More Musical Chairs In Ill.? AG Madigan Urged For Senate

We've known for quite some time now that Lisa Madigan, the two-term state attorney general in Illinois, covets the governor's chair. There was little question that she was planning on challenging Gov. Rod Blagojevich in next year's Democratic primary.

The governor, however, spoiled the plans by getting himself enmeshed in a scandal involving his efforts to sell the Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama to the highest bidder. Blago was subsequently arrested, impeached and removed from office. Before he was finally run out of town, he appointed Roland Burris to the Senate seat.

Blagojevich's departure elevated Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn to the governorship. And now, reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's McDermott & Lambrecht, Madigan is "under pressure from top Democrats to abandon" her gov. campaign and instead run for the Senate -- "a switch she's seriously considering":

Madigan's political director, Mary Morrissey, said Tuesday that Madigan will probably decide "within four to six weeks" whether to run for governor, Senate, or a third term as attorney general.

"They're all still real possibilities," said Morrissey, who confirmed that Madigan is being nudged toward Washington. ...

Others who are closely attuned to the jockeying for the Illinois seat say bluntly that top Democrats want Madigan to run for the Senate seat, in part because they want to settle quickly on a strong party candidate to get the focus off the embattled incumbent, Democratic Sen. Roland Burris. ...

Such a decision would avoid a potentially explosive in-party battle with Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn -- while possibly setting one up with state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, who is so far the most prominent Democrat to publicly eye the Senate spot. ...

A Madigan Senate bid could have other effects as well, possibly steering Democratic state Comptroller Dan Hynes off his own rumored Senate campaign plans, and even affecting the strategy of U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk, a Chicago-area Republican who has been considering a bid for either governor or Senate.

"I'm assuming other candidates don't want to run against her. If it's true (that she's leaning toward a Senate run) ... it definitely helps Quinn and hurts Giannoulias," said Chris Mooney, a political science professor at the University of Illinois at Springfield. "On the Republican side, you've still got Mark Kirk on the fence, and maybe this pushes him to run for governor."

It would also further take the focus off the incumbent, Burris, a Democrat appointed by tainted ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Burris is under investigation for questions about how he got the seat. Burris hasn't ruled out running for a full term when the seat comes open next year, but Quinn, Sen. Dick Durbin and other top Illinois Democrats have openly broken with him and are treating the seat as vacant.

Madigan is "very definitely considering it," said a Democratic campaign aide in Washington, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The source noted that Madigan polls well, and there are concerns that the current top Democratic candidate for the seat, Giannoulias, could be tagged with financial connections his family has had to Chicago political corruption figure Antoin "Tony" Rezko.

The musical-chairs quality of Illinois' top electoral matchups for next year is part of the legacy of Blagojevich, a Democrat who was controversial within his own party even before his arrest in December on federal corruption charges and his subsequent impeachment by a Democrat-led General Assembly.

Before Blagojevich's arrest, a Madigan challenge against him in the 2010 Democratic primary for governor was widely considered a foregone conclusion, and she had much of the party lining up behind her.

Quinn, also a Democrat, took over after Blagojevich's removal in January. While Madigan has kept open the option of an in-party challenge against him, it's a more politically complicated argument to make now since Quinn isn't facing the kind of revolt that Blagojevich did.

Quinn's apparent trepidation about a possible Madigan primary challenge seemed to manifest itself earlier this year when, discussing possible campaign finance reform ideas, he suggested that all candidates next year should have to empty their campaign coffers of whatever they'd previously raised and start over. At that point, Madigan was sitting on about $3 million in campaign money, while Quinn's records showed he had less than $100,000.