A "Tie" to Politics

VIDEO: Yepsen talks Blago, campaign contributions

* Related from the Southern Illinoisan…

Despite Democrats being better off without Blagojevich in the headlines, Yepsen said the trial has had a much smaller impact on the party than he originally though. He said voters who chose to punish the party for Blagojevich’s actions had already made up their minds not to vote Democrat and few were swayed by the actual trial.

“This is not a voting issue for some people,” Yepsen said.

He said surprisingly Democrats have seemingly improved their positions in spite of the trial.

Tags: alexi giannoulias, bill brady, blago, david yepsen, mark kirk, pat quinn, paul simon, rod blagojevich, SIU, SIUC

VIDEO: Yepsen discusses Blago trial fallout, Kirk’s presser

Another week in the federal trial charging former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich of political corruption brought out names in the White House and the Democratic Party’s U.S. senate nominee.

However the Blagojevich trial does not seem to be having as much of an impact on the party’s popularity among voters, said Institute director David Yepsen.

Yepsen was featured in this week’s video commentary. He said polls suggest voters offended by the Blagojevich incident seem to have already left the Democratic Party.

Yepsen also touched on Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mark Kirk’s press conference in which he apologized for exaggerating on his past accomplishments.

Here’s this week’s commentary:

Tags: alexi giannoulias, blago, blagojevich, david yepsen, election 2010, illinois, mark kirk, obama, paul simon, paul simon institute, rod blagojevich, valerie jarrett