Dem Day itself, that is Wed., Aug 19, consists of two key events: the County Chair breakfast and then the rally later in the day on the Director's Lawn in the State Fair grounds proper.
The first photo is of Gov. Quinn addressing the attendees at the County Chair breakfast. The second photo is Sec. of State Jesse White speaking later on at the rally -- under a tent for fear of rain. Happily the rain seemed more than ready to accommodate Illinois Democrats -- waiting till the event was well over before breaking loose in torrents.
A couple of pictures of the festivities surrounding Dem Day at the State Fair. In this post, I have two photos from the night before, or in other words, Tuesday, Aug. 18.
The first shot is of Boone's Saloon (RIP). Alas! Despite the change in traditional venues -- and the fact that we're in an off-year, the Sangamon County Dems still drew a pretty good crowd for their annual meet-and-greet fundraiser (sorry, no photos).
Why do I feel like we've been here before? Fox News correspondent Mara Liasson just had a segment on NPR's Morning Edition that essentially did nothing but complain that the Democratic Administration no longer uses right-wing catch phrases, many of them the product of paranoia and fanaticism, such as 'Axis of Evil', 'War on Terrorism', 'Death Tax' and 'Right to Life'.
It was a bit rainy but that didn't dampen anyone's spirit at the Evanston 4th of July Parade. The first shot is just before the parade with Gov. Pat Quinn and DPOE President Daniel Biss getting their picture taken by Daniel's wife Karen. The second shot is a group shot taken afterwards.
Apparently former Secretary of State Madelaine Albright is none too happy that Sarah Palin is running around (mis-)quoting her -- supposedly from the back of a Starbucks cup -- about there being "a place in Hell reserved for women who don’t support other women". Said the former Secretary of State:
"First Democratic Endorsement in 72 Years!" reads the recommended Diary on Kos. It was about the Stockton Record endorsing a Democrat for President for the first time in 72 years.
The Editorial presents an overview of the two candidates in what has pretty much become public knowledge. On McCain, the paper is pretty damning:
I got a note about buses going to Iowa. It's started! You know things are getting serious when the buses start running. We're in the home stretch of the campaign.
It's not the final heated moments when everyone goes all out but it's the time where we have to pick up the pace, make sure we're doing something at least once a week, if not more often, to make sure Barack Obama and the rest of the Democratic ticket win on November 4.
I got a note about buses going to Iowa. It's started! You know things are getting serious when the buses start running. We're in the home stretch of the campaign. 
