Last week, it seemed that a special election might be in the cards after Attorney General Lisa Madigan agreed with the argument put forth by both Rep. Jan Schakowsky and labor lawyer Tom Geoghegan that the state could call one without regardless of whether Roland Burris chose to resign. Gov. Pat Quinn seemed convinced, going so far as to say he was giving Burris two weeks to step down.

Yesterday, things started to unravel. First, Sen. Dick Durbin suggested on Fox Chicago Sunday that it might not make sense to hold a special election, considering that the 2010 primary is only 11 months away. Then today, Quinn began back-peddling from his earlier declaration after a meeting with African-American leaders. From WBEZ’s report:

QUINN: Unless there’s a vacancy I think it’s really very difficult to have a law passed, signed by the governor. I do favor a special election to replace any senator, now or in the future. I think that’s the best way to go. But absent a vacancy where you don’t have it now, it’s very hard to get such a law passed.

Meanwhile, Quinn’s change of heart coincided with Rep. Jan Schakowsky’s (D-Chicago) confirmation to The Hill that she’s ready to run if the opportunity presents itself:

Schakowsky said she has all the pieces in place to jump into the race immediately if a special election is declared.

“If there is a special election, I’m definitely going to run in that,” Schakowsky said.

But if there’s no special election, would Schakowsky give up her House seat to run in 2010?  She told The Hill that she would make that decision in the next two months. Schakowsky currently has about $375,000 in her campaign fund and you can be sure that Alexi Giannoulias is going to be working hard to catch up in the meantime.