Gilded Lily of My Day
Dem. Ill. lt. gov. candidate exits race amid furor
Feb 7 08:05 PM US/Eastern
By KAREN HAWKINS
Associated Press WriterCHICAGO (AP) – The Democratic nominee for Illinois lieutenant governor has dropped out of the race less than a week after winning the nomination amid a political uproar about his past.
Scott Lee Cohen announced his decision Sunday night at a Chicago bar.
The pawn broker and owner of a cleaning supplies company won the nomination Tuesday. Since then, it has become widely know that he was accused of abusing his ex-wife and holding a knife to the throat of an ex-girlfriend.
The girlfriend herself had been charged with prostitution. He also admits using steroids in the past.
Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn, who would have been paired with Cohen on the November ticket, U.S. Rep. Danny Davis and Sen. Dick Durbin all had urged Cohen to leave the race.
Man, that steroids thing. What the hell was he thinking? Christ!
What’s interesting is that, as Cohen mentions, this stuff has been out on the public record since his entry into the race, and he’s even had to address it a few times during the campaign. One of those things though that it never quite reached critical mass of being public knowledge until, well, he won the election. Which makes the whole thing very weird (and unfortunate0, from the perspective of timing.
In other news, it sounds like David Patterson might be spending more time with his family soon too, though at this point I can’t imagine what could possibly come out that would get him to resign before his term is done.
Comment by Brad — 2/8/2010 @ 10:54 am
I kinda read the thing as establishing causality–the implication being that it was “roid rage” or something.
Bear in mind that this same primary electorate managed to nominate a LaRouche follower for governor a couple of decades back. They do, however, excel at election-day GOTV efforts, especially among the dead.
Comment by Rojas — 2/8/2010 @ 1:31 pm