A Virginia-based group that wanted to play in Illinois politics but didn't want to disclose its donors has lost round one in what could be an extended court battle.

The Center for Individual Freedom (CFIF) filed a federal lawsuit earlier this summer claiming that the state's contribution-disclosure laws for not-for-profits and political committees should be tossed out.

Lots of people are having trouble getting their heads around the fact that Republican state Senator Bill Brady may well be our next governor. This is, after all, a Democratic state.

But it's way past time to consider Brady a very real probability. Governor Pat Quinn's poll numbers, along with the economy and the state budget, are in the dumper. Scott Lee Cohen will likely target African-American voters and badly damage Quinn's chances. The Green Party's candidate won't help, either. And almost $2 million spent on TV ads attacking Brady on abortion, health care, and the minimum wage haven't yet worked.

I've told you this before, but I think it's even clearer now: This campaign looks more and more every day like the 1980 presidential campaign between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. We have the decent, honest person who can't seem to run a government up against a conservative guy who all the liberals love to hate.

There is no doubt whatsoever that Republicans in this state have every reason to cheer, and Democrats have all the reasons in the world to grumble.

Republicans have a fired-up, angry base that can't wait to vote. The Democratic base is morose, embarrassed at its party's failures, and in no mood to even think about voting.

Numerous pollsters and prognosticators have pointed to the eerie similarities between the public's mood now and at the same point in the huge Republican year of 1994 -- the last time we had a Democratic president facing his first midterm election.

Democrats throughout the country, and right here in Illinois, are pushing a two-pronged negative strategy to retain their hold on power in these uncertain times.

Governor Pat Quinn was in rare form last week as he attacked state Senator Bill Brady before his Republican opponent had a chance to get his own licks in.

Quinn was put in an extremely awkward position by his budget director, who indicated to an out-of-state reporter that the state's income-tax rate would be increased to 5 percent from its current 3 percent come January. Democrats were predictably stunned by the political stupidity of such a thing, and Republicans were predictably foaming at the mouth with outrage. The virulently anti-tax Brady quickly scheduled a press conference and we all knew what was coming: unadulterated vitriol.