“You could say it was more than a good day, it was a great day,” said state Sen. Kirk Dillard, the Hinsdale Republican campaigning for governor of Illinois.
We met Monday night at the bar at Gene & Georgetti, the best steakhouse in town. Gene’s is old-school, full of history and politics, a place of dark wood and information, big drinks and red meat. Dillard had reason to celebrate.

He’d just been endorsed by his old boss, former Gov. Jim Edgar, who in some Republican circles is seen as the man on the white horse, the fiscally prudent governor who made the tough decisions and, unlike his two successors, didn’t get indicted.

“There is absolutely no way this state can get back on track without substantial cuts and just saying ‘no’ for several years,” Edgar said, while praising Dillard, his former chief of staff, as the one who helped him cut a bloated state budget in the early 1990s.

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