NEWS UPDATE & OPEN THREAD FOR THE WEEK OF FEBRUARY 8, 2010. ILLINOIS: Governor Pat Quinn (D) won a narrow primary victory last Tuesday over State Comptroller Dan Hynes, who conceded and endorsed Quinn on Thursday. The GOP race remains undecided as State Senator Bill Brady holds a roughly 400 vote lead over State Senator Kirk Dillard. A recount and provisional ballots will decide the ultimate GOP nominee. Meanwhile, a potential embarrassment for Quinn resolved itself Sunday when pawnrboker and suprise Lieutenant Governor nominee Scott Cohen withdrew from the race. Media stories broke Friday that Cohen was deadbeat dad, once held a knife to his prostitute ex-girlfriend's neck, injected himself with steroids, struck and choked his ex-wife, and was once accused of attempted rape. After first insisting he would remain in the race, Cohen was forced to bow out on Sunday. Party leaders will now select a replacement runningmate for Quinn ... LOUISIANA: Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu (D) was elected New Orleans Mayor on Saturday, winning with broad support from the city's white and black voters. Incumbent Mayor Ray Nagin (D) is term-limited. Landrieu won by a wide enough margin that he was elected without requiring a run-off. Landrieu's late father -- Moon Landrieu -- previously served as the city's mayor. Governor Bobby Jindal (R) is taking the opportunity of Landrieu's victory to call for a state constitutional amendment to abolish the independently elected Lieutenant Governor position ... MARYLAND: Former State Cabinet member Larry Hogan Jr. (R) ended his exploratory run for Governor last week, saying he now is convinced his former boss -- former Governor Bob Ehrlich (R) -- will announce his candidacy next month against Governor Martin O'Malley (D). Ehrlich was ousted by O'Malley in 2006. Sources also tell Politics1 that former Prince George's County Executive Wayne Curry (D) will shortly announce his primary challenge to O'Malley -- and that attorney and Kennedy family cousin Mark Shriver will likely be Curry's Lieutenant Governor runningmate ... ARKANSAS: Congressman John Boozman (R) had made it official: he's running against US Senator Blanche Lincoln (D). Lincoln's poll numbers are so weak -- she even trails second-tier GOP challengers -- that she is now viewed as the most vulnerable Democratic Senate incumbent in 2010 ... NEW YORK: Rumors continue to swirl that a major sex scandal involving Governor David Paterson (D) will break sometime this week. In an inconsistent response that doesn't quite make sense, Paterson's office acknowledges they are expecting a sex scandal story but preemptively deny the unknown allegations ... TEA PARTY CONVENTION: Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (R) was a hit at the controversial for-profit Tea Party gathering this past weekend. Convention attendees warmly greeted Palin's remarks. Former Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO) gave the convo's opening speech, and immediately stirred up a controversy. He said that many Obama voters in 2008 couldn't understand the English language nor knew enough US history. Tancredo suggested a return of the outlawed voter literacy/civics tests -- which were used in a discriminatory manner in the South before the 1965 Voting Rights Act to bar blacks from registering to vote -- would have prevented Obama's victory ... NEW MEXICO: Candidate filing for this year's gubernatorial and congressional primaries closes on Tuesday.
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