This a pretty wild gameplan from Attorney General Lisa Madigan, via Lynn Sweet:

Here's the gist put out by a Madigan camper. Madigan is getting more serious but has a few conditions. If Madigan is to get in the Senate race, she wants an endorsement from Obama when she announces and she wants the Democratic primary field to be cleared of rivals.

Thre are two schools of thought on this. One, Madigan is really not interested in the Senate but wants to keep her name out there. Or two, she may think she can get what she wants.

Regarding the condition of jumping in the Senate contest, where she would like the Democratic primary field cleared beforehand: Madigan does not want to get in the Senate Democratic primary and then have it emptied because it would look like she had people muscle rivals out of the race.

While it's been updated since, Sweet's headline last night stated that Madigan "wants to avoid [the] Democratic primary," which sounds about right.  How she thinks she can clear the field without having it look like she had the field cleared is beyond me at this point. 

Meanwhile, State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, who has already begun raising money for a Senate bid, released the following statement late yesterday:

"Voters in Illinois are facing the most troubling economic times in decades and they want leaders who will solve problems and fight hard every day against the political insiders who have failed us. When Barack Obama ran for this seat in 2004, he was not the choice of the insiders. He became the choice of the people because of the strength of his ideas and his ideals.

"Illinois has been ill-served by state party leaders who think they know better than voters. Now more than ever, anyone who seeks this seat must convince voters they have the ideas that will get our economy on its feet and put our people back to work, not just prove that they have the political clout to demand a clear field and win appointment."

So he's clearly not planning to bow out of the race at Madigan's request. 

Further, Greg Hinz reported that Madigan met with President Obama at the White House last week:

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has met with President Barack Obama and his senior political aides to talk about running for the U.S. Senate seat he once held.

Ms. Madigan's spokeswoman says the meeting occurred in Washington at the White House late last week, with the Senate race the subject.

And Sweet also published this quote from David Axelrod (who apparently is good friends with Gov. Quinn), gathered by her Sun-Times colleague Abdon Pallasch: 

"The president has a lot of respect and affection for Alexi, for Lisa, but ultimately the party and voters here are going to have to decide who will be the strongest possible candidate right now," Axelrod said. "Our interest is in making sure the seat remains in Democratic hands. It's not up to the president to decide who the candidate should be, But that's the standard everyone should apply: Who would be the strongest candidate?"

I understand that Madigan is looking for the easiest path to higher office here.  But if she wants to run for U.S. Senate, she should run for it.  The behind-the-scenes maneuvering and selfish demands -- if accurate -- do not reflect well on her.

UPDATE (6/19): Sweet reports that Madigan's camp is denying the allegations:

I reported on Wednesday that Madigan had two conditions she wanted if she ran for the Senate: an immediate Obama endorsement and for the Democratic primary field to be cleared. Madigan political director Mary Morrissey told me Thursday Madigan and no one in her camp set down any conditions.