As with George Ryan before him, I'm really finding it difficult to believe that Governor Rod Blagojevich is as clueless as he claims.

Blagojevich says he had absolutely no idea that Tony Rezko was up to no good. Rezko is a very close friend of the governor who raised millions of dollars for his campaign, put lots of people into important positions in Blagojevich's administration, and was a business partner with Mrs. Blagojevich for eight years.

Governor Rod Blagojevich and his staff have attempted to muddy the waters on the question of that now-infamous $1,500 check from his friend by seizing on the flip-flopping of the friend's wife, Beverly Ascaridis.

Mrs. Ascaridis, you will recall, got a state job about the same time that her husband, Mike Ascaridis, wrote the governor a check for $1,500. The governor has admitted to directing his chief of staff to find Mrs. Ascaridis a job, but claims that the check was for his daughter Amy's college fund. He has so far refused to provide any supporting documentation that the check was ever deposited into a college fund, however.

After spending millions of dollars on unanswered television ads, Governor Rod Blagojevich has only an eight-point lead over Judy Baar Topinka, according to the latest poll.

The Research 2000 poll of 800 likely voters was conducted August 28 through 31 and had a margin of error of 3.5 percent. The poll found that Blagojevich was leading Topinka 47-39.

If you wanted to get an idea of how downright negative the governor's race will be this fall, all you had to do was hang around Republican Day at the Illinois State Fair last week and check your e-mail from the governor's campaign.

One speaker after another ripped into the Democrats during the Republicans' annual event. The speakers focused mainly on Governor Rod Blagojevich and the harm he has allegedly done to Illinois.