New Day Dawns

Preparations continue early Wednesday for President-elect Barack Obama's inaugural reviewing stand on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House in Washington.

Senator-Select

Former Ill. Attorney General Roland Burris, who was just named by Ill. Gov. Rod Blagojevich to fill President-elect Barack Obama's vacated U.S. Senate seat, talks on the phone outside Tribune Tower in downtown Chicago.

State Rep. Wyvetter Younge dies at 78

EAST ST. LOUIS — Wyvetter H. Younge, one of the longest-serving current members of the Illinois House, has died. She was 78.
Younge was taken to a hospital with a bleeding artery on Dec. 9. She died Friday night from complications that arose during surgery, said her daughter, Margaret Hewitt.
Younge, a mother of five, represented East St. Louis as a Democrat since 1975. Hewitt, who is now 43, was nine years old when Younge was first elected.
Hewitt remembers that her mother drove 90 minutes each way to Springfield every day so she could see her children in the mornings and evenings.
In March, Younge made news when she said she’d pray for a man with a gun who forced his way into her home and made off with $7.
Funeral arrangements are pending.

Meeting the President-Elect

President-elect Barack Obama greets onlookers after working out at the Semper Fit Center at Marine Corp Base Hawaii in Kailua, Hawaii. Obama is spending the holidays in Hawaii with his family.

Lincoln's Inaugural Bible

Curator Clark Evans displays the burgundy velvet, gilt-edged Lincoln Inaugural Bible at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. President-elect Barack Obama will take his oath of office on the Bible Jan. 20, becoming the first president to use it since Abraham Lincoln at his swearing-in on March 4, 1861.

As Illinois Turns

Gov. Rod Blagojevich is known for savoring the public spotlight, but his alleged criminal problems have sent him to the shadows. Instead, state lawmakers jumped out front last week in unprecedented impeachment hearings, creating a political soap opera that far exceeds the often mundane legislative process. Here is a look at the players, storylines and process involved so far and what’s coming next.

Full Article.... http://www.sj-r.com/state/x1647201468/What-s-happened-what-s-next-in-Illinois-impeachment-soap-opera

Young listeners

President-elect Barack Obama and his newly-nominated secretary of education, Chicago Public Schools chief Arne Duncan, chat with students at Dodge Renaissance Academy in Chicago after the news conference announcing Duncan's selection.

Casting his vote

Illinois Speaker of the House Michael Madigan fills out his ballot during the Illinois' Electoral College session on the Senate floor at the State Capitol in Springfield Monday. Presidential electors are gathering in state capitals across the country to cast the votes that will formally elect Barack Obama as president. It's a mostly ceremonial procedure, but one mandated by the Constitution.

Blagojevich's problems may present GOP with statewide opportunities

SPRINGFIELD - Even before Tuesday's arrest of Gov. Rod Blagojevich on corruption charges, the ripples of promise had begun flowing ashore for beleaguered Illinois Republicans.

Although the washed-out GOP has weathered two rough election cycles since the demise of former party standard bearer Gov. George Ryan, political gridlock in a state controlled by Democrats was shaping up as a major campaign theme for 2010.Blagojevich's blockbuster problems transformed those ripples into a tidal wave.

"The Republicans have now an opportunity to win a statewide office that they didn't have before," said John Jackson, a political scientist with the Paul Simon Public Policy Center at Southern Illinois University.

In 2010, all of the state's top offices now held by Democrats are up for grabs. So, too, is the U.S. Senate seat once held by President-elect Barack Obama, no matter who holds it in the interim.Names of potential candidates have been circulating for months.

On the Democratic side, Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias have acknowledged they are considering a gubernatorial run.

State Sen. Mike Jacobs, D-East Mo­;line, has floated his name as a potential statewide candidate.

Full Article...http://www.herald-review.com/articles/2008/12/14/news/state/1037753.txt

Illinois Attorney General asks Court to act on Governor

CNN) -- Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan on Friday asked her state's highest court to remove Gov. Rod Blagojevich from office temporarily.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan says Gov. Rod Blagojevich needs to step down.
Moments after Madigan's announcement, news broke that Blagojevich's chief of staff, John Harris, had resigned, a spokesman for the governor said.

Blagojevich, 52, and Harris, 46, were arrested this week on federal corruption charges relating in part to the selection of a successor to President-elect Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat.
The governor's attorney has said Blagojevich did nothing wrong.

Madigan's office also asked the Illinois Supreme Court to strip Blagojevich of duties, including appointing Obama's Senate replacement.

"I recognize that this is an extraordinary request, but these are extraordinary circumstances," Madigan said Friday in Chicago.

Full Article...http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/12/12/blagojevich/index.html#cnnSTCText

Obama: Staff not involved in Senate seat deals

CHICAGO - Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich kissed his wife, rode in his state SUV to the office and sat down at his desk Thursday behind a bust of Lincoln and an American flag to portray "a return to normalcy." It was anything but.

An extraordinary drama built through the day in Chicago as the political establishment of Illinois and the nation lined up against him.

While the governor was working — his spokesman would not say on exactly what — President-elect Barack Obama told a news conference just a couple of blocks away that Blagojevich should go. Obama said he was "appalled and disappointed" over allegations that Blagojevich tried to sell his vacant U.S. Senate seat and insisted there was no involvement by himself or his staff.

Full Article...http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28174976/

Republic sit-in continues

Gov. Rod Blagojevich talks with reporters Monday outside the now-shuttered Republic Windows & Doors plant at 1333 N. Hickory Ave. on Goose Island in Chicago. Workers—angry that Bank of America won't extend credit to keep the plant afloat—have staged a sit-in at the facility. Blagojevich also responded to the Tribune's report that he has been recorded by federal investigators, saying people should "feel free" to tape him because everything he says is lawful.

Winfrey: I'm not seeking job with Obama

Television star dismisses rumors she wants role in next administration

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - Although Oprah Winfrey worked hard on Barack Obama's presidential election campaign, she never considered going to work for the president-elect's administration, the talk-show host said Friday.

"I have a few full-time jobs already and a few full-time commitments, you know — contractual commitments that say I have to be where I am," Winfrey told AP Television. "So, it never ever occurred to me, not even occurred to me."

Winfrey said she would stay put, even if the president-elect came calling.

Full Article... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28080797/

Obama taps Shinseki as VA secretary

President-elect: ‘Both he and I share a reverence for those who serve’

WASHINGTON - President-elect Barack Obama has selected retired Gen. Eric K. Shinseki to be the next Veterans Affairs secretary, telling NBC News in an exclusive interview that "he and I share a reverence for those who serve."
Obama will announce the selection of Shinseki, the first Army four-star general of Japanese-American ancestry, at a news conference Sunday in Chicago. He will be the first Asian-American to hold the post of Veterans Affairs secretary, adding to the growing diversity of Obama’s Cabinet.

Full Article....http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28086691/

Newest Nominee

President-elect Barack Obama introduced the New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson as his nominee for secretary of commerce in the Chicago Hilton.

Caucus and Election

Sunday, December 14th, 2008 * Last day the township clerk shall notify the chairman or membership of each township central committee by first-class mail of the chairman’s or membership’s obligation to report the time and location of the political party’s caucus.

Monday, December 15th, 2008 Last day the multi-township clerk shall notify the chairman or membership of each multi-township central committee by first class mail of the chairman’s or membership’s obligation to report the time and location of the political party’s caucus.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008 Last day each chairman of the township central committee shall notify the township clerk by first-class mail of the time and location of their political party’s caucus

Friday, December 26, 2008 Last day each chairman of the multi-township central committee shall notify the multi-township clerk by first-class mail of the time and location of their party’s caucus.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009 Established political party township caucus.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009 Established political party multi-township caucus.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009 Consolidated Election

To be Elected -

Supervisor
Township Clerk
Highway Commissioner
Assessor
4- Township Trustees

Link to State of Illinois Caucus Guide 2009 - http://www.elections.state.il.us/Downloads/ElectionInformation/PDF/CaucusGuide.pdf