In Illinois if we’re not talking about the weather, we’re probably talking politics – talking or debating or just plain yelling - about politics. Of late it feels even harder to shy away from the political scene - what with a junior senator running for president, a Mayor campaigning for international favor in Beijing, and the usual infighting in Springfield. And let’s not forget the approaching anniversary of the fiery 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Now, there are perhaps few people as familiar with Illinois politics past and present as former Senator Adlai Stevenson III. He spent eleven years in the U-S Senate on behalf of our state. Before that he was an Illinois State Rep and Illinois State Treasurer. And there’s his lineage – his great grandfather was a Vice President of the United States. And his father Adlai Stevenson the II served one term as our state governor, and made two bids for the White House as the Democratic nominee.

Now in honor of his late father, he is inaugurating the Adlai Stevenson Center on Democracy, located in Libertyville, Illinois, at the family’s former home. Senator Adlai Stevenson III joins us by phone from Libertyville.

The Adlai Stevenson Center on Democracy opens this coming Sunday, August 10th, with a Grand Jollification. A panel, including former Senator Adlai Stevenson, will discuss The American National Nominating Process – Then and Now.