Everyone knows that you don't squirt ketchup on a hot dog in a mustard state. Everyone except Bruce Rauner, that is.
Republican governor candidate broke Illinoisians' holy standard of hot dog-ordering on Tuesday when he asked Portillo's to dress up a dog with the overrated tomato condiment rather than the traditional (and far superior) yellow mustard.
That's a big no-no. Turns out the offending dog was meant for one of his staffers, but by the time Team Rauner clarified the incident, it was too late: News of the Winnetka venture capitalist's mistake had swiftly spread across social media; on Twitter, #Raunerdog and #hotdoggate hash tags had sprung up. The Daily Herald posted the video evidence. The damage was done.
Ketchup dogs, for shame @BruceRauner. #NoKetchupDogsForGov #TraditionsMatter #twill #RaunerDog pic.twitter.com/5f08na4zdM — Libertarian Party IL (@LPIllinois) October 28, 2014
Apparently it's an important rule. #HotDogGate #RaunerDog #ILGov2014 pic.twitter.com/DuNICfeohI — Jordan (@jordanradioshow) October 28, 2014
Local
Even if GTCR had invested in Portillo's, Bruce would not be on the board or have anything to do with stocking condiments #RaunerDog — Dan Mihalopoulos (@dmihalopoulos) October 28, 2014
If I was the Rauner campaign, I'd definitely want to kill a day by getting people to talk about how I put ketchup on a hot dog. — Scott Smith (@ourmaninchicago) October 28, 2014
But was the hot dog with ketchup for Rauner himself? Or someone in his group? Does it matter? What did he know and when did he know it? — Robert Loerzel (@robertloerzel) October 28, 2014
Moving to throw water on the controversy, Rauner press secretary Lyndsey Walters accepted blame.
Hey, that hot dog with ketchup was for me. What happened to a woman's right to choose? — Lyndsey Walters (@lyndseywalters) October 28, 2014
Gov. Pat Quinn, neck-in-neck with Rauner in a bitter race to hold on to his Springfield seat, addressed Hot Dog-Gate in a perfect tweet. (Bruce, you might win election next week, but you'll never live this down. Ever.)
This is how it's done. pic.twitter.com/jx5QpmzYyr — Quinn for Illinois (@QuinnForIL) October 28, 2014
Who's hungry?