GOP Targeting Burris' Senate Seat

From the Greg Hinz Blog at Crain's Chicago Business

The man in charge of electing more Republicans to the United States Senate says the party "absolutely" will make winning the seat now held by Sen. Roland Burris a top tier priority next year -- if it can get the right candidate to run.

In an interview during a quick stop over in Chicago Monday evening, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, suggested he is willing to open up the committee's wallet and send money to an increasingly blue state that national Republicans effectively abandoned more than a decade ago.

Mr. Burris is vulnerable because, like new senators in New York, Delaware and Colorado, he was appointed rather than elected by the voters, Mr. Cornyn said, and because corruption scandals, which have felled former Gov. Rod Blagojevich and others, continue in the Illinois.

"There's a real opportunity for people who want a break from the past and, here, the corruption," Mr. Cornyn said. "If we get the right candidate, I think we have a real opportunity."

Mr. Cornyn left no doubt that "the right candidate" would include either of two Illinois congressmen who now are pondering the race: Mark Kirk of Highland Park and Peter Roskam of Bloomingdale. Of the two, insiders consider Mr. Kirk, a moderate who repeatedly has won in a mostly Democratic district, the more likely to to run.

If Springfield Democrats had relented and allowed Mr. Kirk to compete in a special election for President Barack Obama's old Senate seat, "I'm pretty sure what the outcome would have been," Mr. Cornyn said.

Asked directly if a decision by either Mr. Kirk or Mr. Roskam would guarantee Illinois tier-one national support, Mr. Cornyn replied, "Absolutely." If that happens -- and November, 2010 is a long time away -- an Illinois Senate race could draw tens of millions of dollars of spending.

Look for both Mr. Kirk and Mr. Roskam to make up their minds by Memorial Day, and perhaps earlier.

*** Meanwhile, another member of Illinois' congressional delegation is drawing attention for having a different kind of political hots.

An eye-catching shot of 27-year-old Downstate congressman Aaron Schock of Peoria has hit the Web, catching him sprawled by the pool with a female friend close behind him. The pic is the latest sign that Mr. Schock has supplanted ex-congressman and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel in the hottest-local-congressmen derby...for those who care about such things.

"No comment" from Mr. Schock's office.