Illinois Senate Pres. John Cullerton had decent comedic timing, laying a political burn down on Gov. Pat Quinn. more ›

It's finally happened - we knew things would come to this. The recession has turned us all into hunter-gatherers, scraping our dinners off the side of the road. We're clearly about 5 months from Soylent Green. According to the Trib, a bill passed the Illinois Senate yesterday which will allow people to pick up and keep roadkill and eat it for dinner. You will still need a permit to do this, and the animal would have to be in season as per regular hunting rules, but according to the language of the bill, citizens can now pick up any "fur-bearing mammal" (our favorite legal term of the day) off the side of the road. more ›

Bill Brady conceded the Illinois Governor race to Pat Quinn during a press conference in Bloomington earlier today. more ›

Despite trailing Governor Pat Quinn by 19.561 votes, a margin that Quinn said is "insurmountable," State Senator Bill Brady has yet to concede his campaign for Governor. There will be some adjustments on counts in precincts throughout the state and absentee ballots have yet to be counted, but it's impossible that Brady will run the table on those ballots to catch up to Quinn. more ›

With the Blago spectacle in mind, two-thirds of voters who went to the polls yesterday voted in favor of adding a recall amendment to the state Constitution. more ›

Republican candidate for governor Bill Brady sent out an email Monday inviting supporters to join him in Will County's Homer Glen for the "final stop on Brady's suburban ‘Clean Break Express' tour." What Brady's email failed to mention is that the event is hosted by the Will County Tea Party Alliance. more ›

Gubernatorial candidates Pat Quinn and Bill Brady put on a show last night during their highly rehearsed debate on ABC7, evading questions like the best politicians while taking potshots at each other throughout the hour-long debate. This debate and the personal attacks for the most part followed the same script as the previous three debates between Quinn and Brady. more ›

A new poll conducted by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University finds Bill Brady holding a nine-point lead over Governor Pat Quinn as the gubernatorial race heads into its final weeks. Which begs the question: How milquetoast does Pat Quinn have to be to be trailing Brady? more ›

We’ve already seen plenty of mayoral polls for Daley’s seat, but now that election season is in high gear, expect to see plenty of polls for every open political seat. The New York Times’ FiveThiryEight blog (h/t Rich Miller at Capitol Fax) released updated projections for the Illinois race for Governor that show Bill Brady has an 89% chance of winning. Recent polls from Rasmussen, Survey USA and Public Policy Polling all show Brady ahead of Quinn by a decent margin. Nationally, the projections show Democrats still keeping a hold on the Senate but losing control of the House. At present, Democrats have a slim majority of governorships, but that appears that could change too. 538 predicts 25 out of 35 Republican wins this November. more ›

The Scott Lee Cohen for Governor rumors just won't go away. This week we learned that Cohen has informed House Speaker and Democratic Party Chairman Michael Madigan that that he will indeed run as an independent. Could this happen in any other state? Cohen’s self-financed $2 million Lt. Governor campaign revolved around commercials highlighting job fairs that the candidate had run. It will be interesting to see if his gubernatorial candidacy can keep the focus on similarly positive issues. more ›

We're less than a week away from next week's big primary and a new Rasmussen Poll shows Andy McKenna with a slim lead in a tight race for the GOP nomination for Governor. The poll, conducted on Monday, January 25, surveyed 527 likely GOP voters and broke down like so: more ›

The ballot positions for several races in this February's primaries, including Governor and U.S. Senate, were set yesterday via lottery by the Illinois State Board of Election. For Governor, Andy McKenna drew the top spot for Republicans and William "Dock" Walls III, the subject of a controversial petition challenge, drew the top Democrat spot. On the U.S. Senate ballot, Don Lowery will be at the top for Republicans and Robert Marshall will be in the first slot for Democrats. You can check out all the candidates, including ballot positioning, here. more ›

It's an exciting day to be a candidate for Illinois Governor. Today the lottery will be held to determine the ballot positioning for February's primary and we'll see who gets the coveted first and last place on the ballot. As soon as we hear, we'll post the results here. more ›

There were a pair of debates last night of interest to voters with the approaching primaries in February. Of particular interest to local voters is the The Hispanic American Construction Industry Association (HACIA) Cook County Board President forum. ABC 7 has video of the complete forum that you can check out here. The participants were current Democrat candidates Pres. Todd Stroger, Ald. Toni Preckwinkle, and MWRD Pres. Terrence O'Brien, Green Party candidate (and former No Games Chicago leader) Tom Tresser, and only one Republican candidate, John Garrido. more ›

2010 is a big election year and state Republicans are hoping to take back, among other offices, the governor's seat. But first they've got to get through the primary and with seven candidates in a heated campaign, the race to see who will oppose Quinn or Hynes in 2010 could be pretty interesting. The debate happens tonight at the downtown Hilton (720 S. Michigan Ave) and Chris Robling will moderate. You can purchase tickets here, find a viewing party, or wait for WLS 890 AM to rebroadcast the entire debate tomorrow night at 7 p.m. more ›

The field to garner the GOP nomination for next year's gubernatorial election is getting a bit more crowded as former candidate Jim Ryan is entering the contest. Ryan, who lost to former governor Rod Blagojevich in the state's 2002 general election, has spent the last several years out of public office and teaching at Benedictine University in Lisle. But as WBBM-AM explains, Ryan, a former state's attorney general, may face a few new hurdles. more ›

Having already given way to fellow Republican Rep. Mark Kirk in the race for U.S. Senate, Andrew McKenna has set his sights on Springfield, officially launching his bid for Governor in 2010. McKenna made the announcement this morning in Chicago and is already coming out swinging with this campaign video, titled "Hair Today." more ›

Already looked in a heated battle with fellow Democrat Dan Hynes for the Democratic primary, Gov. Pat Quinn - who replaced ex-governor Rod Blagojevich when Blago was impeached and removed from office last winter - went through the formality this morning of officially announcing his run for governor in 2010. The announcement comes in the wake of one poll that puts Quinn's approval rating at only 45 percent. The primary is February 2, 2010. Be sure to check out Kevin's 2007 interview with Gov. Quinn. more ›

With the recent announcement by Republican Andrew McKenna that he's entering the fray for Governor in next year's election, the Illinois gubernatorial election is heating up. With the primary election on February 2nd 2010 quickly approaching, plenty of candidates have stepped up to fight for the right to lead Illinois. Here is a quick run down of some of the major candidates: more ›

Even though he formally announced his bid for Governor almost a month ago, Comptroller Dan Hynes has finally launched his full campaign and unveiled his tax plan for battling the state's budget crunch. CBS 2 has more on Hynes' plan and The Reader has some more info as well. more ›

State Comptroller Dan Hynes has announced he's taking on Gov. Pat Quinn in next year's gubernatorial race. As a fellow Dem, if he wants to nomination, he'll have to first knock of Quinn in the party's primary. We'll have more on this later, but for now, The Reader's Mick Dumke has a solid look at Hynes. more ›

It's exciting times in Illinois politics - and almost impossible to keep track of the players. The 2010 election, about eight months out at this point features three key races - and enough plot twists to keep even the most well-informed political junkie interested. more ›

If there is one thing we can thank the former Governor for, it’s the gridlock in state funding he helped to create that has left a long list of “shovel ready” projects. Illinois may have benefitted from this laundry list, of sorts, winning quick approval for many transportation projects in the federal stimulus program. more ›

By a vote of 59-0, the Illinois State Senate has voted to remove Rod Blagojevich from the office of Governor. Pat Quinn will now be sworn in in as the 41st Governor of the State of Illinois. more ›

As we prepare for Pat Quinn to be sworn in as the 41st Governor of Illinois upon Gov. Blagojevich's impending removal, we thought we'd dig back into the vaults for this interview. Kevin Robinson sat down with Quinn in April 2007. more ›

Governor Rod Blagojevich's impeachment trial gets underway on Monday and things are, what else, a hot mess. So what's going on in the World of Blago as the trial approaches? more ›

The first person that came through the door at the Governor's press conference wasn't Blago, but rather a man in a wheelchair. He was the first of several "ordinary" citizens that stood beside the Governor as he gave his impassioned, defiant, and arrogant speech. But what did these Citizen Props think of the Governor? more ›

We're eager to hear what Blagojevich has to say about this morning's impeachment. Below is a live feed of the presser courtesy of MSNBC, so watch along with us and share your thoughts in the comments.Will he resign? Will he maintain his innocence and his promise to fight-fight-fight? Will he quote more Kipling? more ›

Blagojevitch lawyers Sam Adams, Jr. (left) and Ed Genson (right) confer while facing the state's impeachment committee. AP Photo/Seth Perlman