OH, THIS IS JUST TOO RICH – AT 10:10 A.M. ET:  Stories about Illinois politics are always good for a laugh, especially on a Friday.  This one, from the Wall Street Journal, is juicy:

We're hearing that Team Obama is increasingly eager to throw the Democratic Senate candidate from Illinois, Alexi Giannoulias, under the bus and replace him with someone who can win. The news gets worse and worse for the former wonderboy of Illinois politics. Mr. Giannoulias's family bank, Broadway Bank, collapsed and was seized by federal regulators. Now there are allegations of bank fraud.

Aw, come on.  Bank fraud?  In Illinois that's a misdemeanor.  Ten-dollar fine.

One intriguing idea being considered: Force Mr. Giannoulias out of the race and replace him with . . . Rahm Emanuel. Mr. Emanuel is still popular in Illinois and there was a big push to get him handpicked as the Obama successor back in late 2008. Democrats have used the shaft-and-shift strategy before, as in New Jersey in 2002 when they dumped a walking wounded Bob Torricelli as their Senate candidate a few weeks before Election Day.

Ah yes, we remember Bob very well.  Don't know where he is today.

What seems increasingly certain is that if Mr. Giannoulias stays on the ticket, he will hand the Senate seat to Republicans. Democrats need a replacement and muscling Rahm Emanuel onto the ticket as the Democratic candidate has obvious appeal. This is the Chicago way of politics, and no one does it better than Rahm.

COMMENT:  Rahm wants to be mayor of Chicago, and the United State Senate would be a good starter position.  In Illinois, any Chicago mayor outranks any U.S. senator.  In fact, the Chicago parking commissioner outranks a senator. 

We hope the Dems stick with their current loser because his Republican opponent, Mark Kirk, would be an outstanding senator.  This is the seat once held, and not used very much, by Barack Obama.  If the current Dem candidate is deep-sixed, the replacement would probably be a better vote getter.

April 30