* According to a friend who was there, former Chicago schools chief and onetime gubernatorial candidate Paul Vallas was asked at a press conference today whether he would run for governor in 2010.

Vallas flatly ruled out a 2010 run.

Vallas said he has asked for a one-year extension of his New Orleans public school district contract. He was asked about other offices, including county board president, and Vallas reportedly said he wasn’t going to run through the whole list.

*** UPDATE *** The Daily Herald has more…

Paul Vallas announced Sunday he would not run for governor or any office and has instead signed on for a third year as head of New Orleans’ public schools.

“I would have liked to have run for governor,” Vallas said.

But Vallas said he is staying on as chief of New Orleans’ school district for at least an extra year to “get it done right.”

Vallas signed on for a third year down South last week, meaning his contract won’t expire until June of 2010, too late he said to make a run for office in an election that November.

However, Vallas said, “I’m not going to say I’m never going to run for anything again.”

My cynical self wonders if he used those recent leaks about a possible countywide bid as a negotiating ploy with the New Orleans school board.

[*** End of update ***]

* Vallas’ press conference was called to express his support for the constitutional convention referendum. Doug Finke appears to endorse a “Yes” vote in his column today…

So, by all means, if you want to help the governor continue to do a bang-up job, vote against a convention.

Watch Pat Quinn debate Dawn Clark Netsch on the con-con here.

* Former congressman and DuPage County Republican icon Harris Fawell has endorsed Barack Obama for president…

Harris Fawell, former congressman for the 13th Congressional District, is backing a Democrat for president for the first time in his life. The 79-year-old Republican said there’s a good chance that Obama will carry the county.

“He’s the best I have seen, the most qualified I’ve ever seen running for president,” Fawell said.

That sort of movement towards Obama in DuPage is at the heart of freshman Congresscritter Peter Roskam’s attempts to tie himself to the presidential hopeful in his direct mail.

* Both in that above piece and in the Tribune’s story here, college professors say they don’t think Rod Blagojevich will hold back Democratic candidates this year…

From races for the state Senate to Congress, Democratic candidates are eagerly displaying their photos with Obama, using his name on campaign signs and buttons and featuring his endorsement in advertising.

Republicans hoping to keep a Democratic tsunami from wiping out their last Illinois strongholds are countering with blistering ads that repeat the name of the scandal-plagued governor as if it were a mantra.

“I would think the Obama pull is going to be more important than the Blagojevich drag,” said Christopher Mooney, professor of political studies at the University of Illinois at Springfield. “Blagojevich is an unusual case. Still, these people are turning out for Obama.”

That’s true to an extent. However, candidates tied directly to Blagojevich are having terrible problems, at the congressional and legislative level. If Roskam loses (along with a few House and Senate races I’m following), then the Blagojevich Effect had no impact. If those candidates win (and Roskam is ahead, despite the late drop in support), then it did work.

* State Sen. Chris Lauzen’s endorsement of John McCain for president is all about the negative impacts of a possible Obama administration. That’s the underlying problem with McCain’s campaign. It’s almost completely comprised of (mostly emotional) appeals about why we should vote against Obama instead of for McCain.

* Gallup on early voting trends…

Gallup’s latest update — based on interviewing conducted through Wednesday, Oct. 29 — shows that 21% of registered voters who plan to vote say they have already voted early or by absentee ballot. This percentage has been increasing steadily over the last two weeks. Another 12% of registered voters say they still plan on voting early, leaving about two-thirds of those who plan on voting who indicate they will actually vote on Election Day itself, next Tuesday.

These early voters are more likely to say they have voted for Barack Obama than for John McCain, by a 55% to 40% margin. Among those who plan to vote on Election Day, the spread is much closer — only a 48% to 45% Obama advantage.

Despite some perceptions that there may be disproportionate early voting among blacks, Gallup’s data show that black voters and white voters are roughly proportionate in their reports of already having voted.

There does, however, continue to be a significant age skew in the early voting patterns, such that older voters are significantly more likely than those who are younger to report having already voted.

* Local EV…

More than 260,000 ballots were cast in Chicago and more than 226,000 ballots were cast in the rest of Cook County during the first early voting for a presidential election in Illinois, authorities said.

* McCain’s Illinois Co-Chair Recognizes ‘Political Realities’…

Recent polls show Barack Obama with a 20-30 point lead over John McCain in Illinois. But state Representative Jim Durkin is hopeful the race will narrow significantly by Election Day. Durkin co-chairs McCain’s Illinois campaign.

DURKIN: I know the political realities of this state. If we can get it between 8 and 10 points, I think it’ll reflect incredibly on the McCain campaign in the United States.

Durkin says Republicans in Illinois are focusing their efforts on nearby battleground states. He says hundreds of McCain volunteers are travelling to Ohio and Missouri, and many others are making phone calls to swing state voters.

* The Sun-Times writes about the preparations for Obama’s Grant Park rally…

Most of the city east of the Kennedy/Dan Ryan Expressway, north of Cermak Avenue and south of Illinois Street will be shut down to accommodate an anticipated throng as great as a million.

A series of road closures will be announced Monday.

Taking your car in the area will not be a good idea.

“Please, please use public transportation if you plan on coming down,” said Ray Orozco, chief of the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications.

Transit officials are preparing for an event similar to the annual July 3 fireworks show, only on steroids.

Metra and the Chicago Transit Authority are packing their schedules with extra crews and service, ensuring that the rally’s impact will be felt far into the suburbs.

Loop employers are being encouraged to send their workers home at 3 p.m. on Election Day to accommodate the influx, forcing Metra to start its outbound rush hour routine a couple of hours early.

* AG Madigan to once again monitor election…

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan says 166 teams of investigators throughout the state will be monitoring the general election.
Madigan says it’s to ensure that voting rights are protected on Tuesday.

On Sunday Madigan’s office announced that 125 teams will be assigned throughout northern Illinois including Chicago. Another 41 teams will observe activity in the rest of the state.

Investigators will be looking at any claims of voter fraud or voting irregularity.