“I think he’s a better person for the state of Illinois and people of Illinois than Quinn. Period. That’s it,” Ditka said in a phone interview Monday with Early & Often, the Chicago Sun-Times political portal. “It’s about choices in life. This is my choice. I would choose to vote for [Rauner] if I was living in Illinois. But I don’t.

“It doesn’t matter if I’m qualified or not. What’s ‘qualification’? Is Quinn qualified? I don’t know,” Ditka said. “The other man ran a business, very successful. He made a lot of money, paid a lot of people, helped a lot of people. What’s Quinn’s qualifications? Who’s qualified for what?

“You qualified to interview me? I think so,” he continued. “It’s not too complicated. It’s only common sense.”