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Quinn Staying Quiet As Republican Opponents Battle Each Other

(CBS) -- Governor Pat Quinn's self-imposed silence on all things political continued Tuesday.

The Governor was once again turning down requests for interviews and reaction to continued attacks by Republican Bruce Rauner.

CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine says it appears to be part of carefully constructed campaign strategy and says he is doing it because he can.

Quinn and Mayor Rahm Emanuel were joined today by Ervin Magic Johnson, the NBA Hall of Famer, who was casting his ballot with his billfold, investing in Chicago and Illinois by bringing several hundred insurance industry jobs here.

"When you have money to invest, we're looking for leadership, so both of them are great leaders," said Johnson.

Johnson has been here before, making both business and educational investments in the West Side. But after the big announcement, the Governor declined to talk about Republican Bruce Rauner's constant attacks on his leadership.

"We're not gonna talk about politics here today, we're gonna talk about what magic just said," said Quinn.

"If you have Magic Johnson's confidence that's pretty good for me and I think pretty good for Illinois and I think the Mayor would say the same thing."

He refused to take any questions this morning at Chicago's high tech incubator, 1871, or go off-topic yesterday at an event announcing proposed pet coke protections for suburbs.

Last week, when reporters tried to question him after an appearance thanking state workers, his press secretary cued him to ignore them.

When asked why Quinn won't go near the subject of Bruce Rauner, State Rep. Lou Lang said, "If I were Pat Quinn I wouldn't do that either. I would have let the guy implode so he was given a chance to implode on the minimum wage issue and he did, he flip-flopped all over the place like a fish you toss on the dock.

A source close to the Governor asks: why engage someone who hasn't even won the primary, Another Democratic official warns that it's premature to anoint Rauner the GOP standard bearer, and feels that other candidates in the field could be tougher for Quinn to beat.

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