In Politics, Try, Try Again

Chicago - One thing we learned this week is that Americans really do believe in second chances. We have some of those old sayings for a reason: such as, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again, or they take a lickin' and keep on tickin'

Take Scott Lee Cohen. If the last you saw of him was that tearful, tragi-comic news conference where he stepped down as Governor Quinn's running mate for lieutenant governor, well, he's back, and trying the exact same strategy that worked well enough in the primary. He's running radio ads promoting job fairs, featuring a guy who says he found a job as a cable guy. There's no larger plan for really creating jobs, for boosting the economy.

Will it work again? Will voters forget or forgive Cohen's allegedly holding a knife to the throat of a former girl friend, the one who'd been arrested for prostitution? As we say in reality TV, stay tuned.

Which brings us to the U.S. Senate race.

His opponent routinely and unfairly labels him a mob banker, and his family bank, by the way, was seized by federal regulators. He used to brag about his big role at that bank, now says it really wasn't that big after all. On top of it all, his opponent has out-raised him by a big margin.

Despite it all, the polls show Democrat Alexi Giannoulias in a virtual dead heat with Republican Mark Kirk.

Giannoulias has shown he can take a punch and keep on smiling. He knows how to work a crowd, even if his knowledge of issues doesn't compare to Kirk's.

Even in what ought to be a very Republican year, Kirk has his work cut out for him. Giannoulias is proving very resilient.