Sweet Column: Bush in Chicago Monday to bolster support for Iraq war at National Restaurant Association show. Karl Rove hits suburbs to fundraise, rally Illinois Republicans. Roskam tries to stick Machine Democrat label on Duckworth.

Lots of politics…

UPDATE 9:02 A.M. Chicago time

White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, at a morning briefing said President Bush will deliver remarks on the “Global War on Terror” Monday to the National Restaurant Association hospitality show at McCormick Place.

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The White House is expected to announce today that President Bush, with the lowest approval ratings of his presidency, will travel to Chicago on Monday to deliver an address to try to bolster support for the Iraqi war.

House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, who recently had a falling-out with the White House over the firing of former CIA chief Porter Goss, is planning to attend.

Meanwhile, Karl Rove, Bush’s chief political adviser, is the keynoter at a fund-raiser tonight to benefit Lake County Republicans in north suburban Lincolnshire.

On Saturday, Rove breakfasts in Wheaton in an event designed to rally troops to work the grass roots for state Sen. Peter Roskam (R-Wheaton), who is pitted against Democrat Tammy Duckworth in the race for the 6th District west suburban House seat being vacated by Rep. Henry Hyde.

Roskam slams Duckworth

Roskam raised the volume Thursday on Duckworth, the wounded Iraq war vet, calling a press conference to try to connect her to the Hired Truck and Blagojevich hiring scandals.

“Tammy Duckworth has been very quick to level charges about corruption in Washington, but her silence about city Democrats that are fueling her candidacy for Congress is deafening. The city that brought you the Hired Truck scandal is now trying to bring Tammy Duckworth to the suburbs,” Roskam said in a statement.

David Axelrod, media consultant for Duckworth and Rep. Rahm Emanuel, one of her main political patrons, said that while Roskam “was clawing his way up the political ladder, she was serving her country. She entered politics on Dec. 15, and the notion she is somehow t.ainted is ridiculous.”

Rove is facing possible charges in a leak probe being directed by Chicago’s U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.

Said Axelrod, “I think that Karl is the master of these kind of tactics, so it is an appropriate time for his visit. I presume that given the fact that he is still under federal investigation, his lecture will not be on ethics.”