* Sheila Simon thinks we’re stupid or something…

“I’d challenge anyone who says that we are trailing badly downstate. I’ve been campaigning all over the state and I’ve been getting a good response wherever I’ve been…Not everyone is happy, but I’m running into a good number of folks that makes me encouraged about our support across the state.”

OK, since she issued the challenge, here are the Tribune’s regional crosstabs…

I know that Ms. Simon is not a math professor at SIU, but that’s a 25-point Brady lead Downstate. And I don’t know about her, but I would consider a 25-point deficit to be “trailing badly.”

It’s too bad the linked story didn’t point that out as well.

*** UPDATE *** Video…

Simon was asked about an actual poll, but a reporter quoted the wrong poll in his question. It was the Tribune, not Rasmussen, which had those regional crosstabs. Rasmussen doesn’t post regional xtabs for Illinois.

[ *** End Of Update *** ]

* Gov. Pat Quinn thinks Bill Brady has a secret plan to raise taxes…

Gov. Pat Quinn [yesterday] suggested voters should be wary of promises not to raise taxes from opponent Bill Brady, saying Republican governors have a history of doing just that once they’re safely elected.

“That’s the Republican way,” Quinn said. “That’s what (Gov. Jim) Thompson did, twice. That’s what George Ryan did. That’s what they do.”

It’s also what Jim Edgar did, but Quinn didn’t mention him. Still, for a guy whose own tax hike will be used (now, after a major poll-driven revision) mainly to provide property tax relief, Quinn has a lot of nerve suggesting that somebody else has a secret plan to balance the budget. No way will Quinn stop with a one percent tax hike if he’s elected because that one percent will do nothing to stop the flood of red ink.

* From an Alexi Giannoulias press release…

As with Congressman Mike Castle’s stunning loss last night and the losses of Senator Lisa Murkowski and Senator Bob Bennett before him, the anti-incumbent, conservative wave will claim Congressman Mark Kirk as its next victim in November, with Mike Labno as the only pro-life, pro-gun candidate running for Senate in Illinois.

Congressman Mark Kirk, a 10-year incumbent Washington insider, has tried and failed repeatedly to curry favor with the conservative base in Illinois, and now conservatives have a clear choice with a legitimate challenge from the right with Libertarian candidate Mike Labno officially on the Illinois ballot.

Labno doesn’t have any money for TV ads, and he has received mostly passing reference in news stories this month. Unless Giannoulias intends to inform voters of this Libertarian candidacy via expensive TV ads (and Giannoulias barely has enough for his own ads), then the vast majority of voters simply won’t know the guy exists.

* Mark Kirk apparently hasn’t been in many taverns…

“One commentator said the blogosphere is like an Irish bar at midnight,” Kirk said. “Everybody is throwing chairs at each other, and then the next morning, no one remembers what the argument was about.

I’ve been in quite a few Irish bars and have never seen a fight before 2 o’clock, but whatever. The entire blogosphere isn’t rowdy and drunk. Newspaper comment sections are where the real problem drunks hang out.

* The Alexander County clerk is an extremely busy, preposterously stupid, amazingly lazy, or hugely corrupt person…

State election officials have been alerted about possible irregularities in Alexander County’s voter registration lists, but the county clerk says safeguards are in place to help prevent problems in November.

A newspaper report suggested the number of registered voters may exceed the number of residents eligible to vote in the southern Illinois county. County Clerk Francis Lee says she hasn’t had time to purge the rolls since taking office last year, but it’s her “intention to get it cleaned up.”

She says the process could take two years.

Two years? Are you kidding me? There are 7,100 people over the age of 18 in that county and 7.500 registered voters. Her office could hand address that many “Return to Sender” postcards in a few days.