This evening the powerful Democrat either changed his mind about Illinois' junior senator, or he's decided to hop on the Obama mania wave before he gets drowned by it.
As long as I can remember, the Illinois presidential primary has taken place in late March--usually a few days after St. Patrick's Day. There are a couple of big St. Paddy's Day parades in Chicago--which offer presidential candidates a great opportunity drum up support.
I shook Teddy Kennedy's hand at the downtown parade in 1980. I didn't vote for him in his challenge against incumbent Jimmy Carter--I was too young to vote.
In 2000 and 2004, by the time late March rolled around, the November choices for both parties had been established and the Illinois presidential primary didn't matter. That hasn't escaped the notice of Madigan.
From AP:
Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, proposed moving the March 18 Illinois primary to Feb. 5. A long list of states have primaries scheduled that day, but only four states -- Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina -- would be earlier than Illinois.
"These states are not representative of mainstream America. They're clearly not as representative of America as Illinois would be," Madigan said. "But if Barack is a candidate, recent history tells us the selection process may be finished before it reaches the Illinois primary."
Madigan said he has not spoken to Obama or his aides about the proposed change. He also denied any inside knowledge about whether the freshman Illinois senator has decided to run.
Technorati tags: Obama Barack Obama Senate 2008 elections Illinois politics Democrats
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