Analyst: Boland wants shot at Treasurer, has potiential to win

Thanks to a sharp-eyed reader who pointed me to a piece first published back in May by Russ Stewart, a Park Ridge attorney, writer, and political analyst. Stewart writes:

Hope springs eternal, as a number of ambitious politicians aspire to run for Illinois treasurer in 2006.

"I'm running if she doesn't," said state Representative Mike Boland (D-71), an 18-year legislator from the Quad Cities area, referring to the expectancy that Judy Baar Topinka, the three-term incumbent Republican state treasurer, will run for governor in 2006.

Presuming that Topinka opts for a run against Democratic Governor Rod Blagojeivch, which is likely, her post looms as the only down-ballot statewide constitutional office that will be hotly contested in 2006. The three incumbent Democrats, Secretary of State Jesse White, Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Comptroller Dan Hynes, are locks for re-nomination and re-election.

Stewart believes that if two or more Chicago candidates split the vote in the Democratic primary, then Boland will have a good shot of winning, much in the way Glenn Poshard was able to rack up 71% of the downstate vote in 1998.

Steward provides an excellent historical overview as well. It all sounds reasonable to me. What do you think?