Illinois Congressional Jujitsu

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Shimkus lives in the St. Louis area actually, in Collinsville, an area that seems like it would be in Costello's district. The new map has the 13th with a tendril reaching down to Collinsville, in a new seat that includes Champaign-Urbana and the Dem parts of Springfield and Bloomington. So he's now in a seat that he's not likely to get elected in and bares little resemblance to the old district. The closest seat to his old one is the 15th, which also resembles Tim Johnson's current seat. It's worth noting though that Johnson lives in Urbana, so he is also outside the current 17th and in the same district as Shimkus. But it's the most logical seat for Johnson to run in and he'll obviously "move" there, Shimkus has to choose between the Dem-leaning 13th, moving to the 17th for a primary battle, or maybe even moving to the 12th and taking on Costello (obviously not happening, but if Costello retired it might be seen as a viable option.)

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I'll give Kinzinger credit for being anti-Gaddafi unlike most Republicans, but I'd rather have both him and Biggert gone. And that's what's likely to happen. A very dull backbencher like Biggert isn't a solid shot for a seat that's about D+8.