Posted by Tribune staff at 5 a.m.
A look at what’s going on Illinois politics today:
*Tonight marks the last time to see the Republican governor candidates in a televised debate. It’ll air at 7 p.m. on WTTW’s "Chicago Tonight" program. No live webcast, so Ch. 11 is the way to see this one.
*Gov. Pat Quinn gets to announce that Ford is bringing 1,200 jobs to its Chicago plant to turn out the new version of the Explorer vehicle. It marks the best news for Quinn in a while as he’s locked in a tight Democratic primary contest with Comptroller Dan Hynes. Quinn’s got no campaign schedule for Tuesday, so this is his press pop of the day.
*Mayor Richard Daley is scheduled to appear with Quinn and the Ford executives. His schedule says he’s going to take questions on the Ford topic only, but with a week before the Feb. 2 primary, reporters are bound to ask him about the governor’s contest.
*Quinn and Hynes debated last night on WTTW. They spent the hour calling each other incompetent.
*Also in the Republican governor’s race, state Sen. Kirk Dillard will trot out popular former Republican Gov. Jim Edgar for a late afternoon appearance at a hotel near O’Hare. Dillard has spent much of the campaign touting his work for Edgar as chief of staff, and Edgar already has endorsed him.
*House Republican Leader Tom Cross of Oswego is holding a late morning news conference in Springfield to discuss campaign finance reform. He’s expected to announce new legislation that would extend campaign contribution limits for legislative leader committees and political parties in the general election. Such legislation could address what critics said was a major loophole in the campaign finance reform legislation Quinn signed into law last year.
*In the U.S. Senate contest, Democrat Cheryle Jackson has an afternoon event highlighting women at her Loop campaign headquarters.