IL-Lt. Gov: Cohen Drops Out

A big break for Pat Quinn:

Scott Lee Cohen, the Democratic nominee for Illinois lieutenant governor, removed himself from the campaign Sunday, freeing Gov. Pat Quinn from the baggage Cohen brought to the ticket, but also leaving him without a running mate.

“I’m someone who made mistakes in my life. And look where I am. If I let you down I’m sorry,” Cohen said Sunday evening in a tearful announcement at the Hop Haus Tavern.

For days, the pawn broker-turned Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor was dogged over allegations he abused anabolic steroids, went into fits of rage, sexually abused his then-wife, got behind in child support payments and held a knife to the throat of a former girlfriend who is a convicted prostitute.

The task now turns to Illinois Democratic Party leaders to pick a replacement for Cohen. As head-spinning and bad of an episode as this has been, at least it resolved itself fairly quickly. The Republican gubernatorial primary, however, looks like it won’t be resolving itself any time soon.

UPDATE (David): On the replacement process:

Selection of a replacement to fill the ballot vacancy is the work of the 38-member Democratic State Central Committee, made up of a male and female representative from each of the state’s 19 congressional districts. The state central committee is scheduled to meet March 17, though a meeting could be held sooner.

62 thoughts on “IL-Lt. Gov: Cohen Drops Out”

  4. Seriously I’ll go with Raja Krishnamoorthi.  Important growing demographic on the rise and he seems like a solid guy who’d be a boon to the ticket.

  6. feel sorry for Cohen. I mean he spent a big amount of money to become a laughing stock. Shame on the media for not catching this, what ever happened to candidate forums where papers would do background checks and stuff on the candidates?  

  7. who’s dodged at least 3 bullets:

    – Lisa Madigan chose not to run against him

    – his Scott Lee Cohen problem voluntarily and quickly went away

    – his Repub opponent likely will be spending weeks of time and financial resources, before that’s all settled.

    Not to mention the only reason he’s Gov. at all is that his predecessor was (and still is) a complete bonehead.

  8. here’s the names I’m hearing:

    Dan Hynes (lost to Quinn in a bitter campaign) – probably won’t want it

    David Hoffman (lost to Alexi) – he may not want it; the state party also may not approve.

    Art Turner (lost to Cohen in lt gov race) – approved by party, but ran a disappointing campaign and may not appeal to independents.

    Raja Krishnamoorthi – the least well-known but has a shot.

  9. I’m not sure if the political incentives are right for Quinn to pick him — hard to tell what the political landscape looks like from where Quinn is sitting — but he would certainly bring something to the ticket.  

    He’s originally from downstate (Peoria) and could probably get the South Asian community engaged in the race, as he’d be the first Illinois statewide elected official of any Asian background (or so he said in his Comptroller campaign).

    Also his ties to Obama are not to be sniffed at.

    And I think he’d probably accept — he wanted to be running for one relatively obscure statewide office right now, so why wouldn’t he want to run for another?

  11. Potential names (in decreasing order of likeliness):

    1) Art Turner

    2) Dan Hynes

    3) Raja K.

    4) Julie Hamos

    5) David Hoffman (he should run for mayor of Chicago though)

    6) Jesse White

    7) ?

  12. (Congressional District-Committeeman = CM, Committeewoman = CW). Members elected on February 2nd, 2010

    CD01CM: US Rep. Bobby Rush

    CD01CW: St. Rep. Connie Howard

    CD02CM: US Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr

    CD02CW: Carrie Austin

    CD03CM: Speaker Michael Madigan

    CD03CW: Helen Barc

    CD04CM: Ricardo Munoz

    CD04CW: St. Sen. Iris Martinez

    CD05CM: James DeLeo

    CD05CW: Cynthia Santos

    CD06CM: Robert Wagner

    CD06CW: Christine Cegelis

    CD07CM: US Rep. Danny Davis

    CD07CW: St. Rep. Karen Yarbrough

    CD08CM: Steven Powell

    CD08CW: Nancy Shepherdson

    CD09CM: William Marovitz

    CD09CW: Carol Ronen

    CD10CM: Daniel Pierce

    CD10CW: Lauren Gash

    CD11CM: Pat Welch

    CD11CW: US Rep. Debbie Halvorson

    CD12CM: US Rep. Jerry Costello

    CD12CW: Barb Brown

    CD13CM: Kyle Hastings

    CD13CW: Julia Beckman

    CD14CM: Mark Guethle

    CD14CW: Jennifer Laesch

    CD15CM: Terry Redman

    CD15CW: Lynn Foster

    CD16CM: John M. Nelson

    CD16CW: Linda McNeely

    CD17CM: Don Johnston

    CD17CW: Mary Boland or Christine Eik Winick

    CD18CM: James K. Polk or Bill Edley

    CD18CW: Shirley McCombs

    CD19CM: Danny Stover or Jay Hoffman

    CD19CW: Jayne Mazzotti or Pamella Gronemeyer

    4 of the 38 races were contested and I can’t find the results of them at this time. The SBOE site doesn’t list unofficial results.

    Any thoughts, comments, insights into the 34 members we know or the rest of the voting base?

  13. Patrick Fitzgerald, the US attorney who went after scooter libby and brought down Blago.  not sure what his politics are, but he’s an outsider and he has great anti-corruption anti-blago credentials. plus he’s only 48, perfect age for a lt governor.

  14. He was appointed by Bush at the suggestion of a Republican senator, so the chances of him being interested in a Dem Lt. Governor position are very slim

  16. pawn broker

    abused anabolic steroids,

    fits of rage,

    sexually abused his wife,

    got behind in child support payments

    held a knife to the throat of a former girlfriend

    who is a convicted prostitute.

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