Blogger was down early this morning, so I had to post this via e-mail. Let’s hope it works and sorry about the length.

Topping our list is this piece by Suburban Newspapers Nathaniel Zimmer about Sen. Steve Rauschenberger looking towards the ‘06 governor’s race.

…..Once the Nov. 2 election is history, Rauschenberger
intends to pursue actively the possibility of a run for governor.

“Myself and others are seriously going to look in November, December and January at what kind of infrastructure it takes to assemble a unified Republican ticket in ‘06,” he said. “We are kind of at the beginning of a due diligence stage.”

The man who helped recruit Alan Keyes to come to Illinois has this to say about ideology:

Rauschenberger spoke about the need to put aside philosophical differences and unite behind a core Republican vision and against Blagojevich.

“The future of the party is not about debating the abortion issue,” he said. “The future of the party is not about slugging it out on guns. I mean, Rod Blagojevich gives us such an opportunity to talk about what Republican values are: the size of government, commitment to people, programs that transition people into independence instead of transitioning them into permanent dependence.”

Over the years, conservatives have emerged as the new mainstream, Rauschenberger insisted.

“There is no right wing in the Republican Party,” he said. “More than 50 percent of Republicans self-identify as conservative, so if anything the conservatives are the main house.”

The time to recognize this and proceed accordingly is now, he added.

“I just personally reject this idea that the Republican Party is divided camps … The old prescription for winning in Illinois as a Republican, that you’ve got to be from DuPage (County). I think all those things you’ve got to move past.”

Read the whole thing. The man is trying to establish a language to speak to the entire party, but he was tainted this year by his almost complete capitulation to the right wing, and that will be difficult to overcome. He also didn’t help himself by proving that he couldn’t raise money (OK, it was a federal election, but how many $2,000 checks did he collect?)

This is interesting. The Chicago Sun-Times (and others) have a story about how Scott Fawell agonized over turning rat against George Ryan.

From prison, Scott Fawell told his fiancee that pleading guilty and flipping on his old boss, ex-Gov. George Ryan, “goes against everything I … believe in,” but he would “wave the white flag” so he could start a new life with her. [Snip]

“I’m getting more comfortable with it all the time,” Fawell told her in one conversation. “I don’t feel as bad,” but “it’s still going to bug me because it just goes against everything I really, truly believe in.'’

He later said he had “taken enough bullets in this game,” adding, “I just want to get back with you guys,” referring to Coutretsis and her two young children.

Check out the list of bigtime campaign contributions in the Supreme Court race that the good folks at the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform have put together.
They also have a decent little story.

Money is flooding into the race, but most of the funds come from a very few donors. And the largest donors appear themselves to be conduits for other interests, concerned mainly with tort reform. [Snip]

Funds appear to be massing on the sidelines for the final week of the campaign. Both the Illinois Republican Party and the Civil Justice League have reported recent receipts from the U.S. Chamber and the ATRA which have not yet flowed through to the high court race.

The Chicago Tribune has a couple of quick stories on Democrats making headway McHenry and funny sign stealing story. The Daily Herald has a piece on bothPhil Crane and Melissa Bean. The Daily Southtown runs an editorial about a confusing local ballot issue, John Kass column about a high school newspaper in trouble for publishing stories about
masturbation and strip clubs.