Lisa Madigan (D)
Jesse Jackson Jr. (D)
DENVER (Legal Newsline)-Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan will speak here Monday at the kick off of the Democratic National Convention.
The popular attorney general, who was seatmates with Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama when he was in the Illinois state Senate, is expected to speak briefly to convention goers, her spokeswoman Robyn Ziegler told Legal Newsline on Sunday.
The theme of Monday night's convention is "One Nation."
Madigan, the first woman to be Illinois attorney general, is the daughter of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. She been mentioned as a possible candidate to replace Obama in the U.S. Senate if he wins the presidency.
Madigan is also widely considered to be a possible gubernatorial candidate in 2010.
In May, she was considered by The New York Times to be among the 17 most likely women to become the first female president of the United States if then-Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton didn't win her party's nomination and the general election.
Also speaking Thursday are other Illinois Democratic heavyweights, including U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., the son of the civil rights activist, Illinois state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias and Tom Balanoff, president of the Illinois Service Employees International Union.
Notably absent from Monday night's lineup, however, is embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, the former Chicago-area congressman and target of a bevy of federal investigations.
From Legal Newsline: Reach reporter Chris Rizo at chrisrizo@legalnewsline.com.