Abraham Lincoln isn't spinning in his grave.      He's twirling like a drill bit.

          Tuesday's arrest of Illinois Governor Rod Blogojevich is stunning on many levels.      A state chief executive taken from his home in handcuffs before daybreak in a running suit, like a punk in a mob movie.      The outlandish allegations: the alleged sale of a Senate seat, demands for a piece of the action before he'd act on a children's hospital.       Good Lord, he even dragged Wrigley Field into this drek.

          This guy, guilty or not, packs some serious stones.     Major league huevos.      Cajones the size of mature grapefruit.

          It was just Monday when Blagojevich virtually dared the feds and anyone else to roll tape.

            Funny, he even has hair like Gary Hart.

            Yes, codgers such as I may remember the Senator who wanted to be President in 1988.      There'd been rumors that Hart liked the ladies and he dared the press corps to tail him to see if they could land the money shot.       They already had, and they already did.    Enter Donna Rice.    

           Exit Gary Hart.

           Big onions, indeed.    Matched with brontosaurus brains.

          And so, Rod Blagojevich is on the career paths set by his predecessors: Otto Kerner, Daniel Walker and George Ryan who've all had significant brushes with the law, the truth and the ethics expected of elected officials.       Ryan, by the by, is still in the jug for his role in the scandal that led to the Willis van crash that left six young children dead.     There's an ongoing push to get him sprung from the jug just one year into his six year sentence.       Check my blog from a few days ago to read more.

         For most of us in Milwaukee, the name "Blagojevich" is a tollway curiosity--something we see as we roll through the I-Pass lane or drop our coins into a toll funnel on our way to Chicago.

          It's more.     Oh, much more.      It's another chapter in a state's unprecedented legacy of political corruption.      It's a hard-to-pronounce-but-just-as-difficult-to-forget moniker for elected arrogance.

          And, it's another way to gauge the size of a pair of onions.