This morning, Alexi Giannoulias announced that he will begin raising money for a 2010 U.S. Senate bid. From his press release:

"More than ever, we need a Senator who can deliver on the change that President Obama has promised our nation," said Giannoulias, noting that he has received a tremendous response from Illinois residents encouraging him to pursue the Senate seat. 

Giannoulias, the state's chief investment officer, says restoring the public's trust and confidence in government, reviving the economy and getting Illinoisans back to work would serve as his top priorities. 

"Working families in Illinois and throughout the nation are facing serious financial challenges during this economic downturn," Giannoulias said. "They are hungry for new leadership and solutions.”

Yesterday on Fox Chicago Sunday, Sen. Dick Durbin -- who has been grooming Giannoulias as of late -- said that Sen. Roland Burris is flat-out "unelectable" in 2010.  Durbin also responded to the argument put forth by Rep. Jan Schakowsky, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, and labor lawyer Tom Geoghegan that Burris is a "temporary senator" under the 17th Amendment and therefore the Illinois government can hold a special election to replace him at any time.  Durbin said he "didn't know if that was constitutional" but was confident such action "would be challenged in the courts."  His subsequent comments suggested doubts about the resulting timeline: "Do the math," he said. "We're kind of running out of time for a special election." Watch it:

And the New York Times ran an article on the potential field of Senate candidates in Illinois.  Their accompanying graphic included House Republican Leader Tom Cross as a potential GOP contender (click image below for full version): 

Durbin appeared yesterday on WGN Radio as well, during which he appeared to acknowledge to the Tribune's Rick Pearson that the racialization of Burris' appointment -- by Rep. Bobby Rush and others -- had factored into the Senate Democrats' ultimate decision to seat him:

PEARSON: How much was there the racial factor too -- and that this thing kind of got framed as an issue of a Senate Democratic majority being insensitive to seating an African-American?

DURBIN: Of course that was in the news. And, you know, my colleague from Illinois, Congressman Bobby Rush, came in and made some strong statements along those lines. They were painful and hurtful and it became part of this calculation.

Listen to their whole conversation here.

In this vein, another group of local African-American leaders demanded that everyone "leave Sen. Burris alone." Chicago Ald. Ed Smith (28th Ward) even felt the need to declare that "Dick Durbin is not the lord and master of politics in Illinois":

Hold on to your hats, people.  Special election or no special election -- this is going to be a raucuous, messy race.    

Finally, there's this awkward (and anonymously sourced) story of a commercial flight from D.C. to Chicago last Thursday that happened to be carrying both of Illinois U.S. senators:

[They] turned out to be seated right next to each other -- Burris by the window, Durbin in the middle seat, with a large gentleman on the aisle. Durbin and Burris didn't speak the entire flight, according to our source, who was two rows in front of them. Burris reportedly stared out the window the whole way, while Durbin appeared to be sleeping.