The 2013 Dodge Dart (Chrysler Corp. photo)

WASHINGTON--Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn is in New York on Friday for a Democrat Governors Association winter policy conference--which also includes opportunities to stroke DGA donors. Quinn, guesting on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," said the new Dodge Dart will be made in Illinois.

Discussing manufacturing jobs, Quinn said that "Chrysler is announcing next week" the revived Dodge Dart will be manufactured in the giant Chrysler assembly plant in Belvidere, Ill.

The Detroit Free Press reported Thursday that "Chrysler is hiring about 400 to 500 new employees to support the production of the Dodge Dart compact car" in Belvidere and that Chrysler will hold an "event at the Belvidere plant next Thursday to celebrate the decision to produce the Dart at the plant and dedicate a new body shop.

"Fiat and Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne and Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn will both attend."

Quinn also said he liked President Barack Obama's proposal, made in the State of the Union address, for students to stay in school until they graduate or reach the age of 18. In Illinois, students have to stay in school only until the age of 17. Quinn did say if he was going to push for a higher dropout age.

"I like the fact that the president said kids have to stay in school until they are 18. Jobs follow brainpower. We have to understand that investing in education, including community colleges, is the key to a nimble economy," Quinn said.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn hits Washington Thursday and Friday; one meeting is with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to discuss opening up foreign markets to more Illinois exports.

On Thursday, Quinn accepts an award from Americans for the Arts at a US Conference of Mayors winter meeting breakfast. (Mayor Rahm Emanuel is in Washington Friday to deliver a keynote to the group.)

Later Quinn visits with Clinton; Illinois exports are up 32 percent from last quarter.

Quinn is scheduled to guest on Fox News America's Newsroom with Bill Hemmer and Martha MacCallum at 10:30 AM ET. He wants to discuss, I'm told, "how Illinois is facing down the national recession with less and less federal dollars by leading the nation's largest capital program and providing targeted tax relief for low-income workers."

On Friday Quinn, who is active in the Democratic Governors Association joins DGA chief Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley; Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer and Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy and labor leaders to discuss jobs and workforce training in Hanover, Md.

WASHINGTON--Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn's media consultant, Joe Slade White and general election campaign manager Ben Nuckels wrote an interesting article in Campaigns and Elections about how Quinn won election last year, despite a brutal Democratic primary and being tied to ousted former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Quinn's political team included White who names the other top consultants: "Mark Mellman on polling, David Rosen on fundraising, Trish Hoppey and Hal Malchow on direct mail, and Dennis Gragert and Robert Dietz on research."

A key part of the media strategy: Hoard cash until the end.

Michael Madigan, the chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party and the Speaker of the Illinois House attended a fund-raiser for GOP House Speaker John Boehner in the Chicago suburb of Lemont, scoops Chicago Sun-Times political reporter Abdon M. Pallasch and Springfield Bureau Chief Dave McKinney. Read their exclusive report here.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn "disappointed" in Madigan; read Sun-Times story here.My February, 2010 column on how Madigan--unlike 49 other state Democratic chairs--declines to run a robust Democratic organization in Illinois is here.

Madigan cares most about keeping the Illinois state House. Still, under Madigan, Illinois has a Democratic governor and both state legislative chambers. Illinois Democrats in 2010 saw four U.S. House seats held by Democrats turn over to Republicans--helping create the majority that made Boehner speaker. Nationally, Democrats are poised to make some Illinois congressional battles a 2012 priority.

WASHINGTON--Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn is the new finance chair of the Democratic Governors Association, I'm told, responsible for raising millions of dollars from across the country to help bankroll upcoming governor contests.

Quinn was tapped for what is his first big national political role by DGA chairman Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley. Taking on the finance chair chores means Quinn will travel more around the country to raise Democratic cash.

O'Malley told the Sun-Times he was "very pleased" Quinn "will be the next Finance Chair of the Democratic Governors Association. Gov. Quinn knows what it takes to win close races, last year withstanding an onslaught of negative attacks to win the governorship of Illinois in a tough political environment.

"In his new role as Finance Chair, Gov. Quinn will be representing Democratic governors at events in Illinois and throughout the country, helping to ensure that the DGA has the resources it needs to elect more Democratic governors and fight back against Republican attacks."

DGA Vice-Chair North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue said Quinn's "strong record of fighting for working families has earned him the support of Democratic donors, and I have no doubt he will be successful in his new role as Finance Chair. Gov. Quinn knows the importance of successful fundraising and will be a tremendous asset for us as we expand the ranks of Democratic governors."

At one-time seen as reluctant to be involved in major fund-raising, Quinn stepped up to the plate when it came to his battle to win election on his own in 2010, after becoming governor after Rod Blagojevich was impeached in 2009. Quinn raised $23 million in what was a brutal Democratic primary and general election campaign against Illinois State Sen. Bill Brady.

There are four governor contests in 2011: Republicans are governor in Mississippi and Louisiana and Democrats hold the seats in Kentucky and West Virginia.

Quinn has been in Washington since Friday for meetings of the National Governors Association and the DGA. Quinn attended a DGA fund-raiser at Union Station here on Saturday night. Quinn on Tuesday was scheduled to speak to the AFL-CIO's Executive Council

WASHINGTON -- As GOP Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker continues in a standoff with labor, Democratic Illinois Gov. Quinn told me some GOP governors are on an "ideological crusade" to strip away union collective-bargaining rights in order to reduce the political power of organized labor.

Quinn flew in Friday for the National Governors Association winter meeting, piggybacking visits to the White House and Capitol Hill and working in some politics. He huddled with national union leaders as tens of thousands in Madison, Wis., protest Walker's bid to take away most collective-bargaining rights of public employees.

This comes as some Democratic state lawmakers from Wisconsin and Indiana have holed up in Illinois in order to deny quorums back in their state legislatures.

Unions -- especially public employee unions -- are a major source of Democratic votes, political contributions and campaign foot soldiers. The political clout of these unions could be diminished if union collective-bargaining laws are weakened.

"I think some of the animus against the unions, the public employee unions, is motivated by their political activities in the past, and I don't think that is right," Quinn told me.

"I have had strong disagreements on policy with AFSCME. They did not support our public pension reform at all, nor did the teachers unions, both IEA and IFT, but we were able to get that done and signed into law and we worked with them on a variety of other issues. But clearly some of the other Republican governors are on an ideological crusade."

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Illinois Democrats lost the Senate seat and three, possibly four of the big House races but kept Gov. Quinn and both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly. The Democratic win for Quinn is due in part to the get-out-the-vote effort Illinois Democratic Coordinated Campaign led by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and state Senate president John Cullerton (D-Chicago.) Dems tell me it was the biggest GOTV effort since 1962. Illinois Republicans fielded their largest ground game ever.

Some statistics from the Illinois Democratic Coordinated Campaign:

*Across Illinois, over 23,200 people knocked on doors and made phone calls over the final four days, many of them filling multiple volunteer shifts.There were 8,000 people on the street on election day alone

*More than 50 percent of these voter contact efforts were concentrated in Cook County. These efforts resulted in higher than expected voter turnout within Chicago (over 50%). African American turnout was up from 2006 in many south side neighborhoods and southern Cook County townships.

In the last four days, President Obama and Vice President Biden recorded robocalls called Illinois voters.

*80,000 Biden
*240,000 Obama Vote tomorrow
*240,000 Obama Vote today