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Saturday, Mar 18, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

Â· Man, wouldn’t it be nice to have this kind of staff? The Tribune does a roundup of last-minute activities totaling just 752 words that nevertheless took six reporters to write. I wonder how many editors were involved. One minorly interesting point.

Yet, one veteran of the Chicago City Council is demonstrating his displeasure with Blagojevich, who has an overwhelming lead over former Ald. Edwin Eisendrath in public opinion polls.

Ald. William Beavers (7th) is passing out palm cards with his preferred list of candidates. But for governor he is listing both Blagojevich and Eisendrath.

“When you’re dissatisfied, you’re dissatisfied,” said Beavers, whose ward organization delivered a 13,709-vote margin for Blagojevich in 2002. “I think [Blagojevich is] going to be surprised about his numbers. I think he’s really going to be surprised.”

Â· Daily Herald’s Krol writes about the GOP candidates’ ties to George Ryan.

Â· Claypool sued.

Â· Illinois GOP finds itself in difficult spot.

Â· Teamsters Joint Council and Operating Engineers Local 150 both endorse Bob Churchill for Congress.

Â· Topinka says GOP needs a womanâ€™s touch to reunite. And, as this story points out over and over, she smokes.

Â· “Forget abortion, gay marriage or the Iraq war. Arguably, the most bitter issue dividing residents in the 6th Congressional District primary race is the future of Oâ€™Hare International Airport.”

Â· State sets up election day hotline.

Â· Luis Gutierrez shows a little temper.

Â· Englewood rallies against guns.

Englewood residents are holding a neighborhood rally to call for an end to violence. Stray bullets have killed two young girls there in recent weeks. CBS 2â€™s Chelsea Irving reports.

Residents are starting to gather for the rally and the governor, the mayor, the police superintendent, and the schoolsâ€™ CEO are all expected to join in the rally and march to end gun violence. The main goal is show support for a bill that would ban assault weapons — like the kinds that were used to kill two Englewood girls earlier this month â€“ in all of Illinois. Those weapons are already illegal in Chicago.

Ten-year-old Siretha White and 14-year-old Starkesia Reed were both killed earlier this month in separate incidents when they were hit by stray bullets fired from automatic weapons.

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Why isn’t Stroger at Stroger Hospital?

Saturday, Mar 18, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

Phil Kadner addresses the phony issue of the hospital John Stroger was taken to.

“I don’t think that’s relevant at all,” said Dr. Quentin Young, who was once chairman of the Department of Medicine at Cook County Hospital some years ago and is an advocate for national health care reform.

“The mission of Stroger Hospital is to care for the indigent and those without medical insurance,” Young said.

“In a way, it would have been an abuse of the system if Stroger, who has very good health insurance, would have taken a bed away from someone else who needed one and couldn’t afford to go to Rush.

“In addition, had he gone to Stroger he obviously would have been given special treatment at a hospital that bears his own name. Doctors and nurses would have been hovering all around and, while you might think that leads to better patient care, it sometimes can have the opposite effect.

“Just by being a patient in the hospital it would obviously divert resources from other patients. John Stroger might not demand any special attention, but he’s the boss of the hospital so he would get it.

“And if that happened, reporters such as yourself might rightfully ask if that is proper.

“I think Stroger absolutely did the right thing by going to Rush.”

Read the whole thing.

UPDATE: Stroger poll watcher accused of coaching voters.

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The fight for second place

Saturday, Mar 18, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

The Oberweis-Brady feud continues.

Republican gubernatorial hopeful Jim Oberweis apparently had his Bosts mixed up when listing endorsements on his campaign Web site.

Then again, State Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, suspects Oberweis knew exactly what he was doing when he incorrectly listed him, instead of his brother, Dan Bost, at the top of a string of political supporters for his candidacy to challenge Gov. Rod Blagojevich this fall.

Dan Bost, owner of Bost Trucking Co. in Murphysboro and a former Jackson County Board member currently seeking election to the board, is an Oberweis supporter.

“I have worked very hard throughout my service in the General Assembly to build a credible reputation throughout Southern Illinois,” Mike Bost said in a prepared statement Friday morning. “I view the listing of my name by Oberweis as a supporter of his as a deliberate attempt to confuse and mislead the voters.”

Why would they be confused? Because Mike Bost has been a vocal advocate of State Sen. Bill Brady for governor.

And continues…

Republican candidate for governor Bill Brady accused fellow candidate Jim Oberweis of having trouble with the truth Friday at a joint appearance, continuing the fight over their conservative credentials.

The men squared off in a side room before the Tazewell County Lincoln Day dinner, one night after Oberweis said Brady missed a vote on legislation that led to hundreds of business fee increases. Brady said Oberweis doesn’t know what he’s talking about, noting that the fee increases were added to the bill later–at which time Brady did vote against it.

Oberweis said Brady should have known the bill would eventually include the fee increases.

“You have all the (Republican) leadership voting against it,” Oberweis said.

“You are something else. You are something else,” replied Brady, a Bloomington senator. “You have trouble with the truth, don’t you?”

And remember how the Family Taxpayers Network accused Brady of being a Topinka plant and threatened him with a primary in ‘08? This was at the very bottom of the story:

Tomorrow in Part II weâ€™ll cover in greater detail Bradyâ€™s attacks and misrepresentations

That was Thursday. As of Saturday morning, no updates.

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