"The Governor, at the beginning of each annual session of the General Assembly and at the close of his term of office, shall report to the General Assembly on the condition of the State and recommend such measures as he deems desirable." - Illinois Constitution

I don't know if Governor Pat Quinn glanced at the state Constitution before he jotted down his notes, but the rambled, jumbled, disjointed mess he delivered off the cuff last week was not a State of the State address.

According to two recent polls taken by Rasmussen Reports and one by the Chicago Tribune, Governor Pat Quinn has a detectable and significant problem with women voters, but a new development in the campaign might help the governor overcome this gender gap.

Rasmussen recently matched Republican gubernatorial frontrunner Jim Ryan against Democrats Quinn and Comptroller Dan Hynes. Ryan outpolled Quinn by seven points (46-39), but the former Republican attorney general trailed Hynes by two points (40-42).

What's going on? Well, the poll's internals show a stark difference among women voters. Ryan leads Quinn 45-36 among women, but Hynes reverses the result and leads Ryan 42-32 with women. That's a huge difference, but it seems to hold up when compared to other recent polling.

Last week we all celebrated -- or bemoaned -- the first anniversary of Rod Blagojevich's arrest. After Blagojevich was impeached and removed from office, I, like most others, thought that things were going to be different with Pat Quinn in charge.

But the Statehouse bickering continues and the gridlock over the state's paralyzing and mind-boggling budget deficit is almost as bad as ever. Heck, it may even be worse.

Four years ago during the last Republican gubernatorial primary, dairy magnate Jim Oberweis was sharply and widely criticized for running fake newspaper headlines in his TV ads. Now, it's happening again with a different wealthy gubernatorial hopeful.

Republican Andy McKenna's latest TV ad stays with his original theme of former Governor Rod Blagojevich's hair. The spot begins the same as his first ad, with a visual of a Blagojevich-like wig on top of the Statehouse and a Blagojevich look-alike walking into the shot. McKenna's first TV ad placed the wig on several previous governors, including George Ryan and Dan Walker, as well as on a baby. The hair is supposed to be a metaphor for the state's history of corruption.

The McKenna ad's announcer then claims the state faces an $11-billion deficit while "Governor Quinn hides the truth." The accompanying visual is the phrase: "Quinn hides the truth," and a reference to a November 18 Chicago Tribune article.

Trouble is, the Tribune published no such article with that headline. The article itself is about a contentious public debate between Quinn and his Democratic primary rival Dan Hynes, but nowhere in the article does Hynes accuse Quinn of "hiding" anything.