Months of speculation finally ended with Maggie Brooks (R) announcing that she will challenge Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) in the newly configured 25th congressional district, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports.

“Because both women are immensely popular locally, their race is presumed to be among the most competitive nationwide in the fall general election. Slaughter has handily defeated opponents since first winning election to the seat in 1986. Brooks, a former local TV news anchor who entered politics in the 1990s, has turned back every opponent in her meteoric rise through the local GOP political ranks from county legislator to county clerk, then to county executive.”

Rick Santorum’s campaign and affiliated super PAC have been outspent by Mitt Romney’s forces by a margin of 7 to 1 in the Illinois, Politico reports.

And in the “crucial, expensive Chicago media market,” the spending disparity is 21 to 1 in Romney’s favor.

First Read: “The earliest Mitt Romney could win the 1,144 delegates needed to capture
the GOP nomination, per our count is May 29, and that’s assuming he
wins every single delegate after today. If you assume that he wins a
60%-40% split of the remaining the delegates, Romney won’t get to 1,144
until June 26, when Utah holds its primary. And if Romney and Rick
Santorum continue to trade victories as they’ve been doing over the past
month — with Santorum winning his demographic strongholds and Romney
winning his — Romney would fall about 50 delegates short of the magic
number, according to our math.”

Chris Cillizza
kicks off the presidential speculation game for 2016 with a “The
Sweet 2016” bracket assuming that both parties have an open presidential
contest.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) get the #1 seed in their respective parties.

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) will unveil the latest version of the House GOP budget this morning.

The Wall Street Journal notes House Republicans think they have “a potent campaign issue” by introducing a budget that “cuts tax rates and provides for two individual brackets of 10% and 25%.”

However, The Fix points out the proposal “might win him kudos from the conservative policy class, but it elicits only groans from GOP political professionals.”

A new ABC News/Washington Post poll finds 64% of very conservative Republicans and independents now view Mitt Romney positively, up from a February low of 43%.

However, none of the Republican presidential candidates “is above water on basic popularity among all women nationally, or among men.”

Rick Klein: “Santorum is down too far in the delegate count to win only the states he’s expected to win. Santorum needs an upset. He needs it to come in a big state, and fast, for him to change the dynamics of the race sufficiently… A win in Illinois would be a different story. It may be Santorum’s last best shot to prove that he’s a contender, not merely a potential spoiler.”

A new Quinnipiac poll in Virginia shows Tim Kaine (D) leading George Allen (R) in the U.S. Senate race, 47% to 44%.

Also interesting: President Obama leads Mitt Romney by eight points in a general election match up, 50% to 42%, and tops Rick Santorum by nine points, 49% to 40%.

Missouri supporters of Mitt Romney and Ron Paul “have forged an alliance in some of Missouri’s local caucuses,” the AP reports.

“Rick Santorum easily won Missouri’s non-binding primary last month. But he was shut out from receiving delegates at some of the local caucuses that occurred over the weekend after Romney and Paul supporters combined to advance their own slate of delegates.”

Daily Beast: “In a Republican primary process that has been more convoluted than a pretentious student film, Missouri’s rules are uniquely confusing and uniquely prone to exploitation by a well-organized campaign. Paul’s operation, designed to maximize caucus-state delegates, has stepped into the void left by Santorum’s underwhelming operation.”

Illinois Republicans head to the polls today to choose their presidential nominee.

Chicago Tribune: “For a state that is home to President Barack Obama and run by Democrats, the grueling, months-long GOP battle for the nomination provides the state’s out-of-power Republicans with a real say on national politics for the first time in decades. Democratic voters, meanwhile, will decide several heated congressional contests in newly drawn districts.”

“At stake are not only Illinois’ 54 elected national convention delegates, but for Mitt Romney, the chance to gain much-needed momentum with a big-state victory. For a vastly outspent and out-organized Rick Santorum, a win in Illinois would upend Romney’s slow drive to the nomination and fuel questions about the former Massachusetts governor’s electability and ability to unify core GOP conservatives.”

Smart Politics: “Only one Illinois Republican presidential primary has been decided by less than 10 points out of 25 contests since 1912.”

Polls close at 8 pm ET.

Rick Santorum explains to Real Clear Religion why he’s losing the Catholic vote despite being Catholic himself.

Said Santorum: “I’ve heard different excuses and different explanations from different people. I think one of the reasons is that Catholics are certainly not a monolith. They don’t vote like a minority anymore; in other words, they don’t vote in a bloc. And I think that’s a good thing, actually… I think that shows that Catholics have, by and large, assimilated into the religious milieu of this country. I think that’s probably the biggest part of it. In fact, I don’t know how many Catholics actually know I am a Catholic.”

GQ reveals the Secret Service code names chosen by the top two Republican presidential candidates: Mitt Romney elected to call himself “Javelin.” And Rick Santorum chose “Petrus.”

“It’s tempting to associate a candidate’s code word with some aspect of their personality. Sometimes this is true and sometimes it is not. ‘Petrus’ is a biblical allusion — as in St. Peter, the first pope. (The Latin name is derived from the Greek word for ‘rock.’) Perhaps ‘Javelin’ is a reference to the ’60s muscle car made by American Motors Corporation, the company once run by George Romney.”

“I don’t care what the unemployment rate’s going to be. Doesn’t matter
to me. My campaign doesn’t hinge on unemployment rates and growth rates.
It’s something more foundational that’s going on.”

— Rick Santorum, quoted by National Journal.