A week ahead of the Illinois primary, Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. canceled his appearance in Tuesday's WTTW debate with 2nd Congressional District challenger Debbie Halvorson.
Jackson's campaign told the station he pulled out to attend the funeral of late Congressman Donald Payne, a former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus who Jackson calls one of his political mentors.
Halvorson instead will get the segment to herself.
A missed debate may not be a worry for Jackson, though. According to a new survey conducted by Lake Research Partners, Jackson has a solid lead of 36 percentage points.
If you think Halvorson has nothing to say about that, though, you probably haven't followed this race.
Her campaign says she plans to make a public appeal Tuesday to Robert Blagojevich, the brother of prison-bound former governor Rod Blagojevich, during a morning news conference.
