* House Republican Leader Tom Cross talked to Sun-Times columnist Steve Huntley about the upcoming campaign…

Polling in six battleground legislative districts in the northwest suburbs commissioned by Cross found the Democratic-led General Assembly earning only a 24 percent approval rating, with 62 percent of voters disapproving.

Blagojevich fared even worse at 20 percent approval vs. 76 percent disapproving. “Suburban voters are very aware of the lack of state government, that the Democratic leadership can’t do anything of substance,” Cross said.

* Huntley didn’t publish head-to-head numbers from the six districts, leading me to wonder how the individual GOP candidates are actually faring, despite the low approval numbers for the General Assembly….

In the once solidly Republican suburbs, the poll found only a 1-percentage-point advantage for Republicans on the generic ballot.

That doesn’t bode well, considering these were all once solidly GOP districts.

* The “Obama Factor” is undoubtedly helping Dems in those districts - four of which are GOP held and two that are represented by Dems Crespo and Froehlich…

“It’s going to be a very tough year with Obama, the hometown guy with lots of appeal, at the head of their ticket,” Cross acknowledged. “But I don’t know why the voters would reward the Democrats [in Springfield] with more members.”

The reason voters may “reward” House Democrats for the gridlock is that the House Dems have refused to cooperate with the most unpopular governor in modern Illinois history - a governor who is also facing possible indictments on federal corruption charges.

Huntley also doesn’t mention Cross’ work with Blagojevich on the capital plan, and Cross’ repeated attempts to tamp down impeachment talk, going all the way back to last year when GOP Rep. Mike Bost demanded Blagojevich’s impeachment.

Cross is penned in because his political godfather, Denny Hastert, helped put together the capital plan. So now Cross is forced to say he trusts the governor to follow through on his capital promises, when everybody knows that this is highly unlikely. He’s in a tough spot. Blaming Democrats for not getting along with the governor is not the best message he could have going into November.