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Cohen Drops Out Of IL Race In Tearful Super Bowl Announcement
IL candidate for Lt. Gov. Scott Lee Cohen (D)
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Scott Lee Cohen, the Democratic candidate for Illinois lieutenant governor, announced last night that he is leaving the race over allegations of domestic violence and drug use.
Speaking to reporters at a Chicago bar during the Super Bowl, Cohen frequently choked up as he made the announcement.
"For the good of the people of the state of Illinois and for the Democratic Party, I will resign," he said. The Who's halftime performance can be heard in the background.
"With all my heart, I'm sorry," Cohen said.
Members of his family, seated around a table, also broke into tears.
Video after the jump.
Cohen was arrested in 2005 for allegedly holding a knife to the throat of his girlfriend, a convicted prostitute. He denied the allegations and charges were dropped when she didn't show up to court. He has also admitted to steroid abuse, and his ex-wife claimed in divorce proceedings that he had attempted to sexually assault her. He'd also been accused of failing to pay child support, and was the subject of several lawsuits over back taxes, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The local ABC affiliate reported that Cohen had recently met with Michael Madigan, the Illinois House Speaker and head of the Democratic Party. Madigan urged Cohen to drop out, according to the news station.
After his announcement, Cohen's running mate, Gov. Pat Quinn released his own statement saying Cohen made the right decision. Quinn and several other members of the Democratic Party had publicly called for Cohen to step aside.
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tduff
February 8, 2010 9:10 AM
I am glad he stepped done, because the last thing IL needs another Republican governor.
For more random thoughts
http://randomthoughtstd.blogspot.com/
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zonk
February 8, 2010 9:37 AM
If Bill Brady keeps his razor thin margin, IL isn't getting a GOP governor.
They probably would (and I wouldn't be terribly upset about it) if Kirk Dillard makes up the few hundred votes he needs to make up, but Brady is DOA statewide.
I'd be shocked if he got within the 5-6 pts downstate Dem Glen Poshard got more than a decade ago.
IL likes it's statewide Republicans to be of the moderate, Chicago suburban variety; not downstate, hardcore conservative variety.
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FreeRider
February 8, 2010 9:41 AM in reply to zonk
True dat. I was sweating bullets on election night when Dillard took the lead. I hope Brady's lead holds.
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GTFOOH
February 8, 2010 6:13 PM in reply to zonk
Razor thin edge...What an appropriate metaphor.
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Walter Mitty
February 8, 2010 9:46 AM
If Dillard had won the GOP primary I'd have told Cohen to stay in. I think the outrage0after-the-fact is ridiculous. Where was Durbin, Quinn/Hynes, Ginnoulias/Hoffman/Jackson calling for Cohen not to run during the campaigning? Why let the guy spend millions of his own money self-funding if the intent was to push him out if he did win? Why didn't the press cover the issue before hand? Maybe because they wanted his ad money as he seemed to be the only Lt. Governor candidate spending.
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holyhandgrenaid
February 8, 2010 10:12 AM in reply to Walter Mitty
For your last question, you know full well the press can't be trusted. As for the other questions? Everyone else probably assumed the press would do its job and one of the 8-million other Lt Gov candidates would win the primary- remember, its best for the establishment to keep OUT of primaries.
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FreeRider
February 8, 2010 10:16 AM in reply to Walter Mitty
Why "let him spend his money"? (Rolling eyes)
Oh, STFU and take off the tin foil hat. There is no candidate vetting in a six person race for Lt. Governor. If anybody had a clue this guy had this stuff in his background, his opposition would have used it and defeated him.
Your constant hand-wringing and wild scenario spinning is just downright stupid.
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Walter Mitty
February 8, 2010 10:49 AM in reply to FreeRider
His Lt. Governor challengers knew his history. They went to Quinn/Hynes and asked them to release a joint statement on Cohen. There is no money in the Lt. Governor race, and Cohen spent $2M of his own money - any money the other candidates had wasn't going to be spent on attacking one of the other 6 candidates, but spent to sell themselves.
Oh, and to comment on your personal insults - I'm rubber and you're glue.
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FreeRider
February 8, 2010 11:37 AM in reply to Walter Mitty
Why didn't they release their own statement? It didn't take any money to take a juicy story like this to the Tribune.
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zonk
February 8, 2010 10:29 AM in reply to Walter Mitty
Well... you can't have it both ways.
Voters don't like 'slating' - so we have primaries. Voters don't like party machines throwing their weight around in primaries.
I agree with the media bashing - though, less for the nefarious reasons and more for the way the media covers government and politics like a horse race... if they spent a fraction of the effort and time doing actual journalism rather than playing pundit, this would have all come up months ago.
That said, though... the voters need to shoulder some of the blame. It shouldn't have taken more than an hour of research to determine that Cohen was all marketing - and there were several better options on the ballot if the voters were interested in selecting a competent Lt Gov candidate rather than a nifty bag of gimmicks and pitch-perfect ads.
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brewmn61
February 8, 2010 10:50 AM in reply to zonk
Unless you were going to conduct background checks on the candidates yourself, I don't see how Cohen's discretions would come up. I did a fair amount of media research on all of the primary races, and all I got was a Tribune endorsement of one of his opponents.
Since I hate the Tribune with a passion, and none of the local media I trust made any recommendations on the Lt. Governor's race, I didn't vote for anyone.
This is the fault of the media, IMO. I mean, the guy's ads were everywhere. You'd think they'd at least spend a couple of hours figuring out who this guy is who's blatantly trying to buy the office, and let the voters know.
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converse
February 8, 2010 10:53 AM in reply to brewmn61
Cohen talked about the charges in his candidate announcement. Wasn't that hard for the media, or voters, to figure out. Basically, nobody gave a shit until they realized it might hurt them.
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brewmn61
February 8, 2010 12:09 PM in reply to converse
"Cohen talked about the charges in his candidate announcement."
Link, please? I've checked his website. There's no reference to it there.
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