Confederate values – Is that really what we’re fighting over these days?

The choice of entertainment for the Illinois State and DuQuoin State fairs is, strictly speaking, not a Chicago-area issue. Although I have no doubt that people exist who are going to somehow claim this is evidence of Chicago or urban values predominating over the way rural people want to live.

Cancelled in DuQuoin

Which is to say that a whole lot of nonsense is being spewed over the acts that have been hired, or not hired, to perform at the events taking place during August.

THE DUQUOIN FAIR in Southern Illinois is an alternative event to the Illinois State Fair that usually takes on a more rural character. More southern than the rest of Illinois. For those people who think of the Land of Lincoln as neighboring up against Kentucky, rather than Iowa or Wisconsin

Among the acts that had been scheduled to appear there was a band billing itself as Confederate Railroad. But it seems state government officials cancelled their contract with the band because there are those who take offense to someone using the symbolism of the old Confederate States of America.

Personally, I’ve never really heard the band. I had to use the Internet to do a search to find out anything about them, and from the snippets I heard, I don’t think there’s much of a loss.

But there are people who are prepared to think of this as some sort of snub to their idea of what a “real America” ought to be about.

PARTICULARLY WHEN THEY learned about the entertainment scheduled for the Illinois State Fair in Springfield. Where is seems that the rapper Snoop Dogg is scheduled to perform.

The same people who are prepared to think that Confederate Railroad is somehow worthy of our attention are offended – probably by the presence of any act that isn’t geared to a white, rural sensibility.

But Snoop Dogg particularly offends them because one of his many album covers includes the 2017 record “Make America Crip Again.”

Double-standard? Or over-reaction?

Which depicts the artist in a totally gangsta pose of standing over a flag-covered corpse, whose toe tag indicates it’s the body of none other than President Donald Trump.

ADMITTEDLY, THAT’S A tacky image to use. But it seems state officials have no problem with it, or with Snoop Dogg. As opposed to Confederate Railroad – whose own appearance in DuQuoin is no more for this year.

State Rep. Terri Bryant, R-Murphysboro, is trying to make an issue of this, and claims there will be a significant boycott of the DuQuoin Fair – which potentially is a blow to the Southern Illinois economy that considers the fair one of its most significant events each year.

She’s gone so far as to use a lengthy Facebook post to denounce state officials, particularly Gov. J.B. Pritzker, whom she says is “hypocritical” and “will own the resulting economic damage.”

With Pritzker aides telling the Capitol Fax newsletter that Bryant is distorting many facts, and also tossed out threats implying that Pritzker’s personal safety would be placed at risk because of all of this.

WITH BRYANT SUPPOSEDLY telling the governor “I love my people, but they’re crazy.” Crazy enough to do bodily harm to our state’s chief executive? That’s more of an indictment against them than their willingness to get all worked up over the music of Confederate Railroad.

Personally, it makes me think the Taste of Chicago is a much more sane event than either of the state fairs – even though I’ve never thought of any of these events as THE place to go for top-line entertainment.

The most rational event of all -- regardless of the oversized turkey legs

I’m inclined to think the state fair in Springfield is particularly weak in that it usually features musical acts whose artistic peak occurred some two decades ago. In that regard, the idea that Snoop Dogg is reduced to playing in Springfield somehow seems fitting.

While I find it ironic any band would take the “Confederate Railroad” imagery for their own identity – since anyone who really knows their history would understand that one of the Southern states’ biggest weaknesses in trying to become an independent nation was their system of trains to ship people and goods from place to place. It stunk!

  -30-

Partisan politics run amok at all levels

Trump has one thing in common with Rauner, … 

It may well be my generation’s contribution to the electoral process – we not only tolerate the overly partisan nature that prevents things from occurring, we encourage it.

The notion of people of the opposition political party being demonized because they have the unmitigated gall to think differently. How dare they!?!

PERSONALLY, I ALWAYS have thought the partisan nature of our electoral set-up has the advantage of preventing either “side” from running amok; from being out-of-control.

… feeling the need to demonize an opponent

Literally for letting them behave as though politics is an “all or nothing” game with the loser needing to learn to shut up and take it – as in whatever abuse the political opposition feels like dishing out.

We’re at a point now in this Age of Trump in which our nation’s chief executive is determined to demonize everyone in the majority of society who is embarrassed by his garish behavior.

Take his behavior Thursday, when he responded to the joint effort by dozens of daily newspapers across the country to choose as their editorial subject for the day the notion that the president is literally sitting on his brains every time he goes off on a tangent about news organizations being the “enemy of the people.”

TRUMP USED PHRASES such as “collusion” to take shots at the joint action – which usually is a term that implies some form of criminal conspiracy. As though he thinks federal prosecutors ought to be working on a joint prosecution of all the publishers and editorial writers who did work on putting together a joint statement.

Which basically amounts to saying that the newspapers so often being dumped on by Trump aren’t going to take it being smacked about anymore.

For the governor, it's "Blame Madigan!"

Far from being criminal in intent, it feels more like the schoolyard bully gets his keister kicked in by the very people he has been taunting, then goes about complaining that the people he has been terrorizing have no business thinking about fighting back.

Personally, I’m viewing my own retribution as coming in 2020 – when we as a society have our chance to considering a collective Trump Dump! If we can’t get ourselves organized to pick somebody else (there were 3 million more of us who wanted the concept of “President Hillary,” remember?), then perhaps we deserve what we get.

YET IT’S NOT just at the federal level where such nonsense talk takes place.

Take our very own Illinois, where Gov. Bruce Rauner is trying to turn the political unpopularity he has into some sort of statement about Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago – whose actual “offense” is that he has refused to cooperate with Rauner’s partisan desires to undermine the influence of organized labor within state government.

On Thursday in Springfield as part of the Democrat Day activities at the Illinois State Fair, there was a line of questioning amongst some reporter-types about whether Madigan is a “liability” to Democrats.

The state legislator who is now executive director of the state Democratic Party says this election should not be about “individual personalities.” While Kwame Raoul (the Dem seeking election as Illinois attorney general) merely responded “My name is Kwame Raoul, Next question?”

PERHAPS TRUMP WOULD like the kind of press questioning that presumes his partisan political principles have a basis in truth, just like Rauner got on Thursday. Although I’ve also seen speculation that the “questions” came from political operatives trying to spin the line of rhetoric.

For Trump, it's the content of what is published in all those little boxes

So what should we think? Do we have people openly hostile to the partisan stances of our elected officials?

Or do we have elected officials openly hostile to the concept that not everybody in our society agrees with what they think?

The cliché says that “Everybody has a right to be wrong.” The reality is that a society where everybody agrees would be not only an un-American concept, it would be a downright dull place in which to have to live.

  -30-

A Hoosier to speak to Illinois Dems at partisan rally of Illinois State Fair?

My initial reaction to learning of the replacement speaker at the Democratic Party’s annual brunch held in conjunction with Democrat Day was a touch of surprise.

Is Buttigieg really a step down as speaker...

Former Vice President Joe Biden was supposed to do the honors, which had some partisans speculating how this could be the beginning of his own dreams of running for president come 2020. It was stirring up significant response.

BUT THEN BIDEN became ill, and had to cancel. Which led to the mayor of South Bend, Ind., being called upon to do the keynote speaker duties. A Hoosier? In Illinois!

Of course, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg isn’t your standard issue municipal official of absolutely no significance beyond the boundaries of his particular city.

Buttigieg is among the few politicos in this country who is open about his sexual orientation. In fact, his marriage earlier this year to long-time partner Chasten Glezman warranted a write-up in the New York Times – usually an honor reserved for the old money elite; who all-too-often are amongst the Republican ranks.

Albeit the types of Republicans who find themselves repulsed by the vulgar behavior of our current president.

SO PERHAPS BUTTIGIEG is appropo to speak to a rally meant to get Democrats in Illinois all riled up enough to care about voting come the Nov. 6 Election Day and in election cycles of the future.

For Buttigieg, who has been mayor of the city many of us think of merely as the home of the University of Notre Dame (even though the school technically is in the nearby municipality of Notre Dame, Ind.) since 2012, is a name that often gets thrown into the mix of people who may be challenging Donald Trump’s 2020 re-election. Barack Obama himself has included Buttigieg as a part of the "future" of the Democratic Party.

Always with the addition of a sentence saying Buttigieg would be the “first openly-gay U.S. president, if elected.”

… compared to Biden, who may be too old

I’m sure those who attend the Democratic brunch will try to claim they’re partaking in history by witnessing the event. While I’m sure those attending the state fair proper will go out of their way to ignore anything Buttigieg has to say, preferring to focus attention on the Butter Cow.

I COULDN’T HELP but notice one person who bothered to post a link on Facebook to the Buttigieg wedding story as a way of letting people know just what kind of person Democrats were using to speak at their big rally.

Even though the part I find ironic is that we’ll be hearing from a Hoosier; a species of Midwesterners who oft like to think they’re somehow going to get all of Illinois’ assets to move east across State Line Road.

Now, we’re going to be asked to cheer for one of those people, who can’t even seem to agree on an explanation of why they’re called “Hoosiers” to begin with.

But it could make for an interesting Thursday in Springfield, particularly compared with the Governor’s Day activities that occurred at the Illinois State Fairgrounds on Wednesday.

WATCHING GOV. BRUCE Rauner try to appear to be everyman at a time when many of the rank-and-file partisans of the Republican Party are eager to dump his keister (while also trying to figure out a way of keeping Democratic gubernatorial nominee J.B. Pritzker from prevailing) wasn’t anywhere near as amusing as one might think it is.

Buttigieg will offend those who like Age of Trump

Besides, it kind of fit in with a Chicago Tribune story published Wednesday about the Tuesday primaries held in several other states.

Ones in which Vermont Democrats picked a transgender person to run for governor, Minnesota Dems chose a woman who is of Somali ethnic origins to run for Congress, while Connecticut nominated a black woman to go to D.C. on their behalf. Diversity all dominant.

Compared to Republicans, who managed to nominate several people fully in line with Donald Trump, including in Minnesota, where Tim Pawlenty’s desire for a political comeback failed – and he’s now the man who once dreamed of being President of the United States, only to become yet another casualty of the Age of Trump.

  -30-

Does anybody really feel compelled to give political millionaire Rauner their own money to help get him re-elected?

My guess is that Illinois’ governor is disappointed with me, and everybody just like me, who ignored his plea on Monday for cash to supplement the personal wealth he plans to commit to the 2018 electoral efforts to keep himself in office, and also to get a more sympathetic state Legislature to rubber-stamp his efforts.

RAUNER: Wants your President Grants

While many people were paying attention to the Statehouse to see if Bruce Rauner really would instantly amendatorily veto any Education Funding bill sent to him Monday by the General Assembly (the bill was sent to him so late in the day that he wound up not being able to act on it -- maybe Tuesday?), my attention was caught by his fund-raising plea.

AS IN RAUNER insisting that Monday night was a deadline by which people had to send their contributions to him if they want to support his desire to stay in office for another four-year term.

“This month’s contributions go directly to sending the Madigan Machine a clear message; Illinois is not going back to the old way of doing things,” he wrote, while suggesting that $50 was the recommended donation.

In fact, Rauner was hoping to get 32 people to donate $50 each – with the 32 being symbolic of the figure he’s repeatedly using to describe the income tax adjustment that was made over his objections when the General Assembly in early July finally settled on a budget for state government.

Of course, one could argue that the “old way of doing things” within state government entailed actually approving budgets and keeping the mechanics of state government operating.

THE OLD WAY didn’t involve being willing to put things at risk just for the sake of partisan politics – just as the governor’s desire to mess with approving an Education Funding bill is also a willingness to put partisan politics ahead of ensuring that the schools get their initial state aid payments as scheduled on Aug. 10.

If that deadline is missed, we could have some sort of delay with the public schools being able to open, since so many districts rely upon their state portion of funding in order to operate.

I’ll admit that the delay in getting an Education Funding bill to Rauner for his consideration was a political maneuver by Democrats – who knew that Rauner intended to play politics with the issue so as to take pot shots at the Chicago Public Schools while hopefully appeasing the rest of the state.

Our state, at times, feels all topsy-turvy

This is the new way, it seems, that Rauner wants us to support with our campaign contributions. Although I suspect the reason he asked for only 32 donations is probably because he suspects there aren’t many more than 32 people in all of Illinois willing to give their money to his campaign.

A RAUNER ELECTORAL effort truly is going to be a self-funded campaign, as we’re going to see just how far people will go in order to buy themselves a government post with which to assuage their egos.

One other part of Rauner’s campaign appeal caught my attention. Many modern-day e-mail appeals for contributions by Democrats go out of their way to imply that tiny amounts of money can build into the large sums needed to operate a credible campaign.

Appeals for as little as $3 are not uncommon.

Yet Rauner wants for his efforts to build a Republican Party in his image some $50. It certainly wasn’t inspiring enough to make me rush out to find a debit card so as to type in my personal information so that they could get my money instantly – in time to beat their July 31 Midnight fundraising deadline.

WE’RE IN A political mindset. Just about everything is going to be given a spin. Such as the announcement last week that the Illinois State Fair this year won’t include an official “Democrat Day” political rally at the fairgrounds.

MADIGAN: Giving the fair back to fans

There are those who are trying to claim that this is Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, being afraid to publicly face people at a time when the school funding is uncertain.

Although considering how few Chicago people attend the state fair, it makes some sense that the urban types who do come probably want to see the rest of the fair attractions and don't want to hear more campaign blather.

Give ‘em a lemon shakeup and maybe a ticket to a Foghat or Alabama concert (even though the latter is technically on the fair's "Republican Day"), and they’ll enjoy a little less political rhetoric being spewed about.

  -30-

Madigan, Rauner tried this week to outgun each other amidst the stink of livestock waste at Illinois state fair

It has been a few years since I last went to an Illinois State Fair, although it sounds like this year the politicking reached a level of intensity not often seen recently.

 

The sentiment that Democrats tried to stir up to tag all Republican candidates in this year's election cycle

Republicans, when they had their day to celebrate on the fairgrounds in Springfield, made a point of doing everything they could to downplay the existence of Donald Trump – while also playing up the looming presence of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.

DEMOCRATS FOLLOWED UP the following day by doing just the reverse – making sure everybody they could tell knew that Trump was at the head of the Republican ticket of candidates who will be in the running in the Nov. 8. general election.

All too predictable. While also all too sad. Since it seems that our state government officials aren’t anywhere near being capable of working together. It is likely the political lollygagging of recent years will continue.

Particularly sad because the agreement reached back in June to come up with a budget that allows government operations to continue was only a six-month agreement.

Come January 1 when we’re all suffering hangovers and realizing the person lying next to us is not the one he or she is supposed to be, we’re going to get hit with another sucker punch – the budget nonsense that dominated the entirety of Illinois Fiscal 2016 will be back.

SO EXCUSE ME for thinking that perhaps the state fairgrounds was the perfect place for the latest attempts by Gov. Bruce Rauner and Madigan to try to one-up each other – all the livestock barns on the premises do give the place a perpetual odor of animal dung.

And if you’re not careful where you step, you can get it all over your shoes too!

 

GOP's response. Image provided by Illinois Republican Party

Poop on your shoes is about the level of the rants used by the Rauner camp, what with them circulating buttons depicting a youthful, early 1970s Madigan back when he was a freshman legislator (supposedly sent to Springfield by the original Mayor Daley in part to keep his son, the newly-elected state senator Richard M. out of trouble in the Illinois capital city). And also a version depicting an equally-youthful-looking Richard Durbin before he ever dreamed of being a U.S. senator.

The point being that his 40-plus years of legislative service is too long. And that perhaps a Republican alternative would benefit the people of Illinois.

THERE’S JUST ONE problem with that theory, or all the rhetoric of recent election cycles that try to turn the campaign into a Madigan referendum.

The only people who actually vote up or down on Madigan’s continued presence in the Illinois House of Representatives are the residents of the House 22^nd District out by Midway Airport. By and large, they’re content to keep him in Springfield, and even feel some pride that their legislator is THE BOSS and other peoples’ legislators have to follow his orders.

You can argue whether Clearing neighborhood residents or any of those people in nearby suburbs also in the district really get anything from Madigan’s presence. But there isn’t really any clamoring for Madigan’s removal from the people who could do something about it.

Take the case of Jason Gonzales, the most recent challenger who got his behind beaten on primary Election Day this year and is now filing a lawsuit challenging the legality of the overly-aggressive campaigning that Madigan did to ensure his victory.

SOLID ENOUGH THAT he took nearly two-thirds of the vote. A thrashing of the sort that some Republicans fear they could get come Nov. 8 because of the presence of Trump on the ballot.

Which is why party officials went out of their way not to talk up Trump’s candidacy – which is strange because usually the presidential bid (particularly one that motivates some people to want to vote as eagerly as Donald’s does) is the one that is counted on to stir up support for everybody.

Then again, the Trump trash talk does have a way of ticking off some people to the point where we really will study for years to come just how much of a drag he was on the ballot.

All of this back-and-forth nonsense actually makes me pleased I didn’t attend the fair (and not just because I have no desire to ever see the Husband Calling Contest again). Because it seems that the stink in the air was less offensive than the noise pollution committed by all the politicos.

  -30-

No Dems rally at state fair – Is that really much of a surprise these days?

A lot of people are going to try to make an issue out of the fact that this year’s Illinois State Fair will not include a political rally by the Democrats to try to tout their candidates seeking nomination in the primary elections to be held come March.

They'll claim it is evidence that the Democratic Party in this state is chaotic and unorganized. They can't get their act together to hold a simple rally.

I doubt anybody'd cry about no politicos

 

HOW CAN THEY possibly be trusted to govern the state of Illinois any longer? So vote Republican!

They’ll probably cite the Republican Day rally scheduled for Thursday and all the excitement that will be on display and try to claim that it is evidence that The People!!!! are ready for a change.

Excuse me for being skeptical. But I don’t buy it. I don’t think it is any big surprise that Democrats aren’t going to do much with their traditional rally on the fairgrounds. I’m actually surprised they didn’t do this years ago.

Now for those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, the tradition for the state fair (held at the State Fairgrounds on the far northeast corner of Springfield) is that one day is designated as “Governor’s Day.”

IT IS A day meant for the governor himself to show up on the fairgrounds, take part in many events and appear as though he’s one of the people. By tradition, the governor’s political party uses the fairgrounds to hold a rally to let us all know how wonderful they are.

Then, in a sense of fairness and equality, the opposition party gets its own “day” at the fairgrounds, in which their officials try to make it seem as though they’re more in tune with the public.

It’s all a lot of trivial nonsense. Although in a year before the elections, it can be an unofficial start to campaign activity for the prospective campaigns.

This year, Governor’s Day is Wednesday, and Pat Quinn will show up and do his thing (although he’s already spent a lot of time at the fairgrounds since the event began Friday). Republican Day is Thursday.

I doubt many would come even if there was a Wed. rally

BUT QUINN SAID last week that the Democrats who in theory are his allies won’t be doing anything at the fair on Wednesday. They will have a breakfast meeting in Springfield, but that’s it.

Some people are pointing out the fact that at last year’s Democratic Party rally at the state fair, organized labor officials showed up and heckled the governor. Perhaps the reason for no partisan rally is that Quinn is some sort of coward who can’t take a little bit of criticism.

Actually, I think it is just a realization that the state fair has become a less-important political event for the Democratic Party that represents the interests of the urban portion of Illinois.

There are Democrats in the rest of Illinois, but their numbers are dwarfed in most cases by the Republican Party organizations. Which is evidence of just how much the Chicago area can dwarf the rest of the state that it has become the dominant political party in Illinois as a whole.

MY POINT BEING that the Illinois State Fair largely draws its crowds from people who live in Sangamon County and the rural counties that are directly adjacent to it.

Much of Southern Illinois takes the DuQuoin State Fair (this year, it’s Aug. 23-Sept. 2) more seriously. While in the Chicago area, even the scaled-back Taste of Chicago and all the summer festivals are more significant than what happens at the state fair.

With the Chicago dominance of the Democratic Party, I wouldn’t be shocked to learn that most of the power-brokers are pleased they don’t have to make the four-hour drive to Springfield to pretend they care about what is happening at the fairgrounds.

QUINN: Gets the fair all to himself

In fact, what I recall of the state fair during the seven years (1993-99) I was a Statehouse reporter was that the political rallies were held in a portion of the fairgrounds that was isolated from the rest of the event.

MOST PEOPLE ATTENDING the state fair weren’t even aware of the blather being spewed by political people of all partisanships. I really doubt anybody at the fairgrounds on Wednesday will miss the presence of politicians in the least.

Perhaps people at the fair on Thursday will wish that Republicans would follow the same lead and spare us their blather. You really want to get the people who attend the Illinois State Fair all angry? Take away the Husband Calling Contest.

Somehow, I suspect the loss of the sight of middle-aged women trying to come up with loud, obnoxious screeches meant to attract their husbands’ attention (which took place Sunday) would upset fairgoers more than the loss of politicians.

  -30-

Illinois fair pales politically

Wednesday and Thursday will be the political days, so to speak, of the Illinois State Fair. Not that it means much, because people interested in electoral politics will be turning elsewhere for their little trivial tidbits about who is running for what – and who is doing what to whom.

SIMON: The political highlight of the fair?



Our state’s fair doesn’t compare to the state fairs put on by surrounding Midwestern states.

IN SOME RESPECTS, that is a good thing. I doubt any Illinoisan wants the notoriety being directed these days at Indianapolis and the Indiana State Fair. It’s bad enough that a Chicago resident is among that fair’s casualties.

But we’re not going to get the Republican presidential hopefuls passing through Springfield this week – trying to show they are “real” people by devouring as many pork chop-on-a-sticks as they can.

There won’t be any straw polls taken at the Illinois State Fairgrounds that will have the ability to influence who deserves to be called the frontrunner for next year’s presidential election.

Heck, “Dateline SPRINGFIELD, Ill.” won’t even be the primary dateline for political stories in the state of Illinois. People interested in elections will be more likely to pay attention to “Dateline ALPHA, Ill.” where Barack Obama will be concluding his three-day Midwest bus tour.

WILL WE GET a native Illinoisan who gets as brash and bold with Obama as that guy in Minnesota did earlier this week?

By comparison, the political activity at the Illinois State Fair will be subdued.

Wednesday is the day officially designated as “Governor’s Day,” where Pat Quinn officially invites former governors to attend the event – which could be a nice trip down memory lane if you care about what Jim Edgar thinks.

OBAMA: Alpha visit upstaging the fair?



More recent governors have federally-imposed restrictions on their personal freedom that prevent them from being able to be in Springfield on Wednesday.

THERE ALSO WILL be the traditional rallies in which elected officials try to stir up the troops, so to speak. Because Quinn is a Democrat, that party will use the fair on Wednesday. Those of the GOP persuasion will have their rebuttal “Republican Day” on Thursday.

Now I did a seven-year stint at the Statehouse in Springfield, and I covered the Illinois fair every year. So unless somebody has some sort of radical change in the program that they have managed to keep secret until this very minute, I can tell you what will happen.

Quinn will be present, along with other Democratic statewide officials and the few state legislators from central Illinois of the Dem persuasion. It will be a little rally held on a stage erected at the director’s lawn.

It will be hampered by the fact that the Democratic Party in this state is a Chicago-based entity, and there just aren’t many political people who want to make the 200-mile drive to the capital city for the fair. Rahm Emanuel is so unlikely to take time out from his schedule to work the fairgrounds.

THE REPUBLICAN DAY follow-up will give Illinois Treasurer Dan Rutherford and Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka to shine. Although the Illinois Republican Party is so luster-less these days that it won’t be much of a show.

TOPINKA: The Simon rebuttal?



How many times can we hear Topinka play her accordion before it becomes repetitive?

If anything, the political highlight of this year’s Illinois State Fair is most likely to be the fact that a Carbondale-based band, Loose Gravel (for whom Lieutenant Governor Sheila Simon plays banjo), will be among the entertainers at the fairgrounds.

Although they’re not the main musical act. The Oak Ridge Boys will be the name act performing on Wednesday for Quinn’s delight.

YOU MAY THINK that is a moldy-oldie country music act not worthy of much attention. But it is a step up from the Thursday night entertainment – the Abe Lincoln Quarter Midgets auto racing.

One might wonder if the fair organizers deliberately scheduled the oddball entertainment for Republican Day. They may have. I recall how back in the 1990s when the fair had GOP-appointed officials, the rebuttal Democrat Day was usually the one day that didn’t get ANY entertainment scheduled on the main stage.

These last few paragraphs may have sounded like a bunch of boring rambling. It is because the fair’s political events are usually kept so separate from the mass of the fair that I always wondered if the people attending the event were even aware of any political people being present?

There certainly won’t be anything happening at the fairgrounds that will get national attention.  I’d be amazed if we get any Mitt Romney sightings in Springfield. We’ll have to settle for sightings of a woman who sort of looks like Michelle Bachmann (crazy eyes and all) if you have a few beers, then cover your left eye.

THE CAPITAL CITY will have to settle for the fact that Sarah Palin – who was riding around the Midwestern U.S. on her own bus earlier this week – included a brief appearance in Springfield, and even included a stop at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. She got to check out the Lincoln artifacts and now probably thinks she's just like Honest Abe; who during his own lifetime was disparaged harshly by his opponents and didn't receive his acclaim until after death.



The new family portrait? Photograph provided by Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.



That photograph of her and the Palin family with the Lincoln family figures taken by museum officials and posted on their Facebook page is most likely the political highlight of our political scene this week.

  -30-

Is Bill Richardson the Obama substitute for Illinois fair’s Democrat rally?

I understand Barack Obama is no longer just a junior senator from Illinois; he’s a man of the world (literally, a new Gallup Organization survey showed at least 60 percent of Europeans feel they have a stake in his election as U.S. president).

I also realize the Illinois State Fair has all the characteristics of a third-rate production that is best ignored, if at all possible. Many counties across Illinois, as well as the states that surround the Land of Lincoln, put on more extravagant affairs than what will take place in Springfield come mid-August.

YET I AM hoping that Obama can somehow configure his campaign schedule to be in Illinois come Aug. 13 – which is the day during the Illinois State Fair when Democrats are scheduled to hold a series of events meant to promote their electoral candidates.

As things stand now, the highlight of Democrats Day/Governor’s Day is that New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson will make the trip from his capital in Santa Fe to our capital in Springfield – speaking at a breakfast session being held for the Democratic Party’s county chairmen from rural Illinois.

Considering Blagojevich’s lack of popularity in the Illinois capital city, his presence will not be a big deal. In fact, it could be little more than an excuse for hecklers to exercise their vocal cords.

After meeting earlier this year with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mexico President Felipe Calderon Hinojosa to discuss issues of international significance, what will be New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson's reaction to our capital city of Springfield? Photograph provided by New Mexico governor's office.

So if Obama doesn’t show, the Democratic Party’s presence at the Illinois fair will have to rely on a man with no local ties in order to have any sense of political glamour.

OBAMA HAS BEEN invited to the event, and it is traditional that the Democratic U.S. senators from Illinois would appear at the various rallies held at the fairgrounds – if not to promote themselves, then to give other Democrats running for office a chance to have candid photographs taken of them reveling in the glitz of Obama-mania.

Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., has already committed to appearing at the event. Of course, he’s a Springfield resident. He has no excuse for not showing up at the fairgrounds.

I would hope Obama doesn’t pull some sense of Chicago snobbery in deciding to blow off the fair on Democrat Day.

If anything, it would be a chance for the people of the part of Illinois outside of Chicago to feel like Obama has not forgotten they exist. Can anyone even remember the last time his campaign took him to somewhere in rural Illinois?

IF MY MEMORY is correct, it was when he made a brief appearance in Quincy when the flooding along the Mississippi River was at its peak. That was a moment that will live on forever in the memories of those emergency crew workers who were present at the time, but it’s hardly the feel-good moment that Obama ought to be trying to create for all Illinoisans.

Besides, I would think Obama would want to play up a chance to make an appearance or two with Richardson, who after his own presidential aspirations fizzled out endorsed Obama at a time when primary opponent Hillary R. Clinton was still a viable option.

Some have speculated that Obama will use the Richardson endorsement to try to appeal to the growing Latino voter bloc in this country, but it might actually make more sense to try to appeal to those establishment Democrats who would want to support officials with experience in federal government.

Richardson, after all, is the former energy secretary and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under former President Bill Clinton.

A JOINT APPEARANCE between the two at the party chairman’s breakfast would give an event that theoretically is for the have-nots of the Illinois Democratic Party (the haves are all from Chicago) a jolt of excitement. It would give the rural Illinois Democrats their moment in the sunshine.

And just think of how kitschy it would be if Richardson managed to stick around Springfield for a few extra hours and partake of some of the fair’s events. The Obama-Richardson duo could do the fairgrounds, checking out the various exhibits and livestock shows.

It’s just too bad that the Democrat Day political events take place a couple of days after the hog- and husband-calling contests that have become a state fair staple.

For those who are not in the know about the fair, women get the chance to parody the hog calls used by farmers, bellowing and shrieking for their husbands to hop to it and come.

COULDN’T YOU JUST imagine the look of bewilderment on Richardson’s face (just a few days before presiding over a special session on universal health care) if he got to see Michelle Obama taking her crack at devising a unique call for her husband?

“Get over here, Barrrrrrrrr-eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey.”

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EDITOR’S NOTES: The Illinois Democratic County Chairmen’s Association breakfast on Aug. 13 in Springfield (http://www.sj-r.com/news/x209775847/Richardson-to-address-Democrats-here) has the potential to be one of the biggest campaign events Illinois will see this year, if Barack Obama can bring himself to include Illinois in his campaign schedule.

Bill Richardson all by himself in Springfield, Ill., barely warrants this mention in the (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-il-richardsonspeech,0,2557294.story) Chicago press.

Talk about political spin. Richardson says Obama will narrowly win the electoral college (http://www.alamogordonews.com/ci_9958652) votes from New Mexico come Nov. 4. Meanwhile, Richardson remains nearly $300,000 (http://www.lcsun-news.com/ci_9961199) in debt from his presidential campaign earlier this year.