The Statehouse is buzzing yet again with talk of a new gaming expansion plan. This time, the players say, they have their acts together. Really.

I'm always pretty skeptical of these big legislative pushes. Expanding gaming is one of the most difficult things to do. A big reason is that there's so much money involved with gaming that people get too greedy. Eventually, the bill suffocates under its own weight. Too many goodies are added to the Christmas tree.

The only time this ever works is when all the legislative leaders and the governor are pulling together. That's how gaming was expanded under Governor George Ryan and that's how video poker was legalized last year under Governor Pat Quinn. Everybody at the top, Democrat and Republican, worked together to get it done.

Decisions made by a governor in a far-away but strikingly similar state might actually influence our election right here in Illinois.

Just a week or so after Governor Pat Quinn lays out his state budget blueprint next month, recently elected New Jersey governor Chris Christie will do the same.

Illinois and New Jersey have more in common than you might think. They're not exactly alike by any means, but they're both Democratic-leaning states that have elected Republican governors in the past. They both have unemployment troubles, although New Jersey is better off than us right now, and they both have horrible state-budget problems.

Illinois' budget crisis is somewhat worse than New Jersey's, but they're similar enough that the two governors' budget plans will undoubtedly be compared. Illinois' budget deficit for next fiscal year, which starts in July, is projected at somewhere around $13 billion. New Jersey's upcoming red-ink total will be about $11 billion. The two states' operating budgets are about the same size.

Every night before an election day, I spend four or five hours on the phone with people I trust asking what they think will happen.

There are always a couple of races that will have them stumped, but I've never seen everybody perplexed about so many outcomes until the night before last week's election.

Take, for instance, the Democratic gubernatorial primary.

The Free & Equal Elections Foundation hosted an Illinois gubernatorial debate on Wednesday, January 27, at the University of Chicago. Seven candidates participated: Republicans Adam Andrzejewski and Dan Proft, Green Party candidate Richard Whitney, Libertarian Lex Green, Constitution Party nominee Randall Stufflebeam, independent Dock Walls, and independent Michael White.

Video from the debate is presented in two parts below.

The organization supports increasing ballot access and pledges to "challenge state ballot-access laws through legal challenges, lobbying of state legislators, petitioning, recall, initiative, and referendum efforts." It also says that "all ballot-qualified candidates should have the opportunity to participate in debates." Its Web site is FreeAndEqual.org.

Part 1

Part 2