State of the State, Budget Address by the Numbers

By Margaret Lyons in News on Feb 20, 2008 7:44PM

Governor Blagojevich delivered his State of the State and budget address today. He wants to pass a capital bill based on privatizing the Illinois lottery, and says he has "three clear and achievable goals" for our state's economy: 1. "Invest in our infrastructure" 2. "Relief for families" and 3."Tax cuts for businesses."

As we comb through the speech (more later today or tomorrow), here's a breakdown of how many times Blago uttered these words:

• Economics, economy, economists: 40
  
• Families, family: 28
  
• Tax, taxes: 24
  
• Strengthen, strengthening: 19, (16 of which were strengthening the economy)
  
• Business, businesses: 16
  
• Cut, cuts, cutting: 16
  
• Capital bill: 12
  
• Money: 12
  
• Good: 10
  
• Infrastructure: 9
  
• Health care: 8
  
• Idea: 7
  
• School, schools: 5
  
• Chicago: 4, all in reference to the Olympics
  
• Times are tough, tough times: 3