Actually, Steve, he said he did it "for the Democrat Party." This is just one more piece of evidence to convince me of what I've thought all along -- he was a GOP plant from the beginning.

He spent a few million on his campaign ads. How can a pawnshop owner make so much money? In his news conference Sunday night (given during Super Bowl halftime at a north bar), he made it sound like he was crying, but there were no tears in his eyes. His two sons acted as if they were weeping, yet they carefully hid their faces to show a lack of tears.

Something still smells fishy.

"Ending"? You are quite optimistic. Perhaps this one chapter or sub-chapter is ending, but this book appears to be "The Wheel of Time" series.

"Cohen inexplicably won"

Well, not exactly. Those in the know, including those in the media and the democratic party, sat on the evidence prior to the election. No one expected him to win so why open up the can of worms? Pretty damned lame reason. Easier to blame it on the voters which is their fallback position in Illinois for such disasters as Rod Blagojevich.

How does dropping out serve the GOP better.
If he's a plant, why not keep him in there?

It's not as though exposing him as a plant would make the ticket any easier to vote for.

To quote Robert Heinlein "You have attributed conditions to villainy that simply result from stupidity"

Did the party sit on the information so that they, and not the voters, could make the pick? (I'm a little unclear on what the process is.)

Did the party sit on the information so that they, and not the voters, could make the pick? (I'm a little unclear on what the process is.)

No, the party always ignores the LG race -- that's how Quinn, who wasn't a party pick, got in to begin with. It's not always a bad thing, since the party often puts in idiots, fools and thugs, but in cases like this it's a disaster. I expect they'll put in Hynes now, which isn't going to make Art Turner's people very happy.

I'm still blamin the media for this one. Arrest records, after all, are public records, and nobody bothered to do even a basic electronic search on this guy. Not only that, but the political reporters in the state love to report on polls and TV ads--and there were lots of TV ads in this primary to spill a lot of ink "analyzing" instead of reporting on the candidates themselves. I'm just glad I didn't vote for this guy.

As a lifelong Chicago resident, I'd like to offer a few important items of note.

-The field included the slated candidate, a high-ranking state representative that was alligned with house speaker Mike Madigan (who is the most powerful pol in IL, bar none), and at least one other candidate with better name recognition and legislative experience. My point is that nobody saw this coming.

-Cohen was the only candidate with a consistent TV and radio campaign presence. His spots focused almost exclusively on jobs. The other candidates failed to do any significant campaigning in the media.

-Cohen was endorsed by some very powerful Chicago aldermen with (relatively) large patronage armies. The Machine is not what it once was, but takes on added significance in elections where there is low turnout.

-The lt. gov has very, very few official duties. It's largely a ceremonial position that is attractive because it pays well and is viewed as a stepping stone to the governor's mansion or other statewide offices. It's been vacant for over a year, since Patt Quinn vacated it to become governor due to the Blagojevich debacle.

Cohen is an embarassment, something IL residents have experienced quite a bit of recently.

Cohen was endorsed by some very powerful Chicago aldermen with (relatively) large patronage armies.

The aldermen, including the ones with the most juice, were split on this race and most more or less sat it out. I don't think that was really much of a factor this time around -- I think Cohen's TV and radio campaign presence was very much the deciding factor.

You're right that no one saw this coming, but it's their own fault for basically ignoring this contest, especially after Cohen started spending big on ads. Madigan is an abysmal state party chair and he did nothing for Turner. I assume he'll want Turner on the ticket, but I believe there will be a lot of resistance to that from Hynes and Co. Should be interesting.

old joke:
Q. what did one illinois prisoner say to the other illinois prisoner?
A. the food wss better here when you were governor.

His spots focused almost exclusively on jobs. -Dan

Bingo. He hammered jobs, jobs, jobs. I we take anything away from this, it should be that.

By the way, how does a guy go from dating and accosting whores in 2005 to a multimillionaire? Though I suppose the two aren't mutually exclusive...

If money talks this loudly in one election, what are the likely outcomes across the nation when Biggest Business is paying the tab for their candidates of choice?

The young people set to graduate from college into a jobless recovery in the next few years should seriously consider switching to majors in marketing or advertising, where there will be a demand for people to create the commercials for corporate-sponsored candidates.