COMIN’ OUT HARD Not a full day after locking up the Democratic
nomination for governor, Gov. Rod Blagojevich came out swinging, unveiling ads attacking his opponent,
GOP hopeful Judy Baar Topinka, and inviting her to participate in a series of debates.
That’s funny, given that throughout the Democratic primary campaign
Blago claimed that he was too preoccupied with governing to play politics
with his opponents. (I guess he was just playing possum). More maneuvering came on Saturday, when Blagojevich
the governor asked Topinka the treasurer to flip-flop and get behind his
assault-weapons ban. It was good move, politically. If Topinka, a
self-described social moderate, moves on the gun issue and persuades other
Republicans to get on board, the governor gets all the credit. Should she
give Blagojevich the trigger finger, Topinka loses some support among
left-leaning independent voters and creates some distance between the two
candidates, who, many believe are in ideological lockstep on social issues.
LANE LOVERS U.S. Rep. Lane Evans announced this week that he wouldn’t seek another
term in Congress because of his struggle with Parkinson’s disease. By
3 o’clock Tuesday afternoon, Lane’s House colleague and fellow
Illinois Democrat Jan Schakowsky, House Minority Leader Nancy
Pelosi, U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Barack Obama of Illinois, and U.S.
Sen. John Kerry,
D-Mass., had released statements praising Evans for his service to his
country as a Marine and on Capitol Hill. By 3:01 p.m., speculation about who would run for
Evans’ soon-to-be-vacant seat in the historically Democratic 17th
District had started to swirl. According to The
Hill, a Washington, D.C.-based newspaper that
covers Congress, two notable names floating as possible Evans successors
are Knox County State’s Attorney Paul
Mangieri, who just lost a bid for state
treasurer, and retired former Illinois Department of Natural Resources
director Joel Brunsvold. Springfield Ward 2 Ald. Frank McNeil, who’s facing term
limits, also tells Illinois Times that a run at Evans’ spot is “definitely
under consideration.” “What do we have to lose?,” he
asks. WHAT RADOGNO KNOWS State Sen. Christine
Radogno, R-Lemont, who wants to be
Illinois’ next state treasurer, is hitting the university circuit,
trying to explain to college kids that “one day the bill is going to
come” for Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s social programs. First she explains what a pension is. Then Radogno
tries to tell her audience how pensions work. Finally she’s gotta
hope that the late-teen and early-twentysomething listeners aren’t
offended when she says that, at age 30, opponent Alexi Giannoulias is still too
wet behind the ears to do the job. Radogno, speaking at the University of Illinois at
Springfield on Tuesday, says the fact that Giannoulias beat his own party
machine, with the support of heavy hitters like U.S. Sen. Barack Obama,
doesn’t worry her as much as the fact that the youthful Democrat is
loaded — not only is he rich, but his campaign had four times as much
money, according to the most recent disclosure reports. However, Radogno takes solace in the knowledge that
self-funded millionaires, among them such local boys as Jim Oberweis, Ron Gidwitz, and Blair Hull, don’t always fare
well in statewide elections.
This article appears in Mar 30 – Apr 5, 2006.
