Illinois State Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka (R) "has told leading Republicans that she intends to run for governor, dramatically recasting the GOP's prospects for capturing an office it had held for a quarter of a century," the Chicago Tribune reports.
"Topinka's move ends weeks of political indecision and personal introspection as she weighed whether to seek a fourth term as treasurer, a post she would be the odds-on favorite to win, or risk a more brutal fight for the state's top job."
As a social moderate, a Topinka bid "also could starkly highlight the ideological schisms that have plagued the state GOP after the scandal-scarred tenure of the state's last Republican governor, George Ryan, and the fractious choice that led to conservative Alan Keyes' trouncing in the 2004 U.S. Senate contest."