Seven Democratic Senators, including Illinois' Dick Durbin, introduced a constitutional amendment that would overturn the Citizens United decision. more ›

NBC Chicago's Edward McClelland wrote a thoughtful post about how Mark Kirk's swearing in yesterday leaves the Senate without a African-American; how Illinois has seated three of the four blacks to serve in the Senate post-Reconstruction; and why the other 49 states can't get on board and do the same. more ›

Mark Kirk was sworn in as Illinois' junior senator yesterday, calling his swearing in the end to "a sad chapter in Illinois history" and pledging a bipartisan, centrist approach while taking a shot at Democrats he said had squandered the public's goodwill. "Our state's leaders tried to sell this seat, then blocked an election to fill it," Kirk said at a reception following his swearing in. "But the courts, the law and the people spoke." more ›

Roland Burris, in a 25-minute goodbye speech on the Senate floor, today lamented that there would be no African-American senators in the chamber once his term ends at the end of the month. more ›

As Roland Burris prepares for the end of his term in the Senate, he sat down with Sun-Times Washington correspondent Lynn Sweet for an interview in which he indicates that the inauspicious start to his term is now water under the bridge, as Mark Kirk prepares to take his place. more ›

According to an AP report, Kirk won’t be seated in time for the start of the lame duck session of Congress because the paperwork officially declaring him senator won’t be delivered until November 29th. Already, a website has been created to “save us” from the lame duck session and various media outlets have penned scathing editorials. more ›

Capitalizing on voter concerns of the economy and the spark provided by the Tea Party movement, the Republican Party staged what Illinois Senator-elect Mark Kirk called "a tsunami in the heartland," taking control of the House of Representatives and gaining enough seats in the Senate to make life miserable for Majority Leader Harry Reid and the Democratic majority there. "The American people's voice was heard at the ballot box," said the incoming House Speaker, Ohio's John Boehner. more ›

Well, here we are. The polls have closed and it's all over but the waiting. We've installed a twitter chat widget in the post so you can follow along on the updates throughout the evening. You can also join in on the conversation by using the hashtag #Chilection2K10.

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The polls will close in five hours across Illinois and it's nice to not have to hear or see a campaign commercial. This must be the silence Mom referred to as her time, before we all stirred awake and she herded us along to school. more ›

With days to go before the general election, major television stations are pulling Bill Brady's campaign commercials because he hasn't paid for the airtime. And here we thought the ads last night seemed slightly less offensive because the politicians wised up on negative ads. more ›

Thanks to the magic of pop-up ads, Chicagoist discovered Wal-Mart's foray into electoral politics this morning. Walmart Community Votes "is dedicated to providing you with the resources, tools, and information to help you make that decision - in a non-partisan and objective format," by connecting users with information on where and how to vote, as well as links to who the elected officials in a given area are, and who the candidates in a given race are. The site isn't very profound as far as content goes - they've only offered printed responses to a questionnaire sent to the two major-party candidates in Illinois. What's more, it appears that only Mark Kirk filled out the questionnaire. more ›

Yesterday, we talked about the tenuous relationship that mainstream Republican candidates have with Tea Party activists. To wit: GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill Brady will be attending a Tea Party event in Will County, but isn't promoting it as such. Now Mark Kirk will be joining Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown (along with Bill Brady) on Halloween at Joe's Bar on Weed Street. more ›

We’re now heading into the home stretch in election season and both the gubernatorial and senate elections are tight races, according to polls released by the Tribune. Republicans Mark Kirk and Bill Brady both lead their respective races, but by thin margins. Kirk holds a 3 percent lead over Giannoulias (44% to 41%) while Brady has a 4 point lead over Quinn (43% to 39%). more ›

Ever since it was revealed that GOP Senate Candidate Mark Kirk planned on deploying "voter integrity" squads to key "vulnerable" (read; minority) precincts across the state, allegations of racism have dogged the move. Kirk's opponent, Alexi Giannoulias, has fired off letters to State's Attorney's across the state urging them to keep an eye on voter intimidation. The Giannoulias campaign has upped the ante further, linking voter suppression expert Hans von Spavkosky to voter suppression efforts in Illinois; von Spavkosky called the allegations "complete bullshit." more ›

Illinois Senate candidates Mark Kirk and Alexi Giannoulias squared off in the second of three scheduled debates last night on ABC7. Much like their "Meet the Press" debate last week, the focus was on personal ethics. Kirk once again answered why he embellished his military record, while Giannoulias reiterated that investigations into his family's Broadway Bank did nothing wrong in making loans to people who were later outed as reputed mobsters. more ›

Senate candidates Alexi Giannoulias and Mark Kirk kicked off their debate series on NBC's "Meet the Press" yesterday. Host David Gregory apparently spent some time boning up on Illinois politics, hammering Congressman "Maybe I misrepresented my military record a little bit" and State Treasurer "I didn't know I was loaning money to mobsters and I'm sorry for losing money on your childrens' Bright Start accounts" on the ethics issues that have dogged the both of them for months. Ethics issues that Sun-Times Washington correspondent Lynn Sweet said in the prelude to the debate gave the impression of Illinois voters having to choose between "a serial embellisher and a mob banker." more ›

President Obama went into Candidate Obama mode last night, stumping and raising money for Democratic Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias in his tight race against Mark Kirk. With many polls showing Kirk and Giannoulias in a dead heat, Obama's second fundraising appearance here in as many months for Giannoulias is a clear indicator that his Administration believes the seat, which the GOP wants largely as a symbolic victory, is winnable. Although making this Chicagoist staffer choose between Giannoulias and Kirk is like picking between strychnine and witch hazel. more ›

Yesterday Willowbrook family practitioner Steve Sauerberg announced his candidacy for the United States Senate, hoping that he will be the lucky Illinois Republican to challenge Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin for his seat in Congress. “Sen. Dick Durbin has been on the government payroll for the last 37 years.... Quite simply, he is part of the problem in Washington, D.C.” Sauerberg told Crain's Chicago Business earlier this week. With no other name-brand Republicans willing to... more ›

Sources are saying that sex-pest Jack Ryan is about to drop out of the Senate race. He apparently told state Republican officials that he's dropping out, and details should be emerging in the next few hours. When I say "shit storm" you say "Ryan." more ›