Carol Felsenthal

Jonathan Alter grew up in Lincoln Park before heading east for school and then to New York to write for Newsweek. Currently the national affairs columnist for the beleaguered magazine, Alter is also the author of The Promise, a fast-paced analysis of President Obama’s first year. In Chicago to promote his book, the journalist stopped by my house last week... Read more

When Rod was at the top of his game in 2003, just after he was elected governor—and when fantasies of the Oval Office danced in his head—he told me that his favorite presidents were Abe Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt. But the memories Blago shared with me during our interviews showed something different: from boyhood on, he was obsessed with Richard Nixon... Read more

Bradley Tusk, who served as deputy governor during Rod Blagojevich’s first term, was in the hot seat yesterday at the former gov’s corruption trial. I met Tusk, then 30, while interviewing Blago in 2003, and I continued to follow his career because he seemed like such an anomaly in the administration: a young man hired for his abilities rather than his... Read more

Joel Pollak, the 32-year-old Harvard-educated Tea-Party-backed candidate for the 9th Congressional District (currently occupied by Jan Schakowsky), had what seemed like a hugely successful fundraiser on Wednesday afternoon. Featuring Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz, the luncheon was held at the... Read more

Rod Blagojevich wants the jury in his corruption trial to know that Lon Monk, his former BFF, is a turncoat. Blago’s grimaces, eye rolls, and frantic scribbling during Monk’s testimony—not to mention his dagger-eyed stares at his former campaign manager and groomsman—may have been for show, but those who know the former governor know that he once truly loved Lon Monk... Read more

The Hill is out with its list of the 25 hardest working congressmen and women. I searched it for someone from Illinois, and it wasn’t until I reached number 25 that I finally found one—Tim Johnson, 63, a fifth-term Republican representative from... Read more

On the first day of his trial, Rod Blagojevich encountered two students from Chicago’s John Marshall Law School. When the students approached Blago to introduce themselves, he “shook their hands and told them that he once tried to enroll at their school,” according to Stacy St. Clair’s report in the Chicago Tribune. “‘I applied there on Monday and was rejected Tuesday…. That's why I'm not defending myself.’” Not true... Read more