SPRINGFIELD — The Illinois race for an open Senate seat might be the biggest political battle of 2010, at least when it comes to bragging rights.

This is the seat held by Barack Obama before he moved to the White House. It would be a major victory for Republicans to take the president’s old seat out of the Democratic column in a state that, on paper, is strongly Democratic.

To pull off that coup, Republican leaders are backing Mark Kirk, a commander in the Naval Reserve and five-term congressman with moderate views on issues like gun control and abortion.

Kirk outrages some conservative activists, who consider him a traitor to fundamental GOP principles, but that hasn’t translated into support for any of his rivals in the primary. One group canceled a debate because it couldn’t find evidence that any of Kirk’s opponents reached even 5 percent in opinion polls.

There’s more competition in the Democratic primary race, and more vulnerabilities.

State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias is the apparent front-runner based on name recognition and fundraising.

He also oversaw an investment program that lost $150 million that Illinoisans set aside to pay for college. It doesn’t help that his only other job was with his family’s troubled bank.

David Hoffman, a former prosecutor and Chicago inspector general, might be Giannoulias’ most aggressive challenger, but he lacks money to reach most voters.

Cheryle Jackson, head of the Chicago Urban League, has a natural political base as the only black candidate in the field, but she also was a high-ranking aide to disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
Attorney Jacob Meister has presented himself as an outsider, someone more in touch with business owners than politicians. He, too, lacks money for a major campaign.

The president’s party usually struggles in midterm elections, and a poor economy could make matters worse for Democrats.

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