Illinois Politics

Lisa Madigan has announced today that she will not seek election as United States Senator or Governor. Instead, she will seek re-election to her current post as Illinois Attorney General. It had been reported by several news organizations that the Democrats and the Obama administration were courting her to run for either the Illinois U.S. Senate seat currently held by Roland Burris or for Governor. By seeking to stay in the same office, she will likely face Joe Birkett, the DuPage county State's Attorney. She narrowly defeated Birkett to become AG in 2002 and faced only token opposition in 2006 when she was re-elected AG. As of this time, Birkett is the only announced Republican in the AG race.

This creates a political vacuum in the Democratic primaries for Governor and the U.S. Senate seat. State treasurer Alexi Giannoulias has already announced he is running for the Senate seat. Incumbent Governor Pat Quinn is expected to seek re-election, but has not officially announced anything. Dan Hynes, current state comptroller, is expected to be a major player for either seat. Although he has not announced anything, he was expected to try a run for AG if Madigan moved up, but now he can seriously consider the Senate seat or the Governorship. In recent weeks, Hynes has been critical of how Quinn has handled the budget brouhaha. It has also been speculated that Congressman Danny Davis would make a play for the Senate seat, but it appears more and more that he is lining himself up to run for Cook County Board President. (Btw, that crowded field already includes Alderman Toni Preckwinkle and Cook Cty. Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown.)

In other news, Republican Congressman Mark Kirk is supposedly telling folks in Washington that he will attempt the jump from House to Senate. Illinois GOP chariman Andy McKenna has also allegedly begun to talk with Republican honchos about running for the Senate seat.

Gearing up for a fight in Illinois!