Interesting day today was

Those who want to run next year are making their moves today. Kirk Dillard, Mark Kirk, even Lisa Madigan. The interesting part about Lisa Madigan is that she's staying put.

She was being courted heavily for US Senate and it was expected she was to run for Governor. In fact between Governor or for the Senate seat held by Roland Burris currently, odds her she'd have opted for Governor. Instead today, we learn she's running for Attorney General (AG) the post she currently holds now!

Interesting!

I can only wonder if the iron isn't hot enough. Perhaps now isn't the best time to make a move and move up. For the Senate well I can understand if she had no interest in uprooting her family and go thru the motions of Washington, DC and gain more seniority or what not in addition to fundraising. But passing up the Governorship where perhaps Lisa Madigan can truly impart her impact on the state.

Perhaps she's not in the mood to touch the important issues of this state. Gridlock for what reason is something that is beyond me. Perhaps it's the problem of family ties, her father is the Speaker of the IL House. Perhaps the budget deficits left by the mismanagement of Ousted governor, the same one she herself sought to at least temporarily remove from office.

It could be the Madigan curse, well not a curse. Perhaps she has the same reticence of her father who was unwilling to challenge Ousted governor himself back in 2006. The main reason is because it took over two decades to elect a Democratic governor. That why as he explained it in a column that he continued to support Ousted governor even when he was found to be corrupt before he got arrested by federal authorities.

Anyway 2010, may well be interesting. People are already predicting that DuPage State's Attorney Joe Birkett is likely to lose if he had to face Lisa Madigan for AG. As for the Governor's race well the Republican field is continuing to form. Dillard just announced today for Governor and Kirk well he's going for the US Senate. As for the Dems, Pat Quinn is looking like the front runner already and the Dem field seems like well they're slower to make up their minds about running against him.

This in spite of the continuing fight over the budget and Quinn is probably not proving himself in this fight. Quinn already starts off weak it seems, but I learned almost 4 years ago to not be very confident that the one who shouldn't get in won't. Quinn could win this race, but it might be he has to hopefully not repeat the mistakes of his first year in office.

Then again this could be a ripe pick up for Republicans. Not just for Governor, but for Burris' senate seat. I can see it happening for both and if resources were available they won't have to pick and choose either.

BTW, here's some food for thought from Eric Zorn: Madigan: `A.G.' doesn't stand for `Aspiring Governor'