Below is a statement from Adam Andrzejewski, candidate for the Illinois governorship:

The people of Illinois stand at a crossroads. Its choices for Governor are a dramatic rebirth led by a new leader running on new ideas, or complete insignificance brought on by the same people who presided over the party’s decline.
 
My candidacy represents an exciting opportunity for the Republican Party in Illinois.  I also believe that the nomination of any of my opponents will precipitate the permanent degeneration of the Illinois GOP.
 
Bastion of the conservative blogosphere, Adam Brickley, purports the Illinois Governor’s race is arguably the most important statewide race for conservatives this cycle. Right now, we have the opportunity to start bringing Illinois Republicans and conservatives back into the political process in time for the 2012 elections.
 
I can win this Primary because I am the only candidate running on bold and specific spending cuts, along with aggressive reforms that challenge the culture of corruption in Illinois.  If we bring improvement to this financially strapped and corruption-ridden state, we will have created a template for every blue state in the nation.
 
My plan begins with two landmark executive orders: 1) Conduct a forensic audit of state sending that will save billions and spur other efficiencies, and 2) Put the state’s checkbook on the web—in its entirety.  This way, voters can go online and call-out out waste themselves.
 
My next order of business will be to enact the exact same Gold Standard of ethics reform that Bobby Jindal instituted in Louisiana.  I will also cap, and then cut, Illinois’ steep property taxes.  This is a winning agenda that separates me from my intellectually tired and flabby GOP opponents.
 
This election is about leadership, not political experience.  Here in Illinois, genuine Republican reform must come from outside of the established political class.  Illinois is in crisis, and my victory at this crucial juncture will send a powerful message.  Gaining support for our ideals should be the single most important mission for the conservative movement in 2010.
 
It’s time for a new day in Illinois. It would be privilege to have your support. Please visit my website for more information on my specific policy-based solutions or join our movement on Facebook or Twitter.

http://adamforillinois.com
http://facebook.com/adamforillinois

Some tidbits from within the 202:

• German industrial giant Siemens has announced it will quit doing business with Iran. “The board has decided not to conclude new contracts with commercial partners in Iran,” company spokesman Alexander Becker told Agence France-Presse. Siemens sold about $700 million worth of goods to Iranian companies each year, according to Reuters.

             In December, German customs officers reportedly found turbo compressors bound for Iran from a Siemens branch in Sweden. Investigators said they could have been used in Iran’s missile program.

• The National Republican Senatorial Committee raised more funds than its Democratic counterpart for the third month in a row in December. The NRSC brought in $4.1 million, while the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee raised $3.4 million, CQ Politics reports. The DSCC outraised the NRSC for the year, however, bringing in about $43.6 million in 2009 to the Republican Committee’s $41.2 million.
• 45 percent of likely voters now agree that a group of people chosen at random from a telephone book would do a better job of dealing with the nation’s problems than the current Congress, a Rasmussen Reports poll reveals.

             Only 36 percent disagree, and 19 percent are not sure.

             Back in October 2008, just before the last congressional elections, 33 percent said a random group would be better than Congress.

             Rasmussen also found that 60 percent of voters think members of Congress are paid too much, while just 3 percent say they are paid too little.

             Most members of the House and Senate are paid $174,000 a year. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is the highest paid member of Congress, earning $223,500.

One federal official was conspicuous by her absence at a recent House Homeland Security Committee hearing — the secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano.

The Jan. 27 hearing was called to examine the attempted Christmas Day bombing of Northwest Flight 253, but Napolitano sent Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Jane Holl Lute to testify in her place.

Democrats on the committee openly expressed their displeasure with Napolitano as the hearing proceeded, CNSNews reported.

Rep. Chris Carney of Pennsylvania said during his question period: “I am very dismayed that the secretary herself wasn’t here. I mean, it’s probably fair to ask, ‘Where the hell is Secretary Napolitano?’”

Rep. Jane Harman of California declared: “This is the committee with primary jurisdiction over the Department of Homeland Security. She is the Secretary of Homeland Security. She is in Washington, D.C. She was invited to testify at this very important hearing, and she should have been here.”

Two days after the Christmas Day bombing attempt, Napolitano had told CNN that “the system worked,” referring to security measures. According to CNSNews, Republicans on the committee believe Napolitano did not appear at the hearing because she did not want to field questions about that comment.

Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson of Mississippi said the committee had first been told that Napolitano could not attend the hearing because she would be out of the country, then discovered that she was in fact in Washington but would not attend anyway.

Republican Scott Brown’s victory in the Massachusetts special election bodes so poorly for Democrats in November that party insiders fear a growing number of House incumbents will retire rather than face difficult and possibly losing battles for re-election.

Rep. Marion Berry (Ark.) became the latest Democrat in the House to announce his retirement, saying on Jan. 25 that he would not seek an eighth term.

He joined Reps. Vic Snyder (Ark.), Bart Gordon (Tenn.), Brian Baird (Wash.), John Tanner (Tenn.), and Dennis Moore (Kan.) as Democrats who have said they won’t run for re-election in November, according to the CQ Politics Web site.

Departures are “not out of control yet,” according to Rep. Dennis Cardoza of California, a leader of the Blue Dog Coalition.

But other party stalwarts “are worried about a snowball effect,” Roll Call reported.

One party strategist told the newspaper, “Retirements drive retirements.”

Washington insiders identify several House Democrats as possible candidates for retirement, according to Roll Call. They include Leonard Boswell (Iowa), Rick Boucher (Va.), Lincoln Davis (Tenn.), Bob Etheridge (N.C.), Ike Skelton (Mo.), Collin Peterson (Minn.), Paul Kanjorski (Pa.), and John Spratt (S.C.).

“All sit in districts that would be difficult for Democrats to defend if they become vacant — and if they run again, some of the incumbents may have to sweat re-election for the first time in a long time,” Roll Call observed.

Still, a Republican takeover of the House appears to be an uphill battle. Democrats would have to lose 40 seats for the GOP to take control.

And Democratic pollster David Beattie noted that a number of Republicans in the House have also decided to retire, and voters appear angry at both parties.

“It’s not a good year to be a Democrat,” he said. “But people don’t like the Republicans, either.”

A rising voice is calling for CNBC talk host and supply-side economist Larry Kudlow to challenge liberal New York Sen. Chuck Schumer in this year’s election.

And Kudlow said he is going to give a possible run “careful consideration.”

Newsmax first disclosed that Kudlow could have political aspirations back in March 2009, reporting that he was mulling a bid for Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd’s Senate seat from Connecticut. Kudlow announced several weeks later that he wasn’t running.

But on Jan. 20, Newsmax reported that “the New York political scene is buzzing with talk of a movement to draft Larry Kudlow” to run as a Republican challenger to Schumer.

Several media outlets cited and/or linked to the Newsmax story in the days that followed, including Politico and The Village Voice in New York.

Then on Sunday, Jan. 24, the Buffalo News reported that Michael Caputo, who served as a speechwriter for Rep. Jack Kemp, is leading an online movement to draft Kudlow for the race, and has set up a Web site at www.draftkudlow.com.

“No one in New York State deserves to stay home more than Chuck Schumer, and I really believe Larry Kudlow is the one person who can send him home,” he told the newspaper.

And Caputo told Newsmax: “It’s time for Chuck Schumer to be sent packing.”

Kudlow has served as chief economist for several Wall Street firms, and was an economics adviser to President Ronald Reagan. He now runs his own economics research firm, hosts CNBC’s “The Kudlow Report” and “The Call” programs, and hosts “The Larry Kudlow Show” on WABC Radio on Saturdays.

Caputo and his group aim to collect 100,000 signatures online to help convince Kudlow to enter the Senate race.

Nearly 1,000 people signed up on the first day the Web site was up, Newsmax has learned, and Kudlow’s office has been flooded with calls and e-mails, almost all of them urging him to run.

A “Draft Larry Kudlow” site is up and running on Facebook. A typical entry reads, “Finally, someone with conservative credentials and name recognition . . . Mr. Kudlow, please consider running.”

New York State Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long said he signed up on the Facebook site.

“I would be very pre-disposed to support Larry if he runs for Schumer’s seat,” Long told the Albany Times Union.

“He’s a pro-growth conservative. He understands how you can create jobs. He would fight for policies that would create job growth. If he was ever to go to the United States Senate, he would become the leading voice for a pro-growth economy that would cut spending, cut taxes, and create jobs.”

At one point, the prospect of unseating Schumer in blue state New York seemed a long shot. First elected in 1998, he serves as the vice chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus and is considered the third most powerful Democrat in the Senate. He won re-election in 2004 with more than 70 percent of the vote, and is said to have amassed a campaign war chest of more than $30 million for this year’s race.

But the stunning Jan. 19 election win by Republican Scott Brown in blue state Massachusetts has changed that thinking.

Before that election, “the idea of running Larry Kudlow for the Senate was a wish,” Caputo told Newsmax. “And thanks to Scott Brown, we now know that wishes can come true.”

Caputo told Politico’s Ben Smith: “With Scott Brown winning in Massachusetts, it’s clear that not even Sen. Chuck Schumer is safe.”

Asked for his reaction to the move to enlist him against Schumer, Kudlow told Newsmax early in the week only that he is “honored by the talk and the consideration.”

But on Thursday, he told New York radio-host Curtis Sliwa: “I’m going to give all this careful attention. And I do believe that retiring Sen. Schumer would be a noble cause, and at the present time that’s about all I can say.”

As Brown’s victory shows, anything can happen.

FOX News Channel’s Megyn Kelly will begin solo anchoring a new two-hour Dayside program from 1-3PM ET on Monday February 1st which will replace The Live Desk for the powerhouse news network, according to Kelly’s exclusive for The Examiner’s Jim Kouri.

Since coming to FNC, Kelly brings her legal training and experience as an attorney to the top-rated FNC lineup. Kelly’s new show — America Live with Megyn Kelly — will move popular afternoon host Martha MacCallum  to the 9-11AM ET time slot, where she will join anchor Bill Hemmer.

Among her achievements in law and journalism is Kelly’s reporting on the rape charges against the Duke University lacrosse players. She broke new details in the case that ultimately helped exonerate the defendants.

In making the programing switch, Clemente said, “We’ve been incredibly fortunate to develop two valuable assets in Bill Hemmer and Megyn Kelly — dividing their journalistic expertise across our daytime lineup will only serve to broaden our strength as a network.”

Kelly’s new afternoon program will focus on the top stories of the day, covering breaking news as well as showcasing interviews with key newsmakers and experts offering analysis on the day’s events. Additionally, the two-hour block will include her signature legal segment, “Kelly’s Court,” which will showcase Kelly’s skills from her previous career as a trial lawyer.

Aside from anchoring a new two-hour program, she will continue to appear as a regular guest on The O’Reilly Factor every Thursday evening during her branded legal segment, “The Kelly File.”

In an exclusive with The Examiner’s Jim Kouri, Kelly said, “Although I will miss starting my mornings with Bill, I’m thrilled to embark on this new opportunity and look forward to delivering the news during what is shaping up to be one of the most historic news periods of our time.”

Hemmer added, “I couldn’t have asked for a better co-anchor in Megyn, but I’m excited to lead America’s Newsroom in 2010 and continue to kick off our daytime news line-up every morning.” 

Even the unions have a “social life”. A humorous look at the Obama Administration’s too-close-for-comfort relationship with Big Labor.