After months of indecision, former Republican Governor Jim Edgar finally announced Friday that he wouldn't run for Illinois governor. Edgar's months-long decision-making process often strained the patience of many political insiders, but it created an excitement that was too thick to cut with an ax.
Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich last week started showing a little of that "new way" of doing business that he has promised for so many years but so often failed to deliver. Since day one, Governor Blagojevich has been deep in the pockets of the state's utility industry.
The U.S. Attorney's office allowed two guilty-plea agreements to weave a sinister tale last week about an alleged "fundraising strategy" supposedly headed by Governor Rod Blagojevich. The alleged "strategy" was designed to strong-arm firms seeking business with the Teachers Retirement System and other state boards into hiring do-nothing consultants who would then kick money back to the governor's campaign fund.
You might have heard that another poll is showing former Governor Jim Edgar with a commanding lead over Governor Rod Blagojevich. The poll, taken late last month by the Judy Baar Topinka campaign, has Edgar leading Blagojevich 51 to 38.
It shouldn't have been much of a surprise that Republican gubernatorial candidate Jim Oberweis hogged the spotlight at last week's annual Illinois State Fair Republican Day event. Oberweis' three statewide campaigns have provided ample evidence that he has a propensity for making outrageous claims designed to focus media attention on himself.
You probably don't know this, but Illinois Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn has attended all but three of the 92 wakes and/or funerals held for Illinois servicemen and -women who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan. The three he missed (because he was out-of-state) were attended by a top member of his staff.
There are some important milestones in every statewide campaign. The benchmark polling is the first. In the race for governor, Judy Baar Topinka won that one hands down, but wasn't as far ahead, perhaps, as she should have been.
A little-remembered 1975 Illinois law might cause a whole lot of trouble in the coming year or two. The Illinois Abortion Law of 1975 was passed in reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade opinion, which overruled most state laws banning abortion.
It's now becoming clear to people around Richard M. Daley that the Chicago mayor himself might very well have a fat federal target on his back. Up until last week, most people figured that the mayor would never be personally touched by the ongoing federal probe into his administration.
The level of arrogance and political stupidity exhibited by wealthy office-seekers never ceases to amaze me. Long before the media got wind of it last year, much of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Blair Hull's top staff knew about the police report that alleged Hull struck his then-wife during a late-night argument.

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