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Wow! As Sneed reported Aug. 13 . . ."It's a safe bet: The feds will retry Blago on every charge where the jury winds up being permanently deadlocked."

So again . . . Sneed asks the question: Who is gonna pay for that if Blago is broke-

*The buckshot: Sneed hears rumbles Blago's attorney Sam Adam Jr. may not represent Blago in the next go-round.

Stay tuned.

A Rosty farewell . . .

The man from Noble Street was welcomed home for the final time Tuesday.

He had spent decades on the run for his district and his country, but when the casket of former U.S. Rep. Dan Rostenkowski was wheeled into St. Stanlislaus Kostka Church Tuesday, the clock had finally stopped.

Rosty's power had spanned decades; his force had torn down partisan walls; his ability to compromise earned him congressional laurels.

But the end was all too human; Rosty's eight pallbearers -- all old friends -- needed the help of four stronger men to bring the casket of a political giant into the church.

"He was a force of nature . . . and when he decided I was a lousy administrative assistant in Washington, he sent me home and made me an alderman," quipped his close friend, former Ald. Terry Gabinski, whose eulogy brought laughter to the congregation -- which included former seatmates: U.S. Rep. Charlie Rangel, and former U.S. Reps. Marty Russo, Leon Panetta and former Sen. Bill Bradley.

Eulogized by Monsignor Ken Velo as a man of many names ("Chairman," "Commissioner," "Dan," "Danny," "Rosty" -- and finally, "Dad,") Rostenkowski was also a man of many parts.

. . . No longer will Gabinski get to watch the man he called "boss" deliver baskets of onions to his Wisconsin neighbors on his toy motor scooter.

. . . No longer will visitors to his home leave with a gift bottle of Helene Curtis shampoo . . . or congressional buddies receive a cigar pilfered from President Jimmy Carter's cigar box.

. . . No longer will daughters Dawn, Gayle and Kristie get to hear Dad lovingly growl about the dogs they brought home . . . and all of them females. . . . Or hear Rosty tell his daughters: "Mom's mad at me again. Chalk up one for the girls."

. . . No longer will wife LaVerne get to croon "We'll Meet Again" with her fun-loving husband or listen to him warble "Racing with the Moon" while imitating singer Vaughn Monroe.

. . . No longer would former Russo, now one of the nation's most powerful lobbyists, get to trade stories of the old days when Rosty, the teacher, would crankily tell the young congressman: "Kid, you're on your own."... or hear the legendary congressional compromiser advise: "Kid. Always leave a little skin on the table."

"I talked to him a week ago," Russo told Sneed. "He was so angry about what was happening in Washington. He kept saying: "I can't believe it. They won't deal. They just won't deal. Nancy [Pelosi] wants to deal. Harry [Reid] wants to deal. I don't get it."

"He was a good paisan," said Panetta, now head of the CIA. "That's high praise in my book."

In the end, former top Rosty aide Jim Healy brought it all home when he quoted a few last words from the man who turned compromise into an art.

They were reflecting on days past when Rostenkowski stated: "Boy, did we write some good law."

Yes, sir, Mr. Chairman. That's something anyone would be proud to take to the grave.

Sneedlings . . .

Today's birthdays: Malcolm Jamal Warner, 40; Edward Norton, 41; Christian Slater, 41; Felipe Calderon, 48; Denis Leary, 53; Martin Mull, 67; Robert Redford, 74; Roman Polanski, 77, and Rosalynn Carter, 83.