Forget about gun control, energy, abortion, public safety and all the other issues that are cluttering up the Illinois gubernatorial race. The only things that matter in the race between Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn and Republican challenger Sen. Bill Brady are how to dig the state out of the biggest financial hole it has ever been in and how to shed corruption as the preferred model for governing this state. Everything else — health care, the environment, transportation, school class size, agriculture,... 

Cool Obama in 2008; Jug-Eared Dope in 2010. Ah, it is so cool as a Chicago hedge fund tycoon in 2008 …to demonstrate how liberal you are and be shown raising money to Barack Obama! Like Sidney Poitier he is not just any black man but an Occidental College, Columbia University and Harvard Law version of Sidney Poitier so savvy and cool I feel we are in the vanguard of a New Era of Racial Awakening…not like those redneck dinosaur Republican pals, very un-trendy, figuratively scratching their... 

All theory is against freedom of the will; all experience for it. Samuel Johnson Phil Krone is missed. He was the last of the Gentleman Liberal Patriots. Phil Krone invited debate, drank in opposing ideas and courteously offered thoughtful rebuttal without ever raising the volume, let alone insulting his combatant. My political beliefs differed from Mr. Krone, though we both registered and tended to vote as Democrats. Phil was an ideological Keynesian Liberal -like John Kenneth Galbraith, Paul Simon... 

Phil called or emailed me around twice a day for the last 2 years or so.  When something prevented him from calling, I tended to breathe a bit easier, as Phil Krone was a real challenge in a conversation, but still would look at my phone when it rang late at night, to see if Krone was calling from Syria or London or Denmark or even the West Side with some jolly tale.   I will share three stories about Phil Krone, that start to describe his personality.  He had a lot of it, so many more stories... 

I’ve known Phil Krone for nearly five decades, through which we began as political allies, became opponents, occasionally found common cause but remained good humored friends through it all, right up to the end. He was never a man to underestimate himself—or me, fortunately, though our personalities were dramatically different. As different as our politics once Phil abandoned the reform coalition of independent Democrats and liberal Republicans that fought the old Daley Machine from the mid-60s... 

Loyalty and the desire to help his friends are two of the qualities that best define Phil Krone. I’ve known Phil since I was a child. He was a friend of my father’s and always eager to lend his thoughts and ideas to him. After my father died, Phil was there for me, helping me navigate the many trials that lay ahead. I’d never know when Phil would call. Sometimes it would be in the wee hours of the morning as he traveled around the world. What I knew was that Phil set aside time...