Front page Sun-Times:
BOSTON -- The infighting and back-biting among Illinois Democrats boiled over Wednesday as state Senate President Emil Jones angrily suggested that House Speaker Michael J. Madigan -- the state party chairman -- was at the wrong national convention.
"Is the speaker planning on going to New York for the Republican convention?" Jones asked reporters
And from Lynn Sweet's column:
The Blagojevichites are also sniping at Madigan for forging an alliance with Republicans to get leverage over the governor.
Madigan is calling it mature bipartisanship. Blagojevichites say he is sleeping with the enemy. And on Wednesday, tensions sharpened when Madigan's Senate counterpart, Sen. Emil Jones (D-Chicago), said Madigan would be more at home going to the Republican convention in New York.
"Is the speaker planning on going to New York for the Republican convention?" Jones said when asked about Madigan's plotting with GOP legislators, widening the breach between the two leaders.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/sweet/cst-nws-sweet29.htmlOn Edit: THE MOST IMPORTANT PART:
Madigan may not have come early to the convention because he thought there was no pressing business. John Kerry is in good shape in Illinois, and Democratic Senate nominee Barack Obama has no Republican opponent.
But it would not have hurt to use the delegation meetings to do something for the two suburban Democrats running uphill campaigns for U.S. House seats in GOP districts, Melissa Bean and Christine Cegilis. Madigan said he had no particular plans at this point and was waiting for someone to call him. A Blagojevich spokesman said he is going to be helping both candidates.