The State Journal-Register's Bernie Schoenburg talks to Scott Burnham, spokesman for State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias:

Giannoulias is getting a lot of encouragement to consider a run, said SCOTT BURNHAM, who was careful to be outside the confines of the state building where he works in Chicago when we had this conversation this week.

Giannoulias hasn’t talked to President BARACK OBAMA about this, Burnham said, but the treasurer did benefit from Obama’s endorsement when he won the party nomination for treasurer in 2006.

“As an Obama protégé who has run successfully statewide as an independent Democrat and (who) can put his own money into a campaign, the treasurer is viewed as a formidable candidate by many party leaders,” Burnham said this week. “So he’s seriously considering it. He’s received an outpouring of support and encouragement.”