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There was more to this 4th of July than celebrating the country’s independence. For candidates looking ahead to the governor’s race next year, it also was a chance to get out and meet voters. […]

There’s pomp, there’s the parades, and of course no parade is complete without a few politicians shaking hands and meeting their constituents.

“It’s important that we never forget what a blessing democracy is,” Quinn said at the Arlington Heights parade.

Quinn wasn’t the only 2014 gubernatorial hopeful meeting and greeting folks this summer holiday. His Democratic opponent, campaign trail neophyte Bill Daley, did the same, getting a jump on the sort of politicking that traditionally gets underway on Labor Day.

* The Question: What did you do while blog comments were closed here?

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Jul 8, 13 @ 1:21 pm

Comments

Had a lot of extra free time, so I canned up plum jam and whole plums, harvested my garlic crop, spent extra time with my ailing father and mother-in-law, and didn’t spend nearly as much time worrying about how much my pension will be cut down the road

Comment by Roadiepig Monday, Jul 8, 13 @ 1:25 pm
I was out of town, thankfully. It would have been tough to be at the office without Capitol Fax to keep me company all week.

I checked in a lot though and caught the updates. Spent a lot of time at the pool with a cocktail in my hand. That eased the pain a bit.

Comment by 47th Ward Monday, Jul 8, 13 @ 1:25 pm
Of course, wish it was still open!
And be angry at City of Chicago for not controlling the absurd level of fireworks for over 72 hrs…one of my dogs still fears going outdoors.

Comment by Belle Monday, Jul 8, 13 @ 1:25 pm
Something productive for a change.

Comment by PublicServant Monday, Jul 8, 13 @ 1:25 pm
Taught my kids how to snorkel.
And like Belle, was pretty unhappy with the City’s response to fireworks.

Comment by Skeeter Monday, Jul 8, 13 @ 1:29 pm
Worked. Fishing. Visited my land out of state.

Comment by RonOglesby Monday, Jul 8, 13 @ 1:32 pm
Printed up our “POE A GO” bumper stickers
Golfed
Cards Baseball
Took Sons to Shooting Range
All good downstater stuff

Comment by CircularFiringSquad Monday, Jul 8, 13 @ 1:32 pm
Caught up on laundry.

Comment by Norseman Monday, Jul 8, 13 @ 1:33 pm
Family cookouts and Cardinal game in STL.

Comment by Give Me A Break Monday, Jul 8, 13 @ 1:36 pm
Got out of town, traveled to the Northeast, visited a couple big cities, actually ate Cannoli in each of the towns, decompressed for a spell, got some golf in, and enjoyed being away.

Did I check here for updates? If I made sure I had Cannoli, you know I checked in a time or two.

While I loved these cities, and their neighborhoods, and the surroundings, still missed Illinois, and though about the “downstate tour” and how that would have been a cool way to spend the “break” too.

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Jul 8, 13 @ 1:39 pm
Went retro and wrote on the bathroom wall.

Comment by Empty Suit Monday, Jul 8, 13 @ 1:40 pm
Michigan; worked on “the other place”, golf, barbeque. The 4 hour (130 mile)drive home last night was not pleasant.

Comment by Darienite Monday, Jul 8, 13 @ 1:41 pm
Scout Camp…

Not much net access and virtually no phone/e-mail access (about once a day) have to say it was kind of nice.

Comment by OneMan Monday, Jul 8, 13 @ 1:42 pm
Scout camp was in Oxford, WI. Thought about visiting some elected officials at the facility north of camp a bit.

Comment by OneMan Monday, Jul 8, 13 @ 1:53 pm
Participated in a 4 day long rural “neighborhood” party with about 7 other families who all live within golf-cart distance. Had a few cocktails but not even close to a drunk fest. Definitely family friendly. Shot off hundreds of dollars in fireworks. Had a trap-shooting contest Wed. 22 handgun target contest Thursday. Grilled everything you could think of. A few of us broke out the guitars and fiddles to do some pickin’. Lots of time in the pool. Evening fires for weinie roasts and s’mores for the kids. Took a break to go to church Sunday then everybody met back at the pool yesterday afternoon. Didn’t think about politics a bit all weekend. What a life! What a country!

Comment by BleugrassBoy Monday, Jul 8, 13 @ 1:53 pm
Spent the week down in sSpringfield and Dayton Oh.
Ohio has more lax fireworks rules, so I’d be willing to bet that Dayton’s absurd amount of fireworks topped Chicagos hands down.

train111

Comment by train111 Monday, Jul 8, 13 @ 1:57 pm
fishing out of state; walked across Mississippi River at headwaters; watched fireworks on TV (NYC and Washington, DC–closest thing to politics I did last week)on the fourth.

Comment by Susiejones Monday, Jul 8, 13 @ 2:02 pm
Spent m time traveling. Logged into the web site from my destination just to give Rich some odd IP addresses to mull over

Comment by Plutocrat03 Monday, Jul 8, 13 @ 2:03 pm
Out of town, golfed and swam. Marveled at lower gasoline prices outside of Illinois.

Comment by Esquire Monday, Jul 8, 13 @ 2:04 pm
The same thing I do every day Pinky - try to take over the world!

Comment by kerfuffle Monday, Jul 8, 13 @ 2:16 pm
I saw the Bottle Rockets at Fitzgerald’s American Music Festival.

Soooooooo goooooooood…

– MrJM

Comment by MrJM Monday, Jul 8, 13 @ 2:19 pm
Golf golf and more golf when I wasn’t twitching in a corner cuz I needed my CapFax fix!

Comment by Former Merit Comp Slave Monday, Jul 8, 13 @ 2:20 pm
Hey Rich - sorry to be off topic, but in today’s Cap Fax you say “the campaign has clearly begun and governing is now taking a back seat.” Don’t mean to be snide, but when was Quinn’s governing part?

Comment by Greg G Monday, Jul 8, 13 @ 2:30 pm
Discovered my 85 year old mother who is a surviving beneficiary of a federal pension w/ state insurance will have to start paying for medical insurance in direct violation of the contractual agreement between the feds and the state. Lawsuit here we come!

Comment by D P Gumby Monday, Jul 8, 13 @ 2:35 pm
Chicago sits on border of Indiana where fireworks are legal tough for them to control use of fireworks in the city without setting up border patrol.

Comment by E town Monday, Jul 8, 13 @ 2:36 pm
Spent time with the Mrs. and watching the grandkids. Went to multiple fireworks. Straightened out the wiring on a friend’s classic car and got it back running reliably. Went to a couple of classic car cruise-ins.

July 4th started the day by marching in one parade in support of Wes Barr and ended by watching fireworks downtown.

Comment by RNUG Monday, Jul 8, 13 @ 2:48 pm
Cried. Then just stared at the screen waiting for an update.

Comment by A guy... Monday, Jul 8, 13 @ 2:51 pm
Did stuff related to work, then went to watch fireworks at a friend’s farm. They had quite a personal display and we can easily watch the local town show. Just as the locals are starting up, 3 pickups pull up in front of their property. They pull back tarps and each pickup is stuffed with tubes and sand. Serious pyros. For the next 30 minutes they just blow off one spectacular display after another and the Natie Lights just keep flowing. Sparklers everywhere. County sheriff drives by and just beeps his horn/waves to our friends. Rural life.

Comment by zatoichi Monday, Jul 8, 13 @ 2:58 pm
Waited.

Comment by Cincinnatus Monday, Jul 8, 13 @ 2:59 pm
Took my kid to the fireworks. I am a fireworks ninja, people. We had a spot with a great view of the show, no mosquitoes, and we were out of there within five minutes of the show ending.

Oh, and I passed out flyers at the farmer’s market about the stuff going on at our local library: http://reclaimingourlibrary.blogspot.com/

Comment by TooManyJens Monday, Jul 8, 13 @ 3:09 pm
Yard work. Sweated mucho.
Family time.
Drove a golf cart around and swung way too many times.
Witnessed a series of explosions of flashy Chinese imports.
Ate and drank well.

Comment by Jake From Elwood Monday, Jul 8, 13 @ 3:19 pm
Went to Ashtabula OH with wife, daughter and grandkids to a family reunion. Long drive! Good food once there, lots of great time with grandkids. wouldn’t trade it. Didn’t miss traditional fireworks. (everyone comes to our house to park and watch Lisle Eyes to Skies fireworks.)

Comment by LisleMike Monday, Jul 8, 13 @ 3:27 pm
Curled up in the fetal position and hid under my desk.

Comment by The ghost of the late State Rep. William Harris Monday, Jul 8, 13 @ 3:44 pm
I took my niece to Springfield and we did all the Lincoln sites. She was very upset earlier this year to find out the guy on the penny had been shot.

Comment by Chavez-respecting Obamist Monday, Jul 8, 13 @ 4:07 pm
Vacationing in Minnesota.

Comment by Ruby Monday, Jul 8, 13 @ 4:13 pm
Monday fished, Tuesday fished then scouted out area for deer prospects, Wednesday fished earlier and had fish fry, Thursday caught plane and flew to North Carolina for work. Also waited for updates here.

Comment by FormerParatrooper Monday, Jul 8, 13 @ 5:15 pm
Want to know why this place is the best hangout in Illinois politics…

It’s like college “break”, you want the vacation, but you can not wait to get back to “campus” and hang with your friends, recharged.

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Jul 8, 13 @ 5:21 pm
revisited my home, realized real estate taxes will rise, income tax will rise, sales tax may rise benefits will Not and income will NOT…God I love Illinois !!!

Comment by railrat Monday, Jul 8, 13 @ 5:22 pm
Woo hoo–lots of Family Celebrations both in and out of State for the 4th and that wonderfully lonnnnnnnng Weekend! Plus–waited for today to finally arrive (although I did peek in on the day the Guv. vetoed conceal/carry to find out more–just in case–and, as promised, you were up ‘n runnin’ for the Big Development…by the way, thanks for that day’s Posts, despite taking a few, well-deserved days off)!!

Comment by Just The Way It Is One Monday, Jul 8, 13 @ 8:31 pm