Latest blog headlines Mark Kirk defended by GOP Senate political shop after Democratic slam (7/09/2009 7:58:07 PM) Michelle Obama tours Italian earthquake damage (7/09/2009 6:02:49 PM) Sen. Burris will discuss why he won't run in 2010 Friday (7/09/2009 5:32:05 PM) Roland Burris will not run for Senate in 2010 (7/09/2009 4:14:41 PM) Senate Democrats launch assault on Kirk, questioning moderate credentials (7/09/2009 11:00:42 AM) President Obama official schedule and guidance, July 9, 2009. At G8 in Italy (7/09/2009 7:36:18 AM) Kirk top recruit of GOP Senate political organization. GOP memo says Illinois Democrats could lose Senate seat (7/09/2009 7:31:42 AM) Michelle Obama in Italy (7/08/2009 11:18:17 PM) Mark Kirk statement (7/08/2009 5:27:52 PM) Lisa Madigan leaves door open for future runs for higher office (7/08/2009 5:00:53 PM)
Lynn Sweet: The gorilla has spoken. Popular Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, dubbed by White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel as the "800-pound gorilla" of Illinois politics, said Wednesday she will seek a third term and not run for governor or for the Senate.
Sun-Times Washington Bureau Chief Lynn Sweet reports on her blog that Attorney General Lisa Madigan won't run for the Senate. Madigan will not run -- despite wooing by President Obama, Rahm Emanuel, Valerie Jarrett, Dick Durbin and the Democratic Senate political operation based in Washington.
Lynn Sweet: Kal Penn the actor -- and the screen name -- is on a sabbatical. Kalpen Modi, 32, is best known as Kumar in the "Harold and Kumar" movies. Now he's an associate director in the White House Office of Public Engagement. He finally reported for work on Monday, in a suit and tie.
WASHINGTON -- The top Chicagoans in the Obama White House also earn the top White House staff salaries -- capped at $172,200, according to a list released Wednesday.
WASHINGTON -- President Obama and first lady Michelle welcomed gay activists to the White House on Monday, with a contingent from Chicago flying in to mark LGBT pride month.
WASHINGTON -- As Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan nears a decision on whether to run for governor or senator or to stay put, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel on Thursday called her "the most popular political figure in Illinois."
When President Obama strongly condemned the violence in Iran on Tuesday -- cranking up his rhetoric, perhaps enough to satisfy critics who said earlier comments were too tentative -- he also sent the message to Iran that the U.S. had nothing to do with the Internet-fueled uprisings in Tehran and the fate of the nation was in Iranians' hands.
WASHINGTON -- President Obama admitted Tuesday that he still is an occasional smoker, but never in front of his family.
Sen. Roland Burris will not be charged with perjury, a Sangamon County prosecutor said Friday. What Burris did not say spoke volumes politically, but it was not a crime.
WASHINGTON -- Though the White House is encouraging Attorney General Lisa Madigan to run for Senate, asked what President Obama, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett were up to when they met with Madigan Friday, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said she was "terrific" but the White House would make no endorsement.
Something very useful for consumers may come of this economic meltdown. President Obama wants to create a powerful, user-friendly Consumer Financial Protection Agency. The agency would eliminate small print, gotcha clauses and legalistic gobblegook in mortgages, credit card and other financial agreements. And the agency would have teeth -- it would have the power to rewrite mortgage laws.
From Washington Bureau Chief Lynn Sweet: With Chicago officials in Switzerland promoting Chicago's 2016 Olympic bid at an important site selection meeting, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned that President Obama is creating a new White House Office of Olympic, Paralympic and Youth Sport.
Lynn Sweet: Some of the biggest questions in President Obama's push for health care reform are over the creation of a "public option" to compete with private companies in the health insurance marketplace. Whatever the phrase "public option" suggests to you when you hear it, Obama told the American Medical Association in Chicago on Monday that it is not "about socialized medicine and government takeovers, long lines and rationed care, decisions made by bureaucrats and not doctors."
WASHINGTON -- President Obama comes home to Chicago today -- for less than three hours -- to sell his health care reform proposals to a wary American Medical Association as Congress wrestles over sending Obama a plan with the public insurance option he wants.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan, the former Chicago Public Schools chief and basketball buddy of President Obama, says the "marketplace" will work to keep university costs down.
WASHINGTON -- Judging from White House press secretary Robert Gibbs' roundabout answer Friday, one can conclude that President Obama still might occasionally sneak a smoke -- even though smoking is not allowed in the White House.
WASHINGTON -- The Senate Ethics Committee probe of Sen. Roland Burris is moving to its next phase, seeking information from Burris himself, after having interviewed Sen. Dick Durbin and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and asking for the release of federal wiretaps.
WASHINGTON -- First lady Michelle Obama and her daughters spent Tuesday in London, taking in "The Lion King" at night and a private tour of Westminster Abbey in the morning while on a European vacation. The British press was also reporting that the entourage stopped at the set of a Harry Potter movie.
