* It’s pretty much the consensus that the governor’s outsized health insurance proposals (and the tax increase to go with it) have led directly to the spring session’s demise. This is from my syndicated column…

The simple truth is that very few legislators in the General Assembly have ever campaigned on providing universal health insurance, which is usually considered a federal issue. Many, including Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, go so far as to say that universal insurance ought to be a solely federal issue. […]

While the vast majority haven’t campaigned on universal health insurance, most legislators have been campaigning for school funding reform and infrastructure development for the past 20 years or more.

As a result, the public and the politicians are far more familiar and comfortable with those concepts, and they were super-ripe for passage this year.

Instead, what the governor did was essentially attempt to conjure a gigantic, expensive issue from scratch, gin up a groundswell of support statewide and ram it through the legislature in three and a half months, along with billions of dollars for education funding reform and infrastructure development.

So far, he has failed on all counts. That sort of thing just doesn’t happen here, or in any other democracy for that matter.

* The Tribune editorial…

How could you squander this unique opportunity to craft the lavish political legacy you crave?

First, you unfurl something you didn’t mention during your campaign — your plan for the biggest tax increase in your state’s history. But you don’t do the hard groundwork of building constituencies in advance. You just toss this out in your budget address — itself a peculiar, populist rant that tries to pit your state’s people against one another. […]

When labor, business and government groups suggest that what your state really needs is a transportation program, you issue an ultimatum. You’re determined to fund health insurance coverage and education. You declare, “That’s the priority, and unless we do that, as far as I’m concerned nothing else is on the table.” […]

When the legislative session ends with a whimper, and your party has nothing to show for all the expenses legislators have rung up in the state capital while doing zip, you might want to lie low. There’ll be plenty of opportunities in an overtime session to demand that your agenda prevail. Plenty of time to posture as the victim.

At this point, of course, you have nothing. Nothing except speaking points for the day your state government finally adopts a budget.

On that day, you’ll think you’re the hero.

* The Daily Herald editorial…

Presumably, Blagojevich was emboldened this time by his easy re-election in November. But he promptly misplayed his victory by calling for an enormous tax increase that he failed to mention during his campaign. Never was there a mandate for a $7.6 billion tax increase that could damage the state’s businesses. Nor did his declaring health care the state’s top priority necessarily make it so for most state residents. Many Democratic lawmakers realized as much, which is why the regular session closed with virtually no support for the gross receipts tax and only scattered support for expanding health care. The governor compounded his problems by avoiding Springfield, failing until late in the game to sit down with legislators, and implying that those skeptical of his agenda were on the wrong side of a basic moral equation.

Add to this basic disagreements between Jones and Madigan, Jones’ unseemly ComEd links, and downstate legislators’ refusal to budge on any other issue unless their constituents receive electric rate relief. The result is a classic case of how to waste what once appeared to be limitless political capital.

* Eric Krol has a George W. Bush comparison. I specifically warned the governor about the danger of this during the bus tour, but he brushed it aside…

Blagojevich won re-election last November, but he was unable to score a majority of the vote in what was nominally a three-way race. The governor found himself in a position similar to President Bush, who, after narrowly winning a second term, still tried to boast that he earned “political capital” and intended to “spend it.” […]

“I think the governor has to give back his flight suit and roll up his ‘mission accomplished’ banner,” said state Rep. Jack Franks, a Woodstock Democrat, making an allusion to Bush’s famous visit to that aircraft carrier declaring the Iraq war won.

* The Post-Dispatch editorial board, which backed the governor’s massive health insurance proposal, now piles on…

It was a bold plan and this page supported it. But neither Mr. Madigan nor most House members would stand behind it. The business lobby despised it, of course, and it crashed and burned with a 107 to 0 vote against it.

At that point, Mr. Blagojevich would have been wise to seek middle ground in order to rescue at least part of his health insurance plan. A consensus has been slowly building in Springfield for a plan that would raise income taxes, while cutting unpopular property taxes. By twiddling with the tax numbers and adding some business taxes, Mr. Blagojevich might have rescued part of what he wanted on health care as well as schools.

Instead, he dug in his heels and stood firm on his campaign pledge not to raise personal income taxes no matter what. He’s been hinting that he’ll keep lawmakers in session until they bend to his will.

* And Kristen McQueary has some harsh words for Senate President Jones, comparing him to former Republican Senate President Pate Philip and echoing some complaints I’ve heard a lot at the Statehouse lately…

Education funding reform. Philip blocked the most significant piece of legislation to date on school-funding reform. While the Democratically controlled House passed Gov. Jim Edgar’s 1997 swap plan, Philip sat on the proposal like a fat goose. […]

At the time, Jones wrote a letter to the Daily Southtown calling Edgar’s plan “the best way to accomplish those goals because the income tax offers a steady stream of revenue, the plan has a continuing appropriation that allows education spending to keep up with inflation, a dedicated growth fund for property-tax relief, and it’s fair because those who can afford to make the most sacrifice for children would make the largest sacrifice.”

Jones criticized Republicans for following their leaders in the House and Senate “like sheep.”

Then two months ago, Jones followed Philip’s playbook. He declared Sen. James Meeks’ tax-swap bill dead and advocated for Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s gross-receipts tax instead.

When it flopped, he turned to gambling, just as Philip introduced stiffer taxes on riverboats as an alternative to Edgar’s plan.

With Jones in charge, the Senate is no closer to narrowing the gap between rich and poor school districts than it was under Philip.

The whole thing is a mess.

* More budget and end-of-session stories, compiled by Paul…

* Statehouse Insider: Politics rears its ugly head

* Rifts among Dems put lawmakers into overtime

* Q& A about the deadlock at the Illinois capitol

* Schoenburg: Do the math, number begin to add up for Republicans

* Sen. Lauzen: Where do we go from here on the state budget

* Chambers: Late, great Zeke could be casino ace in the hole