* Quote of the day goes to Cook County Board President Todd Stroger, who said this after filing his petitions late yesterday afternoon…

“I feel great,” Stroger said after filing. “I feel like 150 pounds of dynamite.”

I think that dynamite might be going off in his face pretty soon - cartoon-style, of course. Not in reality. I also figure there will be a lot of interest in the validity of those Stroger signatures and possibly a challenge.

Speaking of Stroger’s petitions…

About 40 minutes before deadline on the last day to file Monday, Cook County Board President Todd Stroger filed 22,000 signatures to run for re-election — about half as many as some of his main rivals.

It wasn’t that people were reluctant to sign his petitions, he said.

“Normally, you have people who collect signatures,” Stroger said. “It’s hard getting people out there to collect signatures.”

It’s definitely tough to get people to pass sheets knowing that almost every door they knock on will soon be slammed in their faces, coupled with screams of anger. I cannot imagine what it would be like circulating for Stroger.

The horror. The horror.

* Runner-up quote of the day award goes to Jim Ryan, who is now apparently campaigning as an outsider…

“Until you get in there, it’s hard to say exactly what you would do,” Ryan said, adding he also would eventually like to see pension and Medicaid reform.

The lack of specificity in Ryan’s comments was in sharp contrast to his run for governor seven years ago in which he offered detailed proposals to deal with an already out-of-whack budget. Since his loss to Blagojevich, Ryan has been teaching at Benedictine University in Lisle.

Ryan also appeared to be trying to bill himself as an outsider, despite two terms as Illinois attorney general and before that a stint as DuPage County state’s attorney.

“I think I bring a fresh perspective. I’ve been out of government for a long time,” Ryan said. “I love public service. I believe in public service. I don’t really think the government is supposed to be the problem, it’s supposed to be at least part of the solution and it hasn’t been.”

First McKenna, now Ryan. Yep. Outsiders. Sure.

By the way, Jim Ryan’s people said they were waiting to file until yesterday not because they were having petition problems but because they wanted the last spot on the ballot, which might be worth a point or three come election day. Well, as Cal Skinner notes, Ryan filed his petitions before Andy McKenna. So, McKenna gets the last spot, not Ryan. Oops.

* Politico appears to be overstating the influence of the tea partiers in Illinois…

In what could be a nightmare scenario for Republican Party officials, conservative activists are gearing up to challenge leading GOP candidates in more than a dozen key House and Senate races in 2010.

Conservatives and tea party activists had already set their sights on some of the GOP’s top Senate recruits — a list that includes Gov. Charlie Crist in Florida, former Rep. Rob Simmons in Connecticut and Rep. Mark Kirk in Illinois, among others. […]

Even in Illinois, where polls shows Kirk would be highly competitive as a general election candidate in a state in which Republicans have been crushed in recent elections, the prospect of picking up the president’s former Senate seat isn’t enough to win over many activists.

“We’re going to work hard as hell to make sure Mark Kirk doesn’t win,” said Evert Evertsen, an Illinois tea party organizer. “Mark Kirk is about as liberal as Arlen Specter was.”

What a breathless piece that was. No mention at all that not a single valid poll shows Kirk in any sort of GOP primary trouble.

The problem with Politico is that it too often sets the meme for the day. The Hill quickly followed suit, as did Hot Air, HuffPo and many, many more. Yet, there’s no real evidence that this surge yet exists in Illinois.

Look, I don’t doubt that the crazy NY congressional race could embolden the Right here and elsewhere if their candidate wins. But I do question whether they actually have the ability to do anything about it.

Speaking of which, Fox News runs a lede that directly contradicts the rest of its story…

Republican candidate Dr. Eric Wallace announced Tuesday that he is withdrawing his bid for Illinois’ U.S. Senate — making the path easier for Rep. Mark Kirk to secure the GOP nomination for the seat.

“Too much is at stake for the citizens of Illinois in this race and I have decided to put my personal ambitions aside to prevent the splitting of ‘true’ conservative and Christian votes in the primary and thereby handing the nomination uncontested to Mark Kirk,” Wallace said in a press release Tuesday.

“I don’t want to be responsible for handing this primary to Mark Kirk because my fellow conservatives and I split the vote in the Republican Party. Defeating Kirk has to take first priority because he is neither an economic nor social conservative,” Wallace said.

Wallace was an also-ran at best. The only way this helps conservative Republican Patrick Hughes is if Hughes can make it a close race. There’s just little to no evidence of that yet.

* Can we expect a barn-burner in Forrest Claypool’s old county board district? Likely…

State Rep. John Fritchey filed last week to replace Claypool, who three years ago narrowly lost a primary battle for county board president. Today, another challenger emerged: former Ald. Ted Matlak.

In 2007, Matlak lost his re-election bid in the 32nd Ward to newcomer Scott Waguespack.

Matlak is no political novice. Neither is Fritchey, who has the support of Claypool and U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Chicago, who was Claypool’s board ally before he won a special election for Congress earlier this year.

* Eric Zorn tries to parse blame in the Quinn vs. Hynes TV advertising fight. I mostly agree with what Zorn says, but this just isn’t right…

That [Hynes] ad, like Hynes’ first ad which started it all, fires wildly by unfairly labeling a legislative tax compromise as “Quinn’s proposal.”

Fires wildly?

Look, the governor endorsed that final House tax hike bill. He is on record saying that the House should ignore the Senate-passed tax increase bill and focus on the House bill at hand. And even after the House bill failed to pass, Quinn refused to budge from his position, saying the House version was the one he wanted.

So, it’s not a wild accusation, or at all unfair, to call this Quinn’s bill. He backed it. It’s his.

* Related…

* February primary ballots to be lengthy

* Republican Mark Kirk: It’ll be me vs. Democrat Alexi Giannoulias for U.S. Senate next year

* Hughes: Filed, withdrew and filed again. What’s the story? One of Hughes supporters had sent a petition sheet directly to the Board of Elections via snail mail, and the ISBE had no choice but to receive it as a filing. “I was stunned and asked how could that be? It didn’t have anything else with it and no one was authorized,” Johnston said. The staffer said it happens more than people know, but that if they get a sheet in the mail they have to treat it as a filing. That’s the law. “I asked how we fix it,” Johnston said. “She told me we had to withdraw the earlier filing and file the real packet. So she got the general counsel out, did a withdrawal form for me and then proceeded to accept the filing I had prepared. I had to find Patrick, had him notarize the form withdrawing from the earlier filing and brought that back to the Board.”

* Press Release: Today the Campaign Manager to Robert Dold – Republican candidate for Illinois’ 10th Congressional District – is calling on State Representative Beth Coulson to abandon her unlawful request to use state taxpayer funds or her funds from her state campaign account to pay for mailings while she is a candidate for federal office. “This use of taxpayer dollars taken from State coffers not only is illegal,” said Campaign Manager and Spokesperson Kelley Folino, “but it reveals a willingness on the part of Rep. Coulson to disregard campaign finance laws and Illinois taxpayers.” Ms. Folino urges the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) to reject Coulson’s request.