Last Man Sitting

The only Illinois Republican not yet in the state's gubernatorial race says he still hasn't made up his mind.

SPRINGFIELD -- Former Gov. Jim Edgar has a message to Republicans wondering
if he'll make a comeback in the 2006 governor's race: Wait a few weeks.

Speaking from his vacation home in Colorado, the two-term governor told The Pantagraph on Monday he likely would not make any decision on his political future until he returns to Illinois later this summer.

"As I've indicated before, I'm not making a decision for a while here," Edgar said. "I've been in Colorado with our family and that's what I've been kind of concentrating on."

[snip]

Edgar, however, said he's in no hurry to make a decision because the filing date to run in the March 2006 primary isn't until December.

"From a personal point of view, this is not something I was looking at," Edgar said. "I've got folks coming to me and, out of courtesy, I said I would consider it but that I wasn't going to rush into making a decision.

"I told them when I got back at the end of the summer, I'd think about it," said Edgar. "Anything can happen until December. I would think if I was going to get into it, I would make a decision before December."

Can't you just feel the enthusiasm oozing from Edgar? His maybe-candidacy is just on fire!