Report: Illinois AG 'seriously' considering run for governor

CHICAGO (Legal Newsline) -- Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is reportedly considering a run for governor in 2014.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin told Chicago Sun-Times columnist Lynn Sweet that Madigan is "seriously thinking" about it.

"She had made special outreach to labor and they know it, they've noticed in terms of her showing up at events and the like," Durbin told Sweet Tuesday, according to her column. "I don't think she has made a final decision. I know she is in the process of making a decision."

Illinois' senior senator -- who has been in office since 1997 -- and Madigan reportedly talked while at President Barack Obama's inauguration over the weekend.

Sweet said she talked to Madigan personally about a bid on Saturday night, during inauguration festivities. Her "takeaway" from the conversation is that the attorney general wants to run whether or not Bill Daley decides to challenge Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn, who has said he plans to run for re-election.

Daley, a Democrat, served as White House Chief of Staff to Obama from January 2011 to January 2012. He also served as U.S. Secretary of Commerce from 1997 to 2000 under former President Bill Clinton.

Daley told a Chicago television news station Wednesday he still hasn't decided if he is going to make a run.

"I'm doing a lot of things that go into making a decision," he told NBC 5 Chicago.

"I'm talking to a lot of friends and elected officials and people that involved in community activities and getting their sense of what they think is needed and whether or not, in the end, I think I can add something to the debate."

Madigan, a Democrat, has served as Illinois' attorney general since 2003. She is the state's first female attorney general.

Daughter of longtime Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, she served as a state senator from 1998 to 2002 before becoming the state's top lawyer. In fact, she worked just down the hall from Obama.

In 2002, she narrowly defeated Joe Birkett -- now a judge on the state's Appellate Court -- with 50.4 percent of the vote.

In 2006, she was re-elected with 72.4 percent of the vote, defeating Tazewell County State's Attorney Stewart Umholtz.

In 2010, Madigan was re-elected once again, beating out Republican Stephen H. Kim with 65 percent of the vote.

A spokeswoman for Madigan told NBC 5 Chicago the attorney general is currently "weighing her options."

From Legal Newsline: Reach Jessica Karmasek by email at jessica@legalnewsline.com.