Illinois Senate President Emil Jones has said that he will not seek another term (despite the fact that he is currently on the ballot in November).  The Chicago Tribune reports:

The move by Jones comes as he prepares for the Democratic National Convention, where his protege and former state Senate colleague, Barack Obama, will accept the Democratic nomination for president.

My own encounters with Emil this year center around Obama's presidential campaign.  We were in the same office in both Iowa and Wisconsin, and while I think he traveled with different aides to the two states, it was amazing how they (Emil's aides) pushed the same lines.  The one that was the most memorable (and startling, given what I know about Barack) was that, when asked what job Emil would get in an Obama Administration, the answer was always the same: "Anything He Wants."

Deb Shore, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District in the Chicagoland region, just completed Harvard's Kennedy School of Government Senior Executives in State and Local Government Program in Cambridge last month.  She talks about her experience there in the video (length: 8:54).

The Harvard program matches elected officials with senior-level executives from state, county and local government and executives working with state and local governments.  Students from all over the world participate in the program.  The program "offers participants a rare opportunity to learn from the nation's top educators, researchers, and practitioners; to share experiences and network with peers from the U.S. and international governments; and to become part of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government community - all in a short amount of time. For more than twenty-five years, participants from all over the world have shared in this fine learning experience." (from the brochure [PDF])

Consider:

* A state in recession.

* A government with crippling underfunded pension obligations, considered "worst in the nation."

* State leaders paralyzed by an increasingly bitter, personal family feud prepared to abandon millions of federal dollars for infrastructure repair.

* A HUGE pay raise for said leaders.

One of these things doesn't fit with the others.  Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn is asking people to tell their legislators what they think about this huge pay raise that they have given themselves with his new Vote Now!  Vote No! website.

(H/T to Rich Miller's Capitol Fax blog)

We're Number 49!  We're 49th!

Ok, so Illinois isn't dead last in state funding, as a percentage of the state's share of education funding, but that isn't anything to be proud of.  Under Rod Blagojevich, Illinois has continued the death spiral to the bottom, making education (apparently) the lowest priority in his lacklaster administration.

So what does the governor do?  Why, call a special session of course, so that he can leverage the state's dismal education record in his obsessive and increasingly bitter feud with the speaker.

i've moved from canvassing in orange county (florida) over to brevard county.  to be more specific, i was in merritt island.  brevard county -- especially northern and central brevard (where merritt island and cocoa beach are located) -- is staring down the barrel of an economic bazoka.  in 2011, kennedy space center (the largest employer in the county) is scheduled to lay off a significant number of jobs as nasa attempts to transition to another form of human space vehicle.  nor has it helped that the u.s. government has gotten out of private satellite launching business (another failure of the privatization fade).  local democrats have worried that barack's positions on u.s. space policy could mean further job cuts in brevard's major employer because of earlier wording in his education plan (PDF).

another reason that local democrats worry about brevard county is that, besides being the home of the space center, it is also the home of two air force bases, a naval facility and a coast guard station.  a large number of military retirees choose to settle in the area, which has long sought a veteran's hospital, and there are more people here who've had a tour of duty in the military.  like other surfer's in the area, i've taught my share of young airmen how to surf the small but quick waves around patrick air force base.  so there's a little apprehension about what kind of reaction we'd receive knocking on doors here.

i can put it in four words: much better than expected.  as i've noted before, this is the county where hillary's 50.58% in the january primary got her 31,709 votes while mccain's 35.90% netted him 31,334.  yes, florida was one of the few states where republican turnout exceeded democratic turnout this year.  brevard has been reliably republican in recent years, where bush got 57.65% (kerry had 41.56%) in 2004 and jeb got 61.12% in 2002.  but it isn't your father's florida anymore.

in the end, i id'ed more supporters for barack obama (combining 2s and 3s) than john mccain's (4s and 5s) in what is normally considered heavily republican winter park, florida.  but it sure didn't feel that way while i was canvassing.  thinking about it now, the obama supporters came in drips, while the mccain supporters were clumped together and made a bigger impression.

just goes to show that even your own impressions aren't always accurate.

getting to the turf -- to winter park from the temporary orlando campaign office -- proved more difficult than expected.  the access street to the first house on my list was cut off.  i could see the first house on palmer, so i walked past the barriers over to the other side and knocked on the first door.  no one home, left our new lit (woo hoo!) and went to the next house.  a lady, 94 years old, in this huge house overseeing a lake, came to the door to greet me.

i always tell people that the first door -- by which i mean the first person you talk to -- is the hardest.  you don't know what to expect when you're in a new state or new campaign or new year, no matter how many times you've done it before.

here i am in florida, and i didn't even have to look at the list.  i knew i was in republican territory.  north part of orlando, close to winter park, homes built around a couple of small lakes.  i knock on the first door and i look to see the party registration.  republican.  of course.  but no one is home, so i leave the lit and move on.  rinse and repeat for the second door.  the third door is right next door.  another republican.  i didn't even have to look, there was a contribution envelope in response to a direct mail plea from john mccain.  the faint blue check could be seen through it in the bright sun light.  i thought about not knocking on the door (the outgoing mail was clipped to the door), but i figure, wtf.  it's on my list.  and that's why i'm here.

i have on my blue obama shirt and the lady who answers the door says, "i don't want to talk to anyone supporting obama!"  i pretend i haven't seen the envelope.

i've seen this ad a couple of times in both the orlando and the tampa media market over the last couple of days.  this is really the first "surge" of ads that florida voters have seen from barack.  in brevard county, people are starting to talk about them -- and him.

while i can't tell you the size of the obama media buy, i saw this ad this morning and i've also seen it with local afternoon/evening news coverage.  but i heard about it from other floridians before i got my first view.  here in the all-critical i-4 corridor -- traditionally, the decisive swing area for elections in the last 20 years -- people are starting to take their first real look at barack.