“Off topic? I can’t imagine what that would be,” cracked Gov. Pat Quinn last week during a press conference. Just hours before, his lieutenant governor had announced that she would not be Quinn’s 2014 running mate.

Quinn usually does a pretty good job during his press conferences of convincing reporters to wait to ask off-topic questions until all questions about the subject at hand have been asked. Last week was no exception.

Quinn was holding a presser with Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to discuss her conditional approval to allow Illinois to move forward with an online health insurance exchange – a major step toward implementing the president’s national health care plan.