Last night, Rep. Jan Schakowsky made it clear that, if and when there is a special election to fill Barack Obama's vacant U.S. Senate seat, she'll be running.  From The Seminal:

At the end of her speech, Schakowsky threw her hat in the ring, announcing that she was “passing around a clipboard” for people to sign up to be on an organizing committee for her “Senate race, and a basket for donations will follow right behind.” The audience cheered.

As Josh recently remarked, it's hard to imagine a more qualified progressive candidate entering the race.

On the flip side, Rep. Mark Kirk isn't the only Illinois Republican who sees a political opportunity in Gov. Rod Blagojevich's arrest. Politico has this little nugget about sixth district Rep. Peter Roskam:

Kirk isn’t the only credible Illinois Republican mulling a Senate bid. A source close to Rep. Peter J. Roskam said the second-term congressman is also “very interested” in running for the Senate seat and wouldn’t automatically defer to Kirk. Roskam has a more conservative voting record than Kirk and has won election to a suburban Chicago seat during two rough election cycles for the GOP.

As we did yesterday with Kirk, here are some Roskam lowlights from the past year:

-Roskam’s Weak Defense Of Vote Against G.I. Bill
-Roskam And Shimkus' VISION Act Fudges The Numbers
-Roskam Fearmongers About “Dangerous” Illegal Immigrants
-Roskam Continues To Peddle Offshore Drilling Lie
-Roskam: Why Can Women Have Abortions If Rapists Can’t Be Executed?
-Roskam Flashback: McCain’s Choice Of Palin “Was Brilliant”
-Roskam Joins Kirk In UAW Bashfest