* In case today’s song is about someone too far before your time…

Illinois Secretary of State Paul Powell had a simple definition, expressed in the negative, of a successful politician: “There’s only one thing worse than a defeated politician, and that’s a broke one.” For 42 years, Powell was an undefeated politician. Now, three months after his death, at age 68, his executor, the Illinois attorney general and the Illinois Bureau of Investigation are taking the true measure of his success. Powell, who in his lifetime of public service never earned more than $30,000 a year, left an estate worth more than $2 million—$800,000 of it in bills packed into shoe boxes, briefcases and strongboxes in the closet of his hotel suite in Springfield.

* I had never heard of Steve Goodman’s song about Paul Powell before yesterday, when an avid reader and music buff tipped me to it. It’s not historically accurate, but I’ll bow to artistic license and I do love this song. Just a quick warning, there’s one swear word in the lyrics. But, I mean, it’s a song about Paul Powell, so I’m giving it a pass…

A bleeped version from another show is here.

* What’s up?