Tag: Writers – Carol Felsenthal

It’s a whopper of a public relations blunder. Speakers for Right Nation 2010’s “evening extravaganza” on September 18th at the 10,000-seat Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates include Glenn Beck, gubernatorial candidate Bill Brady, blogger Andrew Breitbart, Rep. Aaron Schock, and Tea Party leader Herman Cain. One problem: the evening convention, which follows an afternoon “activist training conference” for conservatives at the nearby Marriot Chicago Northwest, is on Yom Kippur, the holiest of the Jewish High Holy Days. Read more

In the Senate race between Mark Kirk and Alexi Giannoulias—a contest labeled “a toss-up” by Rasmussen—a leading political prognosticator in Washington gives the edge to the 10th District congressman. Stuart Rothenberg—a frequent guest on Sunday morning talk shows, an on-air election night analyst, and editor of the Rothenberg Political Report—is one of the go-to guys for nonpartisan predictions... Read more

If Rod Blagojevich has one hero in life besides Elvis, it’s Richard Nixon, and if there’s one newspaper that wrecked Nixon’s life and legacy it’s the Washington Post. How ironic, then, that the Washington Post is trumpeting almost the same line as Blago himself. The Washington Post of Pentagon Papers and Watergate? Yes. Last week, the paper ran an editorial titled “Federal prosecutors should not retry Rod Blagojevich.”... Read more

The key mistake in the government’s case against Rod Blagojevich happened right at the start of the trial, during jury selection, with the choice of a juror who ultimately became the sole vote siding with the ex-gov on key counts of the indictment. Sources say the holdout juror, an African-American retired state worker who had worked for the Illinois Department of Public Health, should have been dismissed... Read more

The father-and-son defense team that represented Rod Blagojevich in the ex-gov’s corruption case is likely to bow out before the retrial, according to a prominent veteran defense lawyer in town who knows the Adams well. My source, whom I interviewed after closing arguments in the case in late July... Read more

While Illinois is not currently on the most recent list of the 11 states (24 congressional districts) that the right-leaning Americans for Prosperity has targeted with a major ad campaign, an AFP rep for the state said that the group is planning a new project to bring its movement here... Read more

Last March, I met Dan Rostenkowski for lunch at Mitchell’s on Clybourn Avenue. Here, some highlights of our conversation, which covered more than 50 years of local and national politics and included his thoughts on Mayor Daley, John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and more... Read more