Former senator talks with Stevenson High students about political process

Speaking to students at the high school that bears his father's name today, former U.S. Sen. Adlai E. Stevenson III was quick to point out what he feels is wrong with politics: Lobbyists.

Stevenson blamed himself and other Democratic reformers for the rise of special-interest groups. Their efforts in the 1970s to open Congress' doors to the people and shed light on the legislative process allowed lobbyists to move in, he said.

"They proliferated as soon as they could get access," Stevenson, 77, explained. "And of course they started influencing that process."

They also helped drive the price of running for office sky-high, Stevenson said. When his father successfully ran for governor in 1948, the campaign cost the elder Stevenson $135,000, he recalled -- a pittance by today's multimillion-dollar campaign standards.

Stevenson, who left politics in the 1980s after two unsuccessful bids for governor, doubts he could garner enough financial support for a campaign today.

"Who would invest in me?" said Stevenson, who now leads an investment banking firm and lives in northwest Illinois.

Stevenson met with a small American government class and then addressed a larger crowd in a theater at the Lincolnshire school. Topics included campaigning, his father's two bids for the presidency and the rise of partisanship in state and national politics.