* Check out the body language. Caption contest, or too federal?
* The Department of Revenue once again gives the SJ-R a scooplet an hour before it reaches anyone else’s in-box…
New projections from the state Department of Revenue, provided first to The State Journal-Register, show the state could get $800 million less in money it was counting on from three major tax areas by next summer unless the national and state financial picture turns around.
Just in time for veto session.
* Another loss for the guv’s legal team…
Gov. Rod Blagojevich must continue to use Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office to defend him in a lawsuit over his planned move of the state’s traffic safety division from Springfield to southern Illinois.
Sangamon County Judge Roger Holmes this morning rejected the governor’s bid to get Madigan’s office removed. Holmes said Blagojevich could raise the question later as the case proceeds but right there is no direct conflict in having Madigan defend him.
These people are in court more than an asbestos attorney.
* From a press release…
Continuing Illinois’ efforts to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change, Governor Rod R. Blagojevich today announced that he would co-host the international Governors’ Global Climate Summit to be held later this month in California.
The governors’ summit was announced in September. It will be held next week in Beverly Hills. Nothing like waiting until the last minute.
One can’t help but wonder whether another gubernatorial fundraiser at some posh Beverly Hills hotel might be in the offing. They’ll have to do it without Rezko’s help, however. He’s otherwise indisposed.
The good news is that the California summit will be held November 18th and 19th. The General Assembly is scheduled to be in session on the 19th, so the guv will be far, far away.
* The DC press corps is sometimes just too batty for words…
So we obsess about [Michelle Obama’s] clothes, searching for clues to how individualistic she will be, how modern, how typically Washington?
Obsess? Really? Does anyone truly obsess over the first lady elect’s clothes?
Was Barack and Michelle sending a message to the whole world with black and red? Do those colors point back to their core beliefs? Do they point to their religious value system?
Let’s write the color choice off for now to basic social naivete and suggest that the Obamas had no idea that their black and red attire choice would suggest to some a deeper, hidden meaning.
OK, I stand corrected. Some people apparently do obsess about clothes.
* I tried cutting off comments a few years ago, but readers rebelled. Zorn may have better luck for numerous reasons. Since he’s big media, he attracted a broader audience so no real “community” could develop in comments like it has here.
* This post at 538 refers to presidential strategy, but it could just as easily apply to Illinois…
The Bush-Rove team of 2000 and 2004 understood the importance of appealing to suburban voters … that is a viable strategy. Pitching your appeal to rural voters, on the other hand, probably will not work. They’re outnumbered by the city dwellers in the first place, and if your attacks are strident enough that the suburbanites start to side with the urbanites, you’ve given yourself a big problem.
* YDD, posting at the newly revamped Illinoize, wonders about the placement of the constitutional convention question.
* Partnering with Mother Tribune on the Cub sale could be a disaster? So saith the Sun-Times…
Tribune Chairman Sam Zell has been trying to hold firm on his billion-dollar asking price, offering seller financing.
But sources said buyers are reacting coolly to that plan because they think a partnership with Tribune could be a disaster.