AND THEN THERE WERE TWO

From the Daily Herald:

Former DuPage County Recorder Rick Carney won’t run for Congress next year and instead is backing state Sen. Peter Roskam to succeed retiring U.S. Rep. Henry Hyde.

“Peter Roskam was born to be a congressman, and he wants it real bad,” Carney said Wednesday. “He has far more fire in his belly than I do.”

The pullback leaves the March Republican primary, at least for now, as a one-on-one tilt between Roskam, a Wheaton personal-injury attorney, and state Sen. Carole Pankau of Itasca. Pankau, who got into the race last month, previously had said she hoped several male candidates would run and split the vote. ***

Carney said he met with Roskam on Tuesday to inform him he wasn’t running. “He was pretty happy, actually,” Carney said.

“I stood a real good chance of losing,” added Carney, displaying a trademark candor. “I was really starting to believe I was not going to win.”