It's the peak of election season and a former president is in town. Must be time for the stump, right?
Wrong.
Former President George W. Bush will be in Chicago Thursday for a conference at the Commercial Finance Association.
The state GOP party is wishing he'd just stay away.
Since leaving office in 2008, Bush has been downright reclusive avoiding politics and working on his memoirs from his Texas home. Republicans have not embraced the unpopular former president on the campaign trail, partly because he's the torch bearer to failed policies and partly because the party is moving toward more hard line conservatism.
The avoidance trend likely continues in Illinois. As far as we can tell, he's not scheduled to fund raise or campaign for Illinois GOP candidates, including Mark Kirk and Bill Brady.
He could sit down with one famous Chicagoan, however. While he's in town, there's word he'll appear on Oprah
