author of Winning Political Campaigns: A Comprehensive Guide to Electoral Success.

          "Nobody really was sure what Rauner was going to do once in office," Bike said. "He ran as a Republican, but he also talked about State employees getting their full pensions, and he is close friends with Chicago's Democratic Mayor Rahm Emanuel."

          Now that he is in office, Rauner is taking positions that appeal more to the national GOP base than to the Illinois GOP, Bike noted.

          "Illinois has always had moderate Republican voters and moderate Republican Governors, most recently Jim Thompson, Jim Edgar, and George Ryan," Bike said. "But Rauner, now that he is in office, is taking more conservative positions than those of his Republican predecessors."

          For example, Rauner recently issued an executive order to State agencies not to collect so-called "fair share" fees from state employees not in unions but covered by union contracts.

          "This affects only a small number of state workers and will not impact the state budget, and fair share was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1980s," Bike explained. "This fight looks like one designed to appeal to the more conservative national GOP base than to Illinois's generally moderate Republicans."

          Bike noted that Rauner's recent state budget proposal cuts funding for social programs and for one of the biggest Democratic Party strongholds in the nation, Chicago, but increases funding for prison personnel.

          "These are popular moves with conservatives across the nation, and give Governor Rauner immediate conservative credentials," Bike said. "He doesn't really need them in Illinois, but he does if he plans on running for President or Vice President."

          Would 2016 be too early for such a Rauner run? "Not at all," Bike said. "Ronald Reagan had been a Governor for only two years when he ran for President in 1968," Bike said. "For the 2016 race, the GOP lacks a candidate with both a mainstream business background and conservative credentials. Investment banker Rauner already had the former, and now he's establishing the latter. There is no favorite for the Republican Presidential nomination in 2016, so the field is wide open."

          Even if Rauner doesn't achieve the Presidential nomination, he could be on the GOP ticket as a Vice Presidential candidate, Bike noted.

          "If the Presidential candidate is Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, or Marco Rubio, all Senators from the South, Rauner, a Northern Governor who also is an establishment businessman, would give a ticket with any of those firebrands at the top some gravitas and balance," Bike said.

"Things move fast in politics today," Bike added. "Barack Obama was in his only term as Senator, and Sarah Palin was in her only term as Governor, when they ended up on the national ticket. Governor Rauner is certainly aware of the possibility for a meteoric rise."

More political analysis can be found in Winning Political Campaigns: A Comprehensive Guide to Electoral Success, a how-to e-book providing information on everything a candidate, campaign worker, or activist needs to know to conduct a political race.

          Winning Political Campaigns was written by Bike, an award winning journalist, public relations professional, and political pundit who has appeared on many radio and television broadcasts, including CNN. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhZYkyRx-C4.

          Winning Political Campaigns is available on Smashwords at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/149191 and Amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/Winning-Political-Campaigns-Comprehensive-ebook/dp/B007U7C31K/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1334443628&sr=8-2

          The two previous Denali Press print editions of Winning Political Campaigns were highly acclaimed. "From a practical, political operations standpoint, it is the best book out, yet," said reviewer Hank Landa of Political Book Reviews.

          Winning Political Campaigns "provides essential tools, practical pointers, and valuable advice about running campaigns successfully," writes Fran Ulmer, former Lieutenant Governor of Alaska.

          Covering everything from advertising to building alliances, proper business practices, campaign literature, candidate behavior, media, voter contact, debating, fundraising, strategy, and more, Winning Political Campaigns is extremely thorough and detailed, yet easy to use. Real-life examples are drawn not only form the political world, but from the worlds of sport, higher education, history, and more.

          Innovations by the Obama and Tea Party campaigns, the Citizens United Supreme Court decision on fundraising, new uses for social media and digital advertising in campaigns, and much more state-of-the-science information and campaign innovations that have become part of the scene since the last edition, are included. They make the third edition of Winning Political Campaigns a must for candidates and staff for campaigns at any level.

          Particularly useful are appendices including a sample itinerary for a political event, an event planning checklist, resource organizations expert on various issues, media terms, a sample news release and direct mail piece, and more.

          One reason the book is so comprehensive is because few other authors can combine Bike's background of having been a candidate, officeholder, political worker and volunteer, journalist, historian, public relations officer, publications director, government employee, fundraiser, and budget director.

Previous editions of Winning Political Campaigns have not only been used by campaigns, but as textbooks for college and university courses at Harvard University and other institutions of higher learning.

          "At a time when a majority of Americans do not participate in the political process, a process with deep impact on the lives of every American…Bill Bike is waging a campaign for involvement—meaningful involvement," said Congressman Danny K. Davis of Illinois. "Winning Political Campaigns is designed to enable ordinary citizens to take back their government, to be heard, to win. It is a timely and useful book and we welcome it."

          "Let the telegenic beltway pundits propound ponderous theories on the state of democracy in the U.S.," wrote Booklist magazine. "Chicago communications consultant Bike offers the view from the trenches… Bike offers well-organized, very detailed advice on virtually every subject a candidate's support team should consider…."

          For more information, contact Central Park Communications at (773) 229-0024 or http://www.centralparkcommunications.com.     -30-