I don’t usually watch network TV, but I force myself to do it around this time of the year so I can watch the political ads.

Describe some of the campaign ads you’ve seen in the past few days and rate them for effectiveness.

*** UPDATE *** While you’re at it, rate Topinka’s new TV ad.

       

57 Comments - VanillaMan - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 9:19 am: I absolutely love a Santorum ad. (Can’t stand the man, love the ad.) It shows a Casey billboard with a large photo of Casey with a swinging waving hand. There is a sign painter that gets phone calls and has to continue climbing up and down the billboard to change the office that Casey is running for. The narrator is also mentioning in his tone, how fake Casey is. At the end, the sign painter is frustrated and angry, then we see the waving hand fall off. Brilliant! Hillarious! Gets it’s point across with humor and really paints an ugly picture of his opponent. It is negative in the best way possible. So far, of all the hundreds of ads across the US, this one has been the best. The trend has been somber music, a deep tenor voice intoning scandal, while newspaper headlines pour across the screen smearing an opponent. The other trend has been the positive ad with the candidate looking all chipper and pretty, still smelling like Ivory. These ads have been mass produced with (insert name here) appeal. The ads look like political ads have been taken over by ClearChannel. Dull and Boring. - Wumpus Diva - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 9:22 am: The Book Ban ads about Roskam from Duckie, just silly. THe Nancy Pelosi wannabe ads about Bean from McSweeney, funny, but useless The Madigan ad that actually touts her record, best ad so far (although, I am wondering her position on the investigations of the Gov, City Hall of Chicago, Cook COunty, since she doesn’t realize the feds are involved). The “I am not the worst guy in the world” ad by the gov, bad. The Phil Hare ad is great because someone bought him a necktie. - Wumpus Diva - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 9:27 am: VM, perhaps that ad should be placed in teh vault for Coxberwiesenberger. (John Cox, Jim Oberwies, Steve Rauschenberger) - babs - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 9:30 am: Not sure of its effectiveness, but I’ll be watching to see what the Obama ad does for Duckworth. I like it - it’s up front and clean. No catchy music. Anyone know how many candidates Obama has done commercials for this season? If Duckworth pulls it out, alot of people will give him more credit. - Pat Hickey - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 9:33 am: Tony Peraica’s Headline ad is the most attention getting - once they have my attention I remember who Tony is - and that kind of works against the ad’s purpose; maybe, Todd should send them a thank you note. The Tammy Duckworth Ads with ‘Mrs. Tearduct the special ed librarian’ are kind of Willie Horton Ads that we Democrats decried back in the day - these one’s a just too dippy for words. I hope Tammy beats the pants off of Old Shot-gun Pete, but she really should step away from her svengali - Rahmbus-Cube the Magician! - Belle - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 9:38 am: The new one from Topinka featuring Gov Jim Edgar that premiered today is well, PERFECT. Just straight talk, straight to the people, and is probably the most effective ad I’ve seen in years! I believe in one ad she and Jim Edgar managed to counter the 19,000 negative ad runs. Other than that the write-in’s for Gov have the most creative YouTube video ever. The ‘your sister’ video has got to be the funniest of the campaign season! - Southern Illinoisian - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 9:39 am: Being stuck in the St. Louis Market, I’ve been inundated with ads for their Amendment 2, on stem cell research. Talk about pitiful! One ad making a claim about “There’s no cloning in 2!”, and the next one says “There’s cloning in 2!”. I feel for MO voters, they have to feel abused by this process. And now the national weenies are involved in it. Can’t wait to watch those returns! It will be like watching NASCAR. - Santorum ad - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 9:43 am: Here is the santorum ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsjk9zCfi0w - Garp - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 9:46 am: The Madigan ad was very good. Obama for Duckworth is good because it explains her position and that she is backing McCain’s bill-which undercuts her opponent. Blago not being the worst person ad is crap. He looks drunk to me. The rest of the ads are just horrible. - Yellow Dog Democrat - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 9:46 am: The best two ads I’ve seen in Illinois this year both came from the Duckworth camp. Obama’s rebuttal of the Roskam immigration attacks was simple yet powerful. I just saw the DCCC ad attacking Roskam for his NRA votes yesterday — it is damning. I’m sure parents in the 6th CD are not amused. The Michael J. Fox stem cell research ad is the best of the season, but the GOP has made it even better. Thanks to Rush Limbaugh’s attacks on J.Fox (I guess after prescribing meds for himself for so long, Rush thinks he’s a doctor), the J.Fox ads have been replayed on national news outlets and local broadcast over and over and over again. Thanks Rush!! - Wumpus Diva - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 9:50 am: I also like the ad where Blago attacks Judy for the investigations and fiscal mismanagement done by his administration. He then called her Rod Blagojavich’s treasurer. - Political Junkie - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 9:53 am: Rich….I can’t open the JBT ad. It says “this video no longer available”. - babs - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 9:54 am: YDD, the other DCCC ad - regarding book banning was also right on target. Pat Hickey may not like Rahm, but he is hitting all the right notes. I never thought I’d be singing his praises - but he’s on target. And the RCCC is making a mess with each of its ads. There isn’t one that is worth the money. If that’s what they’re doing all over the country, the Dem’s will win the House back. - train111 - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 9:55 am: Script for any DNCC or RNCC add “If our oponents win the world will stop turning, gravity will fail, and the very fabric of the universe will be rent asunder.” “Therefore you must vote for us or face the devastating consequences.” train111 - Rich Miller - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 9:59 am: Junkie, try again. YouTube was processing the video. - Tom - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 10:06 am: It appears the Topinka folks have throw in the cloth and decided to get their candidate a little positive. Great ad, but it will do nothing to move numbers. Everyone complains about negative ads, but they work. Just ask the Topinka folks. Their candidate started out at 65% positive, now because of negatives, she can’t win the race. - moderate - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 10:13 am: I thought she should not go positive either, but this was a winner but only because it was Jim Edgar. - Goodbye Napoleon - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 10:16 am: Judy’s new ad is very good, too bad Edgar didn’t hit the airwaves for her in June when her numbers were being driven into the bedrock. This ad won’t really matter though, maybe bump her up 5 points. The Blago ad “worst person in the world” makes me squirm, it’s childish and very annoying. Best ads: Duckworth’s first one showing her testifying in uniform and JBT’s ad using Blago press conference footage. The RNCC’s ads against Duckworth on immigration have been very good, probably effective too I bet. Kirk’s “saved the veteran’s hospital” ad is very good too. Worst ads: Everything from David McSweeney, I know he’s desperate but come on Jeff Berkowitz is not “the press” he’s an arrogant biased wanna be with a microphone. - Anonymous - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 10:26 am: Are we voting for Jim Edgar or Judy Baar Topinka? Does she have any plans at all???? Who is making decisions in her campaign???? Her only message is I am not Rod. Or I am friends with Jim Edgar. Well, Judy, we don’t care about them. What are you going to do for us. Im not impressed. I give the ad a 1 out of 10. - Tweed - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 10:26 am: Topinka’s ad will work for people who like Edgar but for some reason don’t like Blago. Time will tell if that is a large amount of people. I haven’t seen one ad from Topinka where she lays out what she wants to do. I think the Edgar ad would have been better had he said, “I’m fully behind Topinka’s plan to …. you can check it out for yourself at her website”. The governor’s positive ads at least point out that he raised the minimum wage, wants to do it again, wants a $1,000 tax credit for families with people in college, kept his word on not raising taxes and still won’t, etc. It’s easy to disagree with the governor (I often do especially when it comes to he raises money and his use of franking), but he is spending money on getting message out. I just wish he wasn’t running so many negative ads. - Angie - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 10:28 am: Great JBT ad with Jim Edgar, who was an extremely popular governor. So popular, in fact, that everyone wanted him to run again! Worst ad yet has to be the Harold Ford ad that is causing a stiry. What the heck was anyone thinking when they did that? Although I don’t really think it is racist, per se, just that it makes the guy come off as a complete lightweight more than anything else. It sort of depends on how the viewer perceives it, I suppose, but I thought it was just making him look like he’s not a serious candidate more than anything else. Keep this kind of stuff up, though, and millions of people will begin calling themselves Independents. Hey, it is working for Joe Lieberman! - Animous - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 10:31 am: RE: JBT Ads Finally, a counterpunch to the 19,000 negative ads that insult the intelligence of the average voter, though I think they should take it a step further and say so: (i.e., “G Ryan’s Treasurer” is an insult to you because you know the two are elected separately, and that the treasurer has no constitutional authority over the budget mess we’re now in, if it did she would have cleaned it up by now. He’s insulted you with 19,000 negative and misleading ads because he can’t find a way out of the financial mess he’s created.) Separately, Rich, any chance there will be a QOTD on recommendations to clean up negative campaigning? I’m sure its been covered before, but while we’re getting flooded everyday it could be a good time for ideas (I know I have a few…)? - Angie again - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 10:41 am: Tweed, if voters are so dim that they can’t figure out how to go look at a candidate’s “plan” online, then we’re in really bad shape here in Illinois. Some of this stuff is just a no-brainer. Anyone reading Capitol Fax who is still (scratches head in bewilderment) “undecided,” go do yourself a huge favor and hit the Topinka campaign website. There, you can read all about her “plan” for Illinois as well as see the heavyweights who are backing her (Jim Edgar and Rudy Giuliani are just two examples). - Anonymous - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 10:57 am: Home run. Beautifully produced. Class all the way. - Little Egypt Native - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 11:04 am: Angie, why in the world would anyone in Illinois care that Rudy Giuliani supports JBT? Completely irrelevant. They have plunked Rudy down in front of any Republican candidate who would have him, regardless of whether or not he agress with them on any issue or set of pricinples. And Edgar? Big surprise! Edgar supports Topinka! Stop the presses! The ads this season by the national Republicans against Duckworth and Bean have been repulsive, borderline racist, and the best example of why so few people who don’t live and die with this stuff are even interested in elections. And from what I know of those two and those districts, they don’t seem to fit. He hasn’t had much $ for them, but I kind of like the Seals ad where he uses the Kirk/Bush photo and takes it directly to Kirk. Good delivery by the candidate, good selection of issues, specific reason to make a change without being hysterical, personal or unreasonably negative. Other than that, most of the male candidates appearing in their own ads seem weak. By contrast, Bean, Duckworth and Madigan seem firm, convincing and hit the target. It’s hard to believe these consultants make SO MUCH MONEY and keep delivering SO LITTLE. The same stale images of earnest candidates speaking to demographically balanced auidences, looking pensively into the eyes of people in some obviously staged conversation, strolling through the autumnal splendor of Illinois, etc. Very dull, repetitive, with no edge or humor (except for the Roskam Speedo shot, which if funny in entirely the wrong way). - Angie - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 11:07 am: LE asks, “Angie, why in the world would anyone in Illinois care that Rudy Giuliani supports JBT?” Because he’s going to be the next POTUS if he runs in 2008! Silly! (just teasin’) - Jaded - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 11:21 am: I think the Topinka ad is exactly what they needed, and I don’t have a problem with the timing, because if that many voters are truly undecided, they are looking for a reason to vote FOR someone, not AGAINST someone. Negative ads may be the most effective, but Blagojevich’s folks have to be scared to death of what the Edgar ad (combined with another round of negative free press from the Levine indictment) could do to her numbers. You can ask anyone (especially Democrats) that knows Illinois politics and they will tell you that Edgar still polls way off the charts. He would be absolutely stomping Blagojevich right now if he were in the race. Why do you think they had the big announcement yesterday that he was going to be leading the transition team? It’s not because they believe they are actually going to win and are being arrogant by announcing a transition team. Then today this new ad comes out. Topinka is trying to link a vote for her to a vote for Jim Edgar. Considering what she is up against, and that nothing else is working for her, I think it is a pretty good strategy. As far as other ads, I agree that the Michael J Fox ad is very powerful, but am just pretty much sick of political ads at this point. - Anon - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 11:23 am: This race is over! As are many others. El Presidente Bush was just on the air rehashing the same garbage on CNN. He had nothing substantive to say, let alone anything productive to offer the Nation or the GOP. Those thumps you just heard were a bunch of Republican candidates being thrown under buses in the name of his “agenda”. The GOP is going to have to work overtime rigging the voting machines again. Cuz the votes ain’t gonna be there for them. - Gregor Samsa - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 11:36 am: Good spot overall, the trio pose at the end looked a little forced. At this point, negative or positive, the biggest factor will be the volume of spots she can put out. Volume, volume, volume! Got to get enough eyeballs on the spots, make an impression, or they do no good. Time for saturation airplay. I would surely consider some time buys during the baseball playoffs coverage for all the folks south of about Joliet. - T.J. - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 11:42 am: I wish Edgar would go away, but it’s good he delivered on his promise to do something for Topinka. - Tom DeLay's Mom - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 11:53 am: The Topinka folks are blowing their chances with this ad…do they honestly think they can reverse the $9 million-plus damage done to Topinka’s favorables by the Blago Camp in just two weeks? Impossible. If I’m in the Topinka Bunker, looking at the handful of bullets I’ve got left, the last thing I’d do is waste them to try and put Humpty Dumpty back together again. Damage is done folks, the Blago ads have convinced voters they do not like Topinka. Instead, spend those precious few resources to finish the job the Illinois media has been doing on Topinka’s behalf - amplify the independent and credible news commentary on Blago’s weak record on ethics and corruption. Make sure that the voters who don’t bother reading the negative newspaper headlines about Blagojevich are forced to read them for 30-seconds on their TVs! I understand the rationale behind trying to repair the damage done to Topinka’s favorability - but that should have started weeks ago. We’re in the final push now and there are still plenty of undecided and “soft” Blago supporters out there to be converted to Topinka…Judy’s not going to reel them in by running the (now perennial and tired) “Jim Edgar Likes Me” ads…she needs to disqualify Blago. I think this is a serious miscalulation by JBT and, if she continues to run this spot, could close the door on the slim chance she has to pull this race out of the crapper. - Anonymous - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 11:59 am: I have one question for the Blago supporters. Does Rod have anyone willing to do an ad like this for him ? I think not. Unless you count Todd. And I’m not so sure about that one. - Belle - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 12:07 pm: Dear Anon - Rigging voting machines? Now, I didn’t know you were in Chi-town! No wonder that came to mind! tee-hee - Anon - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 12:09 pm: Nope, I just have friends in Ohio. - Marie - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 12:15 pm: Well, we’re in the thick of it here in Springfield with dueling sweetness ads between Sam Cahnman and Ray Poe. Sam is in love with Sam. Ray is in love with Ray. What more can you say. And, on the radio, no less! This is your life in Springfield. Save us all. - Tweed - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 12:15 pm: Angie, Thanks, I’m well aware what Judy’s plan is (I have gone to her website). However, the average voter has no idea and that’s how I was looking at her ad. I base that on going through the regular voter activities (watching TV, reading the paper, i.e. not doing things uber political nerds like ourselves do such as come to CapFax) and conversations I’ve had with non-uber political nerd friends. Topinka hasn’t been able to place her solid political ideas out there for mass consumption. Much of this has to do with the fact that she doesn’t have the money to do so. That’s not a knock against her, that’s just the truth. If I’m her and I’m trying to win, I think a gentle reminder from Edgar wouldn’t hurt. If she doesn’t have enough money to get her message/accomplishments out there, even a large web banner at the bottom might help. Right now her commericals consist of Edgar spots and negative ads. Also Rudy Giuliani is not a heavyweight in Illinois politics just like Michael Bloomberg’s support of Blago is irrelevant. - ZC - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 12:56 pm: Any fan of political ads should check out the stuff Harold Ford has been running down in TN. Whether he wins or not, it’s been an impressive batch of spots. This one gets my award for best “response ad” (to an attack on Ford, for his not being tough enough on illegals). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTJ80lHw5sk&mode=related&search= Or his ad Ford ran right after the British terrorism plane gel scare - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmJGnRAQkqQ&mode=related&search= Slick stuff. Maybe too slick? But they’ve helped keep Ford in the race, no question. - Reddbyrd - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 1:12 pm: Judy Bore is incredible. She puts YouBet Veep “Blinky Jim” on the air after a week of no commercials. Then they spend 8 secs reminding everyone of her negatives. What a waste. What WAS she thinking? How many ads is Blinky doing this cycle 15 or 20? Hope YouBet doesn’t mind him being away from the counting room. And who is that strange looking guy at the end I thought it might be the Brickhead, but he is a much younger man. Pretty neat tie they go from the Last Executioner to the Brickhead who want to start the cook off immediately. Seriously, Rich the best ads have come from the DNC on the DC pervert cover-up. Oh, wait. Those weren’t commercials those were the Hastert-Shimkus-Weller-Palmer exit interviews on the news. There have been so many I thought they were commercials - Little Egypt - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 1:14 pm: I love the JBT ad. Let’s prove to GoverNOT Hairdo that he can’t buy another election. It’s too bad if y’all vote this crook back in office because you are sentencing us all to “more of the same”. - Sango Dem - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 1:33 pm: Raymond Poe literally has the most boring political ads I have ever seen in my life. I’ve never seen the end of one because I always fall asleep first. Also, I don’t think showing your candidate playing with children on a playground two days after the Foley scandal was a great idea. I’m not accusing Poe of anything, but its not the image you want right now. Good thing for Poe that he isn’t depending on TV to win re-election. - John Lee Pettimore - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 1:51 pm: All I can say is, thank GOD for TiVo! - Boone Logan Square - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 3:23 pm: Roble roble. - doubtful - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 4:15 pm: I’ll second that, John Lee. I’ve got to come online now to watch ads! - Goodbye Napoleon - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 4:19 pm: Anon 11:59 - an answer to your question, sort of. Lisa mentioned the governor in her new ad! - Citizen A - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 4:56 pm: Nov 8th is coming, it’ll all be over, the Cards will have won the World Series, Topinka will have won the election. Then we will only have to survive a couple months til inauguration and the beginning of rebuilding faith and trust in government and rescuing the state from the wasteland of corruption RB will leave in his wake. Fortunately the gray days of the winter will be brightened by the trials of all those indicted and by spring we can wave goodbye to Blago as he joins the exclusive Club Fed. - Peachy - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 5:04 pm: Edgar must be hoping that people forget that he was the one who first appointed Stu Levine to that Health Facilities Board. Why doesn’t Topinka just trot out George Ryan too while she’s at it, as a way to remind voters she represents the past. Good grief, I just wish these fossils would go away. - Angie - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 5:24 pm: Tweed, Re: “I base that on going through the regular voter activities (watching TV, reading the paper, i.e. not doing things uber political nerds like ourselves do such as come to CapFax) and conversations I’ve had with non-uber political nerd friends.” I don’t think people would care so much about politics if there wasn’t so much corruption and stuff that needs to be reformed. The people who are into this stuff just plain CARE more (at least that’s my theory). “Topinka hasn’t been able to place her solid political ideas out there for mass consumption. Much of this has to do with the fact that she doesn’t have the money to do so.” Exactly. But at least they take on good ideas from supporters. I sent over an email about playing up how she’s going to do more with less money while Rod has been wasting his campaign war chest just because he HAS the money to burn, and the Topinka campaign put something along those lines into one of the campaign manager updates that they send out. I got a kick out of that. Perhaps she should have done what Giuliani has done, which is to wisely solicit ideas from the people on his website. That’s the way to win, to let the people have some say and not just large, corporate interests or whoever has the money to throw at them. But the Levine fun? I can’t wait to see it all go down. Yeah, he’s got ties to Republicans, but Rod looks like a fool or a liar if he claims he knows nothing at all about the corruption. Who’s “asleep at the switch” now, Aquanet Man? - NoGiftsPlease - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 5:31 pm: “Paid for by friends of Rod Blagojevich”…he should have thought twice about using that phrase that because it just “gets us to thinking.” - Citizen A - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 5:47 pm: Like Maybe, Hmmmmm, Who and What are these “friends?” You are right, does get us to thinking. Oh well, Pat Fitzgerald will make it all clear to us. Some of it on Friday. Stay tuned. - Huh? - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 6:08 pm: This starts off subject but it comes back around. I was watching a John Wayne movie last night titled “The Shootist”. The Duke plays J.B. Books, an old gun fighter who is dying of cancer. He lived by a creed that wesnt “I won’t be wronged. I won’t be insulted. I won’t be laid a hand on. I don’t do these things to other people and I require the same from them.” Given the dirty campaign ads, our intelligence had been been insulted. Our pocket books will be severely wronged when the bill for Blogo’s foolishness comes due. We can’t resolve the problem by way of a Colt .45 revolver, ala J.B. Books in the Shootist, but we can cast a ballot for the Green Party. Anybody is better than Public Official A or the red headed accordian player. Vote for Whitney! - Too Little, Too Late - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 8:28 pm: I think any other Republican, besides JBT, in the state of Illinois with a heartbeat and pulse would be able to beat Blago. Nobody likes the current gov. Unfortunately, people can’t tell the difference between JBT and Blago. It looks like they even use the same barber. Truly a bad deal. Heck, Alan Keyes could probably win this race…but JBT? Doubtful. She’s got my vote, but it’s really a vote for just bad or worse!! Fellow Republicans—-This race is pathetic. I’m voting for JBT because I believe Blago will be indicted and this state will crumble under Pat Quinn. At least if JBT gets thrown in the slammer we’ll have Joe Birkett!! - zatoichi - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 9:35 pm: Most of the ads are the same boring junk: How terrible my opponent is. Negative, negative, negative. When the occassional “here is my idea” pops up, the opponent immediately responds with what a liar the opponent is. Why would anyone want to put themselves through this crap? The Ford ads are exceptional, then the other party comes up with that idiotic Playboy stupidity. I also like Michael J Fox, with Rush proving how Oxycontin/Ego has fried his brain. Wish Edgar came out some time ago. Madigan’s are very good and a setup for 4 years from now. Rod’s stuff? Time to get a snack. Gimme a TransAm! - Bridget Dooley - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 11:04 pm: My, Jim Edgar is quite a dashing older man. That is what I think of the ad. Too little, too late. Judy doesn’t have the cash to counter Rod. Speaking of Rod, I inadvertently ran into his brother today at a gas station in Chicago. He was putting signs out. The best ad is the Michael J. Fox ad. Bar none. - Titsophone - Wednesday, Oct 25, 06 @ 11:53 pm: I enjoyed watching MSI Edgar talking about scandals and mismanagment. - Diane - Thursday, Oct 26, 06 @ 5:19 am: The Stroger ads are the worst. Does anyone know why McSweeney always appears like he’s looking up at the ceiling? - ...if it walks like a duck - Thursday, Oct 26, 06 @ 7:03 am: Gov. Edgar stumping for JBT is stupid, if corruption is the issue. According to Answers.com “During his second term, the relationship between his re-election campaign and Management Systems of Illinois (MSI) came under federal scrutiny. Apparently, MSI, who had served as Edgar largest campaign contributor, was granted a “sweetheart contract” that cost the people of Illinois an estimated $20 million in fraudulent overcharges. Eventually, a number of both private citizens and state employees were convicted in federal court and sent to prison for their involvement in what had come to be known as the “MSI Scandal.” - Real Clear - Thursday, Oct 26, 06 @ 8:27 am: Exactly. And Edgar’s patronage chief was even named an unindicted co-conspirator in the MSI scandal. If Patrick Fitzgerald had been the U.S. Attorney then, who knows how things might have progressed. But it was certainly conventional wisdom among many back then that Edgar didn’t run for reelection in ‘98 because of MSI. Yes I know, he used the “heart trouble” excuse. But that’s what people do. “Want to spend more time with family” is the other one. Bottom line, Edgar is the last guy we need a lecture from about dirty government. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.