Daley won't call for Cohen to step down

The Chicago Tribune reports:

Mayor Richard Daley today declined to join the growing chorus of Democratic leadership calling on embattled lieutenant governor nominee Scott Lee Cohen to withdraw, saying voters elected him.

"People vote in elections. Everybody knew he was a pawnbroker," Daley said. "You knew. The media knew. Everybody knew that, right?"

Several top Democrats have called on Cohen to step down after revelations that he has been accused of abusing women, failing to pay child support and spending lavishly on extramarital affairs. In Sunday's editions, the Tribune looks at Cohen's tax troubles and other issues.

"So anybody who's allegedly -- who's arrested and the case is thrown out, should not run for public office. Is that right? You want that done? I'm just saying, it's a very complicated issue. It's much more complicated than you think it is. Just because I don't like a person, he or she should not," Daley said. "If I did that, you would write editorials that the mayor is a boss, he's a dictator. That he's telling people who got elected in the primary that they should not be going to the general election."

No word yet on whether Scott Cohen has done "favors" for Mayor Daley.