*** 3:34 pm *** The governor has dropped three of his counts in his four-count lawsuit against House Speaker Michael Madigan. The only remaining count asks the courts to declare that the governor has a Constitutional and statutory authority to schedule the time and date of special sessions.

Of the remaining counts, one asked that the courts compel Madigan to produce a quorum whenever the guv calls a special session. According to the guv’s office…

The remaining counts, which address the Speaker’s duty to assemble a quorum for special sessions, may no longer be an issue once the Court confirms the Governor’s constitutional authority to set the date and time of special sessions. If it becomes necessary, we could always re-file them later.

*** 3:38 pm *** Reporters tried to get Mayor Daley to whack Gov. Blagojevich again today. Instead, he did his best to dodge the questions…

“Let’s just get it passed.”

And…

“The only thing I objected to was the way the governor did this at the last minute,” [Daley] said. “He could have told the legislators who were already down there last week to add it to the bill. This is just drama.”

* Meanwhile Treasurer Giannoulias wasn’t impressed with the governor’s amendatory veto of the transit bill…

“I love my grandma. I love senior citizens. But I don’t think this was done in the best way possible,’’ Giannoulias said.

He said it seemed a little “disingenuous” for Blagojevich to drop this new program into the transit bill at the last minute when “they have been talking about this for six months or a year.”

* And Rep. Sid Mathias, who said he might not vote to accept the AV, said today that he will vote to accept…

“I’m angry, and even though I’m angry, I am still going to vote for this tomorrow,” said Rep. Sid Mathias (R-Buffalo Grove), one of 62 House members to vote for the plan as it passed by a slim margin last week.

*** 3:42 pm *** According to exit polls, black primary voters in Michigan picked “uncommitted” this week over Hillary Clinton 68 to 30. Ouch.

*** 4:50 pm *** The House Mass Transit Committee just voted to accept the governor’s amendatory veto by a lopsided margine of 16-5, according to a reporter who is there.