Barack Obama is a truly marvelous speaker. His speech tonight was quite impressive, so far as rhetorical skill and speech cadence go. He is obviously sincere and thus comes across as a decent man who cares for his country. To my mind demonizing him serves no real purpose in the context of a needed civil debate. Rick Warren was right when he appealed for such a civil debate in his Saddleback Forum two weeks ago, which is still the best opportunity we have had to compare the two candidates seriously. Sadly, it may be the last given how this campaign will go. There is a odd irony in this. An evangelical pastor may have done more to allow us to get to know these two men than any media figure or interviewer in America. I was so proud of Rick Warren that I cannot easily find the words to say, "Good job my brother."

I listened to Senator Obama’s acceptance speech this evening […]

Well, just when you think Governor Rod Blagojevich would not get worse he does. In a very shrewd move the governor issued an executive order this week, while in Denver, to challenge the state legislature. Here is how the story goes.

The state passed an ethics reform act that would ban statewide office holders from taking campaign cash from state contractors. Guess who this is aimed at? Yes, our governor. So what does the governor do with this legislation? He issues an order banning state contractors from giving money to any state candidate at all. This new provision would include county and city job holders.

The governor’s action sounds noble and ethically important at first glance.  But the Illinois watchdog Campaign for Political Reform urges lawmakers to override the governor’s amendatory veto. And State Representative John Fritchey, a Chicago Democrat, says he will try to do just that. Good for Representative Fritchey. Our governor will try almost anything, including campaign finance […]

As Illinois Democrats gather in Denver to nominate their favorite son for the presidency a citizen of this great prairie state has to ask a lot of questions the national media will not cover. I mean this is Illinois week in Denver. Besides Obama a whole group of our leaders are speaking and sharing a lot of face time with the delegates, the media and the Senator. I sure wish they would get their act together in my state.

While the theme in Denver is "change" there is no state in all fifty that needs it more than Illinois. Our big three—Governor Rod Blagojevich, Speaker Michael Madigan (who doesn’t much like the governor himself), and Emil Jones, our senate president who is himself engaged in some strange retirement manipulation of the future, all continue to spend freely and bankrupt this great state.
Over the […]

In effort to report news from the great state of Illinois, and not simply attack a particular candidate, it is imperative that people outside this state know something about the state and its political history, since around 1950. First, we have convicted more former governors and sent them to prison in my lifetime than any state in the union. And Chicago is synonymous with political jokes about corruption and influence. The most humorous line you hear before every Chicago election is: "Vote early and vote often!" And Chicago has a long history in having a major influence in the Democratic Party. Think of the late Mayor Richard J. Daley, and now his son, Richard M. Daley. And remember that it was Bill Daley, the brother of Richard M., who directed the Al Gore campaign in 2000.

So, from my front row seat in Illinois forgive me if I am always a tad skeptical about the role of influence in politics in my state. […]

Barack Obama has promised to shun the special interests and their bucket loads of cash. But the reality is, as with both parties, still the same. Influence peddling, or lobby groups doing their thing on the inside of political campaigns, is here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future. The difference may be that Obama has made this a frequent issue and openly runs on change in this area.

Delegates at this week’s Democratic National Convention are greeted with an AT&T goody bag, a key "sponsor" of the event. In fact this entire event is sponsored by industries like Pepsi, Coke, Molson Coors, Anheuser-Busch, Union Pacific, as well as SEIU and other labor unions. Even Pfiser, Abbott and AARP are sponsors, along with Motorola and Ford. Denver’s budget called for raising $40 million. The local mayor has said no taxpayer money will be used and it appears he will be right. Industries will sponsor the whole week.

Corporations are […]