* As I indicated yesterday, this is probably no surprise…

Embattled Gov. Rod Blagojevich likely will not be among the 15 to 20 governors talking about the economy with presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama Friday morning in Chicago.

An Obama spokesman confirmed Thursday afternoon that Blagojevich was invited along with all Democratic governors to the Friday event. A Blagojevich spokeswoman, however, said the governor likely will be heading to the downstate Metro East area to monitor rising flood waters.

Blagojevich did attend a dinner function on Thursday night with Obama and the governors, the spokeswoman said.

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*** UPDATE 1 *** The Democratic governors met with Obama earlier this morning. Blagojevich wasn’t there. The Tribsters took note of the governor’s schedule…

One Democratic governor not present was Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Obama’s campaign said Blagojevich had been invited to the event, but the governor’s staff said he needed to monitor Downstate flooding.

A public schedule released by Blagojevich’s office showed his first public event of the day to be at 11:45 a.m. Central Time in Alton, Ill. Blagojevich’s approval ratings continue to sag in Illinois and he and Obama have not appeared together in public for months.

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* Our quote of the week goes to Cindi Canary, regarding that poll I told you about yesterday which had the governor’s approval rating at 13 percent, and the General Assembly’s approval numbers at 17 percent…

“If any of us only had a 17 percent approval rating, we’d lose our jobs,” said Cynthia Canary, director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform and a spokeswoman for Midwest Democracy Network.

* This is what happens when a real Statehouse reporter writes a story about the capital plan…

State transportation officials and a handful of Illinois lawmakers continued their push Thursday to get a statewide construction plan in place.

But without any new talks on the $34 billion measure, it appears that press conferences being held around the state in recent days are having no effect on breaking the stalemate.

* More from the article, which was about yet another press conference to boost the capital plan…

State Rep. Jay Hoffman, a Collinsville Democrat who is a key ally of Gov. Rod Blagojevich, said Madigan is playing “petty politics” with the measure by blocking it from coming up for a vote.

“He needs to put aside his personal vindictiveness,” Hoffman said. “Let’s stop this inter-party bickering.”

At the press conference, however, Hoffman offered up no alternatives that would address Madigan’s concerns.

“If the bill is called for a vote … I’m convinced we’ll be able to pass that bill,” Hoffman said.

But the bill is flawed for numerous reasons. And since it’s a House bill amended in the Senate, it cannot be amended again in the House.

* Yesterday, we took a playful little shot at Mother Tribune because one of the company’s vendors was hawking free Obama t-shirts in exchange for buying a subscription. Eric Zorn posted this in comments…

…without even checking with anyone I can pretty well assure you that if this story is true (unless I’m missing something there is one source, one witness, “Leo” and a partial image of a shirt that looks like it might spell out “Obama”) it was not a company authorized promotion. There is no history or tradition at the Tribune or any American newspaper that I’m aware of of using partisan political souvenirs as subscription incentives, and if you thought about it for five seconds you’d realize why.

But even if somehow I’m wrong about that and this WAS an official promotion, sanctioned from on high, that wouldn’t have anything to do with the reporters, editors and columnists who are writing about the campaign. Nor would it influence the Tribune’s editorial positions or endorsements which, as some have noted, tend to run Republican.

* But this Chicago Sun-Times publicity stunt is most definitely sanctioned from on-high…

[Gov Blagojevich said] “I am proud of All Kids, a program that has covered more than 200,000 uninsured children since we started it in 2006. I would like to thank the Sun-Times and Resurrection Health Care for helping us get the word out about All Kids. I hope they far surpass their goal of signing up more than 1,000 children on Saturday.”

* Related…

* Jack Franks: “Not Yet”

* America the bummed

* Righter’s no friend of Blagojevich, but he opposes impeachment

*** UPDATE 2 *** Statement by Michael Dizon, communications manager, Chicago Tribune…

“Recently, several websites have reported that a Chicago Tribune contractor had been offering Obama and McCain T-Shirts as an incentive to purchase a newspaper subscription. This was not a company-authorized promotion and was inappropriate. All subscription premiums must be approved by the Tribune in advance, and these weren’t. The newspaper maintains a non-partisan position in its reporting as well as promotions. Chicago Tribune have reprimanded the contractors and regrets any confusion this might have caused for readers.”