The Curious Case Of Lisa Madigan
What's Obama's game?
By STEVE RHODES
Updated 9:00 AM CST, Thu, Jun 18, 2009
Lisa Madigan clearly wants to run for governor.
Alexei Giannoulias seemingly wanted to run for governor, but is running for the U.S. Senate instead.
Giannoulias is an old pal of the President Obama's; he wouldn't be the state treasurer in a position to advance without him.
Giannoulias is also thought to have the support of Dick Durbin.
So why is the White House pushing Lisa Madigan to run for the Senate?
Would they like Giannoulias to run for governor instead?
And will Obama catch flak for not supporting an African American candiate - and by that I don't mean "incumbent" Roland Burris but someone else - to keep the august chamber from returning to its all-white composition?
These are the questions in today's episode of As The Senate Seat Turns.
If the political calculations have you reeling, you're not alone.
Madigan is reportedly demanding an endorsement from Obama and a clear field in return for acceding to the White House's wishes.
That would mean Obama telling his pal Alexei to take a hike - maybe right into the governor's race.
And what, then, of Chris Kennedy, the Merchandise Mart mogul who has all but announced his intention to run for the Senate?
"The musical-chairs quality of Illinois' top electoral matchups for next year is part of the legacy of [Rod] 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," the St. Louis Post-Dispatch notes.
"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."
She still has the party behind her. Apparently she won't budge, though, until they get in front of her.
Steve Rhodes is the proprietor of The Beachwood Reporter, a Chicago-centric news and culture review.
Copyright NBC Local Media
First Published: Jun 18, 2009 7:53 AM CST
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