AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh

Under enormous pressure from his fellow Democrats (Pat Quinn, Alexi Giannoulias, Dick Durbin and others), Scott Lee Cohen has withdrawn from the race for Lt. Governor after winning the Democratic nomination last Tuesday.

Cohen made the announcement during the Super bowl on Sunday, saying, "This is the hardest thing that I've ever had to do in my life." Worried about handing the Lt. Governor's office to Republicans, he acknowledged his troubled past--involving allegations that he battered his prostitute girlfriend and owes tens of thousands of dollars in back-child support to his ex-wife.

House Speaker Michael Madigan, who supported Cohen's opponent in the race, will now decide who to replace him with.