Illinois governor makes waves, positioning himself for '08 bid

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http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/special_packa...

BY STEVEN THOMMA
Knight Ridder Newspapers

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - (KRT) - A half-century ago, saloonkeeper and alderman Paddy Bauler celebrated the defeat of a reform-minded politician by boasting, "Chicago ain't ready for reform yet."

Now, a son of Chicago politics is preparing to ask whether the nation is ready for him.

Far from the television studios of New York and the cauldron of political ambition that is the U.S. Senate, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is trying to make a name for himself as an innovative, against-the-grain, values-minded Midwestern governor, sometimes angering his own family and his Democratic Party in the process.

Assuming he wins re-election next year, Blagojevich (bla-GOYA-vich) could run for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. His expected pitch to the Iowa Democrats who will kick off the nominating season in January 2008: I'm a fellow Midwesterner, a governor with a track record of running things and, most importantly, not a Northeastern liberal like Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and John Kerry of Massachusetts.