Illinois Republican Chairman Pat Brady tells Fox News that some ballots delivered in Cook County are the wrong size and will need to be counted by hand.

There are reports of similar problems in other parts of the state including Christian County and Taylorville.

Fox News Correspondent Mike Tobin contributed to this rerport.

One day ahead of the Illinois primary, Mitt Romney made a plea to voters Monday to get to the ballot box.

"Vote early and vote often," the Republican presidential primary candidate joked as he spoke to about 50 people inside a '50s styled diner in Springfield, Ill. Another 100 people gathered outside.

Romney, jovial after a decisive victory Sunday in Puerto Rico against top rival Rick Santorum, said he needed voters to put the race in the bag for him.

"I need only one thing from you this morning – no,  two.  Number one, I need some pancakes," Romney said. "Number two, I need you to go vote tomorrow."

After placing his order for pancakes and a "horseshoe," Romney joked about the size of the pancakes being served, calling them as large as his win in Puerto Rico.

Campaigning by his side was Illinois Rep. Aaron Schock, who said Republicans need someone who can go "toe to toe" with President Obama and his "Chicago machine." 

Pointing to Obama's record, he told the crowd, "electability alone is not everything."

"He won alright, but he hasn't governed," Schock said. "We've got to have somebody who not only can win the election but most importantly can run our country." (read more)

UPDATE from FOX News producer Marla Cichowski in the courtroom:

At Tuesday's sentencing hearing for Rod Blagojevich, more than 100 people and media waited in line for a seat inside the courtroom and a chance to hear the former Illinois governor speak. 

But Blagojevich wasn't the only person in court attracting attention from the media.

Sister Susanne Kullowitch, a nun with the Sisters of Catholic Charity in Chicago, showed up to see Blagojevich and listen to a portion of the hearing. Kullowitch says she's been praying for Blagojevich since his retrial began earlier this year and even sat through several days of his retrial where she met Blagojevich's wife, Patti.

Kullowitch said she's "grateful for what Blagojevich did for seniors" while he was Illinois governor, providing free rides on mass transit. She also said she believes the punishment Blagojevich faces for his conviction is "too harsh and severe." 

Prosecutors want Blagojevich to serve 15 to 20 years.  Kullowitch said Blagojevich has suffered enough through public humiliation and feels he should get probation instead of serving time behind bars.

When Kullowitch saw Rod Blagojevich in court today, she says he told her to continue praying for him.  

Earlier story: (read more)

The defense team for former Illinois Governor, Rod Blagojevich says it has been "prepping" Blagojevich to testify next week in his corruption case. Blagojevich defense attorney, Sheldon Sorosky says the defense team is "strongly considering" having Blagojevich take the stand in his own defense next week. But when asked if Blagojevich would in fact testify, Sorosky said, "we don't know. It's still too early."

Another Blagojevich attorney says they plan to call as many as 15 witnesses to testify as part of Blagojevich's defense. The attorney referred to most of the witnesses as "prominent" and said the witnesses would not be able to show up at court on short notice because of their schedules. He declined to say who exactly would take the stand. It's possible the defense could call several government witnesses who testified during the prosecution's case.

Blagojevich is on trial for the second time in less than a year. The prosecution rested on Thursday, after presenting its case in roughly half the time of the first trial. Prosecutors wasted no time focusing on the most talked about charge involved in the case, Blagojevich's alleged attempt to sell Barack Obama's US Senate seat after Obama was elected President. During the first trial the jury was deadlocked on 23 out of 24 counts and only convicted Blagojevich of lying to the FBI.

 

Former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is getting a visit from a heavy hitter next week, in his bid to become mayor of Chicago.

On Tuesday former President Bill Clinton is coming to the windy city to appear at a campaign rally with Emanuel.

 The event at the Chicago Cultural Center is expected to draw a great deal of attention, cash and support for the candidate. But Clinton's visit is also ratcheting up a lot of controversy among Democrats.

One of Emanuel's opponents in the mayoral race, former U.S. Senator Carol Moseley Braun, D-Ill., said Clinton should keep his influence out of the race, while former candidate, Congressman Danny Davis, D-Ill., begged Clinton to keep his distance. "Mr. President, don't come. Don't help Rahm." he said. (read more)

That sucking sound you hear in Illinois might be jobs and moving vans leaving the state.

In the wee hours of Wednesday morning, Illinois lawmakers squeaked in a massive tax increase at the end of its session before a new legislature, that is unlikely to pass tax increases in a down economy, started Wednesday. Some lawmakers say the increase was desperately needed to balance the state's fledgling budget. Now both residents and business owners in the "Land of Lincoln" are threatening to move out.

But that's good news for Illinois' neighbors to the north in Wisconsin, and they are laying out the welcome mat. (read more)

A prominent political fundraiser with ties to former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and President Barack Obama will spend eight more months behind bars before he is sentenced for his crimes. Tony Rezko was convicted of fraud and corruption in federal court back in June 2008. Since then he's had several sentencing dates, but each one has been postponed.

On Wednesday, Rezko appeared in federal court wearing his prison uniform, looking noticeably thinner and speaking with a raspy voice, telling the judge he wanted to push his sentencing back to September.

Rezko's defense attorneys and the federal prosecutors both agreed to delay the sentencing, opening up the possibility that Rezko could take the stand as a witness against former Gov. Rod Blagojevich in his upcoming retrial in April. "There's a possibility he [Rezko] may be called in the second trial as well," said lead defense attorney Joe Duffy. (read more)

SCHAUMBURG - Noting the "national tsunami" which swept away so many of her fellow House Democrats, Rep. Melissa Bean (D/IL-08) stood before reporters this morning to congratulate her opponent, Republican Joe Walsh. When the counting of all the absentee and provisional ballots in the district ended last night, Walsh prevailed by a slim 291-vote margin out of over 200,000 votes cast.

Bean called Walsh to congratulate him on his win and scheduled this news conference this morning. You can view Rep. Bean's remarks by clicking on the link below.

The three-term Democrat later side-stepped question from reporters about possibly seeking public office again noting, "I think today is Joe Walsh's day. The next thing for me is 'Turkey Day' and making sure I order a fresh turkey." Bean said she thought her campaign "worked as hard as we could" and there wasn't anything she would do differently.

Walsh, in Washington for congressional 'freshman orientation', said today in a conference call Bean was very gracious and thanked her for her public service.

 

WAUKEGAN - Three-term Congresswoman Melissa Bean tonight is flying home to her district in northeast Illinois having come-up just short in her re-election bid. Today, the last of the ballots were counted - absentees and provisional ballots - in portions of Cook, Lake and McHenry Counties. Out of over 200,000 votes cast, Bean trails by a scant 291 votes to Republican chalenger Joe Walsh.

Walsh this weekend, confident that he would prevail, was in Washington to attend 'freshman orientation' for newly elected US House members. He has been unavailable for comment today.

Tomorrow, Bean has called a news conference in Schaumburg to discuss the results and what she may do next.

Here are the vote totals including today's counting of absentee and provisional ballots:

 

                           Bean (D)           Walsh (R)          Scheurer (G)

Cook County         30,025              23,848                 1,415

Lake County          52,025             55,148                 3,507 

McHenry County    15,774             19,119                 1,573 (read more)

Melissa Bean is going back to Washington on Monday. Whether the three-term Democratic Congresswoman from Illinois goes back in January…is still undecided. “We had all hoped the county clerks would have completed their work by now,” said Bean during a conference call with reporters. “The reality is that we're still waiting them to count outstanding ballots, roughly fifteen-hundred, so that we could determine the outcome the 8th district congressional election.” So, Bean will return to DC for work in the so-called ‘Lame Duck Session’ of Congress and wait for reports on absentee and provisional ballots to be counted in Cook, Lake and McHenry counties. Republican challenger Joe Walsh leads but by just 347-votes out of over 180,000 ballots cast in early voting and votes cast on Election Day. The totals for now are: Walsh Bean 97,581 97,234 But while Bean refers to 1,500 outstanding votes, that the maximum if every absentee ballot were returned. That seems impossible. For an absentee ballot to be counted, it must be postmarked by November 1st (the day before Election Day) or earlier (and must arrive by November 16th). Those ballots are only arriving in very small numbers now a week and a half after the postmark deadline. “We had zero today,” said McHenry County Clerk Kathy Schultz. Lake County had three arrive by mail today. Between the two counties, a total of 632 absentees will be opened Tuesday, November 16th. What encourages Bean is what has happened so far with  (read more)