Illinois is looking like it might be interesting territory as regards the Governor’s race, especially given the Blago fiasco. For now, the smart money looks to be on Andy McKenna for more than a few reasons. Jim Ryan wanted a re-match after ducking into academia for a spell after a loss to, tada, Blago. Will Illinois really want to go Ryan – jail – Blago – jail – Ryan? Yeah, I can see those ads, now.

Blagojevich’s arrest on federal corruption charges and subsequent impeachment spurred a flurry of Republican candidacies. The party is looking to return to relevancy after voters reacted to the scandals that eventually sent one-term Republican Gov. George Ryan to federal prison by electing Blagojevich, a Democrat, over Jim Ryan in 2002.

And unfortunately for Jim Ryan, academia hasn’t exactly kept his political skills sharp. He was forced to make an apology that wasn’t, so it seems. Doh! What’s needed is someone who can win Illinois for the Republicans – not someone who wants another bite at the apple, and yet another, as he’s now lost once and screwed up after resurfacing. The reason I said the smart money seems to be on McKenna is because along with being a former GOP Chair, he’s now got the backing of the Republican establishment. And his resume includes significant business experience. That’s the kind of resume that reads jobs. And jobs is going to be what many coming races are all about, including in Illinois. Professors don’t hire people, or even much know how to. Businessmen do.

The worst apologies are those for which you ought to issue another apology.

Jim Ryan, who now is running for governor, has just issued one of those “apologies.”

“In the Cruz-Hernandez cases, prosecutors, police officers and detectives acted in good faith and still came up with the wrong result,” Ryan said Wednesday. “In the Cruz-Hernandez cases, the system and I failed to achieve a just outcome. And for that I am sorry.”

Ryan was referring to DuPage County’s prosecution of Stephen Buckley, Rolando Cruz and Alejandro Hernandez for the 1983 murder of Jeanine Nicarico, 10, of Naperville.

The problem with Ryan’s apology is that law officers did not act in good faith. They concocted statements, encouraged witnesses to lie, withheld and misrepresented evidence, used a phony expert witness, let another expert witness espouse a conclusion he knew wasn’t true and engaged in other shenanigans that could be called a lot of things, but not good faith.