Top Democrats in Washington “are pressuring Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan to make a run at Barack Obama’s old Senate seat,” POLITICO reports.
They know she’s popular back home, is untarnished by the state’s political scandals and is a proven fundraiser.
But Madigan isn’t yet sold on the idea of challenging Sen. Roland Burris, even though she would almost certainly win coveted endorsements from the White House and get tons of money and support from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. The problem for Washington Democrats is that Madigan still has her eye on the governor’s mansion in Illinois, and in private conversations, Madigan has told Democrats that she is gauging the impact a Washington move would have on her family life and whether she’d rather be a chief executive or a legislator.
Madigan has been “personally lobbied” by President Obama to run.
If she decides to “bow out of the Senate race, it could embolden GOP challengers to run for the Senate, and it would leave Democrats without a marquee candidate.”
