2/5: From Cohen To Quinn

Now that the dust is starting to settle on Tuesday's IL primaries, bloggers are slowly realizing that IL Dems nominated an LG candidate -- pawnbroker Scott Lee Cohen (D) -- who was once arrested for allegedly holding a knife to his girlfriend's neck. Furthermore, Cohen's arrest reportedly "came five months after his wife filed for divorce and convinced a judge to give her a temporary order of protection." Needless to say, conservative bloggers are delighted that IL Dems nominated such an apparently flawed candidate, and they're hoping that Cohen's vulnerabilities bring down the other candidate on the ticket: Gov. Pat Quinn. (D). James Richardson predicts: "[T]he extent to which Cohen's scandal will be a drag on Quinn's candidacy cannot be overstated."

What else is happening in the blogosphere?

• Conservative bloggers (Malkin, streiff, Bandes) continue to ridicule CA SEN candidate Carly Fiorina's (R) new web ad, which portrays her rival Tom Campbell (R) as a demonic sheep with glowing red eyes. However, Fiorina's camp tells NRO: "We produced [the ad] with the intent of breaking through the clutter, but it has exceeded our expectations."
• RedState editor Erick Erickson is blasting GA Insurance Commis. John Oxendine (R), declaring that Oxendine "must be defeated" in the GA GOV GOP primary.
• Liberal bloggers (Marshall, Lewison, Willis) continue to urge House Dems to use Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-WI) budget proposal against House GOPers, as they consider his ideas "radical." Lefty bloggers (Lewison, Benen, Aravosis) are also mocking House Min. Leader John Boehner (R-OH) for distancing the GOP leadership from Ryan's proposal.
• Liberal bloggers (Lemos, Marshall) are criticizing Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) for placing a "blanket hold" on 70+ nominations that Pres. Obama sent to the Senate. Other lefty bloggers (McCarter, Benen) are calling on Senate Maj. Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to follow through on his threat to use recess appointments to install Obama's nominees.
• Liberal bloggers (Yglesias, Benen, Morrill, Aravosis) are promoting yesterday's Wall Street Journal article detailing how "Republicans are stepping up their campaign to win donations from Wall Street." Tim Fernholz is frustrated that Dems "can't seem to get any political points off of this."

IL LG: Epic Fail, Dems!

Conservative bloggers are delighted that IL Dems nominated a candidate who has been accused of domestic violence:

• Townhall's Meredith Jessup: "Wow... This guy is just dripping with class. Way to go, Illinois Democrats."
• RedState's Moe Lane: "The Illinois elections are turning nicely symmetrical. Their side has a candidate who knifes women. Our side has a candidate who takes down people who knife women. Adam Kinzinger for IL-11. And Jason Plummer for Lt. Governor. Because neither of them cut women."
• Hot Air's Ed Morrissey: "Democrats were going to have a tough year anyway, even in Illinois, thanks to the national unpopularity of the Democratic agenda and the debacle of the [ex-Gov.] Rod Blagojevich corruption scandal. His successor, Pat Quinn, is already unpopular in Illinois, and this won't improve matters. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that one of Cohen's rivals for the nomination warned both Quinn and his opponent Dan Hynes about Cohen's past, and neither of them took any action to push Cohen back to the sidelines. Now Democrats have a problem in both races that could undermine the entire ticket in November no matter who gets the Democratic nomination for governor."
• RedState's Richardson: "[T]he extent to which Cohen's scandal will be a drag on Quinn's candidacy cannot be overstated, and is amplified by near-constant reminders from the ILGOP of Blogojevich's expulsion from office."

On the left side of the blogosphere, Daily Kos' Barbara Morrill calls the news "unbelievable."

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Why Tommy Thompson's Probably Not Running For Senate

NRO's Jim Geraghty:

"If former Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson was thinking seriously about running for Senate against Russ Feingold, I don't think he would be signing on as an adviser to a hedge fund. A reader asked about Thompson the other day and my sense is, if you're a big-name Republican who hasn't signed on for a race yet, you're probably not going to jump in. It's not like the signs of a Republican wave appeared overnight. If a big-name Republican is thinking and thinking and thinking some more about running, it suggests he or she doesn't really want to run -- Thompson, [ex-NYC Mayor Rudy] Giuliani, [ex-NY Gov. George] Pataki, etc. Obviously, there are exceptions, but if a guy doesn't want to run, there's not much point in spending a lot of time and energy trying to persuade him to make a bid that his heart just isn't in..."

LEST WE FORGET: Toyota Says Cup Holders Still Working Great

The Huffington Post's Andy Borowitz:

"TOKYO (The Borowitz Report) -- Embattled automaker Toyota today said that despite problems with accelerators and brakes, the cup holders on its most popular car models were 'perfectly safe to use.'

'Feel free to enjoy the beverage of your choice and know that you can rest it in one of our cup holders with confidence,' said Tokyo spokesman Hiroshi Kyosuke. 'Our cup holders are world-class.'

But Mr. Kyosuke's upbeat comments about Toyota's cup holders were undercut somewhat later in the day by congressional testimony from Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

'You should only feel safe to use your cup holder if your Toyota is parked in your driveway,' Mr. LaHood said. 'At 80 miles per hour, the cup holder becomes a rocket launcher.'"