My freshman year, I met this kid from Chicago.  And we got to talking Illinois politics.  He was unaware that Peter Fitzgerald was not standing for reelection.  And we began talking about politics and he explained to me how candidates in Illinois, to be successful, couldn't be successful.  Later I began reading up on Barak Obama and I thought to myself what a great guy this was and how wonderful it would be to have a guy like him in the Senate.  So a few days later, I asked my friend from Illinois "Hey, can a guy with the last name "Obama" get elected as Senator in Illinois?" and he laughed, shook his head and responded "No way".  Well we all know how that one turned out.  Remember how the Democratic Party wanted Blair Hull at the time, a guy who hadn't even bothered to vote?  

Kind of reminds me of a friend of mine in New Hampshire who to me anyway, is an expert of politics.  About a week or two before the election, I told him I thought Charlie Bass was going down to Paul Hodes.  And he told me that Hodes would run stronger than last time but would lose because "people really like Bass and they're going to reelect him."  Ahhhh, I LOVE being right.  :)