* The one revelation that has always stuck with me from that statewide gubernatorial bus trip I took last year was my respect for First Lady Patti Blagojevich. She’s smart and down to earth, which is a pleasant contrast with her husband’s personality. She’s also a very good mother to their two daughters, who, by the way, are a couple of great kids. (The biggest fear I had about that trip was spending three days on a bus with a couple of brats. It turned out they were one of the highlights of my little adventure.)

Mrs. Blagojevich was interviewed today by the Southern Illinoisan and the audio is posted here. The first half is mostly about the DuQuoin State Fair, but the second half is more about her own thoughts on the current imbroglio.

* This is heartbreaking…

Robert Novak has announced his immediate retirement following the diagnosis of a brain tumor, a prognosis the Sun-Times’ political columnist describes as “dire.”

“The details are being worked out with the doctors this week, but the tentative plan is for radiation and chemotherapy,” Novak said.

Whatever you feel about Novak (and there’s a lot of negativity about the guy out there), you have to admit that he has driven the news for decades. I don’t know if he knows this or not, but years ago I modeled the Capitol Fax off of the Evans & Novak Report, without the overt partisanship, of course.

In many ways, Bob Novak has been a hero of mine, even though we’ve never met, or even communicated. I certainly hope I get the opportunity to visit with him and tell him what he’s meant to me over the years.

* This may sound counter-intuitive, but I’m also a fan of Sam Zell. Hey, I don’t like a lot of his ideas and I dumped all over that goofy plan to have the state buy Wrigley Field, but it is indisputable that he is bringing an energy and innovation to Mother Tribune that hasn’t been seen there in decades, if ever. So, I mostly agree with this post over at Recovering Journalist…

Tribune’s employees would be a lot better off trying to understand what’s really happening to their industry and papers and redirecting their energy toward improving their newspapers and Web sites to make them more interesting and attractive to readers and advertisers. That’s how to save jobs. Whining–and worse–about Sam Zell isn’t going to change a… thing. It’s just childish behavior.

* And in the spirit of good feelings and personal revelations, here’s a photo of three of my nieces with my grandma…

…Adding… It turns out that Paul McCartney is a pretty cool guy.

…Adding more… Looks like we’ve got a big new advertiser at InsiderzExchange. Better go buy an ad.