However you feel about John McCain and his speech last night, one thing's for sure: He was standing in front of what looked like a green screen for a good portion of it. On the wide shots, you could see it wasn't a green screen so much as the shot of a lush lawn in front a a white building. That building? Walter Reed...Middle School, in North Hollywood, California. [ABC News]......

Is Governor Sarah Palin going to sit down with Oprah? Not any time soon, despite a Drudge Report story today that claims Harpo staffers are lobbying to have her on. Oprah's staff is sharply divided on the merits of booking Sarah Palin, sources tell the [Drudge Report.] "Half of her staff really wants Sarah Palin on," an insider explains. "Oprah's website is getting tons of requests to put her on, but Oprah and a couple......

Screw Obama. Screw McCain. Cressbeckler is the man for the job!......

Local musician Ellie Maybe has created a website chronicling her devotion to, and BFF relationship with, GOP VPILF Sarah Palin.......

As everyone gears up for Sarah Palin's big speech tonight—I for one have never been this excited to hear an Alaskan governor's address—members of the Illinois Republican delegation are "banished to the farthest, most unnoticed corner of the hall where the Republican National Convention is being held." The Illinois GOP is apparently "weak and demoralized," and struggling to find strong candidates and a clear party mission, especially for a 2010 gubernatorial campaign. [Crain's]......

The GOP has altered their convention plans, scuttling what could've been a day of pomp and circumstance. But perhaps they can still get themselves in the mood by watching a flick or two ... 1. Primary Colors (1998, directed by Mike Nichols) A scathing, fly-on-the-wall view of presidential politics centering on a philandering, utterly charming Southern governor as he runs for the White House. Sound familiar? Maybe not: dirty deals, foul language, adultery and even......

Governor Blagojevich's administration notified 325 state workers this week that they're being laid off. Luckily, it's mostly people responsible for the welfare of children, so it's no bigs. Hardest hit was the Department of Children and Family Services, which will lose 179 staffers. The Department of Human Services will fire 73 people, the Department of Natural Resources will lay off 39, and the Historic Preservation Agency will lose 34. Also getting the shaft? State parks......

John McCain has chosen Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate. According to a statement from the McCain camp, In Alaska, Governor Palin challenged a corrupt system and passed a landmark ethics reform bill. She has actually used her veto and cut budgetary spending. She put a stop to the "bridge to nowhere" that would have cost taxpayers $400 million dollars. As the head of Alaska's National Guard and as the mother of......

8:53 ML: OK, we're gearing up in these parts, watching some goofy dancing and getting excited for Senator Dick Durban. Tonight, we'll have me (ML) and Marcus (MG) bloggin' up a storm. Join us, won't you? 8:56 ML: This sounds like the Oscar announcements so far. I remember watching Barack Obama's speech in my first post-collegiate apartment four years ago, and it's pretty exciting to be doing this—this way—tonight. Lincoln reference! 8:57 MG: Durbin makes......

As much as we'd like to think there's a couple fingers of bourbon in that glass, we doubt it. But since political conventions are traditionally festivals of drunkenness, and seeing as how so many of us are going to be huddled around the television tonight, we figured it might not be a bad idea to lay out some ground rules for some drinking and viewing. Oh, and if you're going to be around a laptop......

"I think I'm a great governor," Blagojevich told reporters in Denver today. "There's no reason to think that I don't want to keep doing this job." Hm, what's that lesson my parents tried to teach me as a child? That just because I want something doesn't mean...ah, I forget. [Crain's]......

Wow, and I thought everyone saying "can't we all just get along?" on The Hills this week was moving. FotS and WBEZ correspondent Justin Kaufmann sends along this video from the Illinois delegation's breakfast in Denver this morning. Hugs for everyone! [WBEZ]......

Today's things-that-make-you-say-ah: [Mayor Daley's brother Bill] Daley, a former Commerce secretary in President Bill Clinton's administration and the 2000 campaign manager of former Vice President Al Gore's presidential campaign, told reporters at the Illinois delegation’s meeting that it would not be wrong for them to mention him as a potential candidate [for governor]. Wonderful! Daley says he'll think more seriously about the run starting in 2009. [Trib]......

Barack Obama and the rest of the Democratic party converge on Denver to, among other things, unify the group after the drawn out primary season continues to divide Democrats into two camps: those who support Obama and the fans of Hillary. But Obama apparently has no intentions of trying to similarly unify the fans of Chicago's two baseball teams. If anything, he's still fueling the rivalries when it comes to our national past time. Asked......

Delmarie Cobb, a Chicago political consultant, says State Senate President Emil Jones called her an "Uncle Tom" at hotel where the Illinois delegation is staying in Denver. Cobb, who is black, is a Hillary Clinton delegate, and says she and Jones were arguing about Clinton vs. Obama. "Then he came up behind me. He said 'Thirty-five thousand people went to Springfield [to support Obama on Saturday],'" she said. "I said, 'Then 35,000 people drank the......

Niles Mayor Nicholas Blase is set to retire today after 47 years in office. The 80-year-old great-grandfather is facing federal charges of accepting more than $420,000 in an insurance kickback scheme, which he doesn't mention as one of his reasons for stepping down. "At 80 years of age and 47 years of Mayoring, I am tired," Blase wrote in a letter to Niles residents. "I am retiring early so a Mayor candidate can start campaigning......

That Noelle Brennan. It's like she thought of everything! In a city legendary for finding a way to make any city job a patronage gig, the federal hiring monitor wants to know how the city plans to lay off well over 1,000 people without it becoming a political purge. "We are aware of the potential for abuse. We're talking about how we can prevent that from happening -- what sort of process and procedures we......

The 50th Ward is corrupt, Alderman Bernie Stone may or may not be in the pockets of developers rather than representing the wants of his constituents, according to a longass article in the Trib today. Zoning rules are widely flouted, with developers not notifying residents of new plans or putting up required signs. The Tribune has found that zoning rules have been ignored or changed to make it easier for developers and harder for residents......

Mayor Daley, among other prominent Illinois politicos, is scheduled to give a speech at the Democratic convention next week. Daley will deliver his address on Wednesday on the theme "Securing America's Future." I saw Daley give a speech a few months ago, and for being such a powerful politician, he's a surprisingly uninspiring public speaker. [Crain's]......

State Senate President Emil Jones is expected to announce his retirement today, even though his office hasn't confirmed that yet. He's 72, and has been a state legislator since 1973; he became senate president in 2003. In many ways, Jones has kept up the traditions of old-school politicians. During his years in the General Assembly, he has steered state money to a few favored institutions, including some that employ his relatives. Some of his relatives......

digg_url = 'http://chicagoist.com/2008/08/15/who_killed_barack_obama.php '; Polish artist Peter Fuss has raised quite a, er, fuss with his piece, "Who Killed Barack Obama?" recently on display in Poland. The piece, which depicts a wounded Obama, is part of the city scape aspect of the "Out of Sth" project. The website describes the project as presenting "the art of 20 leading European and Polish artists whose art derives from broadly understood urban art...Classical or political graffiti was......

Oprah's reps have confirmed that she'll be in Denver at the Democratic National Convention when Barack Obama accepts the party's nomination. She's not introducing him, according to her spokesbot, nor is she renting a $50,000-per-week house while she's there. The bathing in liquid money, though, continues. [S-T]......

John Edwards told to ABC News's Bob Woodruff that he had an affair with Rielle Hunter, "but said that he did not love her." Edwards denies that he's the father of Hunter's baby, though. [ABC, Slate with the background]......

While Governor Blagojevich was announcing the first in his series of "Rewrite to do Right" bills on Wednesday, he lashed out at House Speaker Mike Madigan and Mayor Daley for not helping him push his agenda. "They are all talking out of the same music book, I mean they are all talking out of the same song sheet that was written by Mike Madigan," Blagojevich said. He continued:"You know, we did a little homework and......

Governor Rod Blagojevich called on lawmakers yesterday to return to Springfield August 12 and 13 for a special session to work on the state's spending. Blago doesn't expect lawmakers to deal with his recent budget cuts, however. “Unless they find the funding, there’s nothing much more to do with the budget,” said Blagojevich spokesman Lucio Guerrero. Instead, he wants them to address the state's need for both an education funding plan and a capital spending......

The Commission on Presidential Debates announced the moderators and schedule for the upcoming presidential and vice presidential debates. Or as they say en español, duh-BAH-tays. The debates will be: Friday, September 26 at the University of Mississippi, Oxford, moderated by Jim Lehrer; Tuesday, October 7 at Belmont University, Nashville, moderated by Tom Brokaw; and Wednesday, October 15 at Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York., moderated by Bob Schieffer. The VP debate is Thursday, October 2 at......

Sun-Times Washington Bureau Chief Lynn Sweet reports that Robert Novak has announced his immediate retirement in the wake of his brain tumor diagnosis, which Novak says is "dire."......

"I regret that you bought into the bullshit of the Blagojevich people." — Mike Madigan, in a memo to the president of the Teamsters Joint Council 25......

Last night, residents of the 47th Ward approved Half Acre Beer Company's request to build a permanent brewery at 4257 N. Lincoln in the North Center neighborhood. The vote by community residents brings Gabe Magliaro and company one step closer to realizing their long-stated goal of having local brewing operations. We contacted Magliaro this morning. He stressed that, while the community vote was a good thing for Half Acre, "(the buildout) can still get denied......

We were biking over to Montrose Beach last weekend and crossed under LSD at Lawrence. We saw what seemed to be a new set of struts, supports and ironwork under there and thought, "Good. Someone's doing something about these bridges." (We were in Minneapolis a week before I-35W collapsed last year. Drove right over it. We pay attention to these things now.) It would appear that we saw one of the handful of bridges they've......