From the Chicago Tribune:

The floodgates in Illinois politics opened Wednesday after Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan passed on running for governor or U.S. Senate, a decision that also improves the chances of un-elected Gov. Pat Quinn and likely brings more challengers to embattled appointed U.S. Sen. Roland Burris.

Madigan, who will seek a third term as attorney general, previously acknowledged she was the “first domino” in how the state’s campaigns would fall. Viewed as a prohibitive favorite for Senate or governor next year, her weeks of indecision forced a number of potential candidates to wait for her to make a move.

One fence sitter, North Shore U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk, began calling top Republican colleagues soliciting support for a U.S. Senate bid. A Republican source in Washington said Kirk told Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, chairman of the Republican National Senatorial Committee, that he was in the race. Kirk later told the Tribune a Senate bid was “obviously more likely” with Madigan out but he was “still talking to supporters and friends.”

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Also, the Daily Herald is asking “What was Madigan Thinking?”:

Having a governor and a U.S. senator leave office created a ripe opportunity for Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan to climb the political ladder – yet she chose not to.

So, what is Madigan thinking?

To hear her tell it, she has a job she loves and a family, including two small children, she wants to be with.

“At the end of the day…” the 42-year-old Chicago Democrat told reporters Tuesday, “I have a job that I am deeply committed to, and extraordinarily satisfied by, and not everyone can say they have a job they love, and have a wonderful family they love as well. So that’s how I came to the decision.”

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