* Former Illinois governor Jim Edgar had some not-so-kind words for his party’s Republican nominee on Chicago Public Radio yesterday. Edgar called Brady’s ten percent across-the-board budget cut plan “naïve“…

“I don’t agree with across the board. I think that’s a naïve approach,” Edgar said. “There are some more essential [programs] than others. It’s a difference of life and death… we don’t want to make a cut that will result in somebody dying. There are some programs in state government that [can mean] the difference between life and death. Those programs you can’t cut.”

And he’s not planning to campaign for Brady, either…

“I was hoping that Kirk [Dillard] would be the [Republican] nominee,” Edgar said. “He was my chief of staff and I think he had a good understanding of what it took to get the problems…I’m at the University of Illinois and I think I’ll take a professorial role in this campaign and just sit on the sidelines.”

You can listen to the entire interview by clicking here.

* As I already told you, several pro-choice groups held a presser yesterday to blast Brady…

Beth Kanter with Illinois Planned Parenthood’s politcal action committee and several other activist groups gathered in Chicago to declare Brady “anti-woman,” vowing to support Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn.

“Over 17 years in Springfield, Bill Brady has amassed quite a scary record,” Kanter said. “And in his run for governor, Bill Brady is not backing down in his extreme positions against women.”

Kanter was joined onstage by representatives from the National Organization of Women, Personal PAC, Citizen Action, and a supporter of stem-cell research. She said she and other activists scrutinized Brady’s Senate record and campaign questionnaires in formulating their opinion of him as a gubernatorial candidate.

Kanter cited Brady’s opposition to abortion rights, noting his response to an Illinois Federation for Right to Life questionnaire.

“Sen. Brady has said he would sign a law banning abortion except to save the life of a woman,” she said. “That means if a woman is raped or the victim of incest, she would not be allowed to get an abortion.”

More…

Cosgrove and the other speakers admitted they would probably be launching the same campaign if any of the other five Republicans had won the nomination for governor.

All the GOP candidates were anti-abortion except for DuPage County Board Chairman Bob Schillerstrom, who dropped out a week before Election Day. The other six agreed with 26 out of 26 positions supported by the Illinois Federation for Right to Life on the group’s questionnaire, except for Andy McKenna, who agreed with 25 out of 26.

But Cosgrove said surveys of Republican primary election voters showed 70 percent of them supported a right to abortion in cases of rape and incest, unlike the candidates.

Presser video…

* Related and a roundup…

* Death penalty moratorium still not put to test

* Brady holds substantial lead over Quinn in new poll

* Eric Timmons blog: My application for lt. gov.

* Petition backs Krishnamoorthi IL lt gov

* Turner submits application to be lieutenant gov

* Cronin seeks control of DuPage Water Commission

* DCCC unveils targets