Another Fine Democratic Nominee in Illinois

They really know how to pick a winner out in Illinois.

Scott Lee Cohen -- a pawnbroker who shocked state Democratic leaders Tuesday night by winning the party's nomination for lieutenant governor -- was arrested about four-and-a-half years ago and accused of holding a knife to a former live-in girlfriend's neck, newly obtained court records show.

The misdemeanor charge against Cohen was dropped weeks later when the woman -- who had just been found guilty of prostitution -- failed to show up to testify, according to those records.

This isn't the only piece of information Republicans might try to use against the Democratic gubernatorial ticket, the other half of which was being sorted out as Gov. Quinn and Dan Hynes ran neck-and-neck with ballots still to be counted.

Cohen's Oct. 14, 2005, arrest came five months after his wife filed for divorce and convinced a judge to give her a temporary order of protection, records show. A status hearing in the divorce case took place Wednesday, hours after Cohen's election-night triumph.

Cohen -- who records show also had federal tax troubles that he says he has settled -- denied in a written statement that he ever hurt the ex-girlfriend or his family. Cohen disclosed his domestic violence arrest when he announced his candidacy, but the details about the knife and prostitution case didn't surface in the campaign, as Cohen was considered a longshot.

"It was a difficult time in my life. I was going through a divorce, and I fell in with the wrong crowd," Cohen said. "I was in a tumultuous relationship with the woman I was dating. We had a fight, but I never touched her."

Still, Cohen's problems, "sound at least as bad as Jack Ryan's," a Democratic strategist said. After winning the 2004 GOP primary for U.S. Senate, Ryan stepped down from the ticket after sexually charged revelations from a divorce case.

A divorce case that was sealed, by the way, but mysteriously became public. Still, how they can compare this to Jack Ryan is beyond the pale. Sure, Ryan might have been a little kinky, but he wasn't putting a knife to anyone's throat or having tax problems. Though considering the abysmal shape Democrats are in these days, abuse of women and tax problems may be a resume enhancer.

Reached for comment, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel expressed incredulity at the idiocy of Illionois Democrats.

Are they fu--king retarded?

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