Following Lisa Madigan's surprising announcement earlier today, Chris Cilizza has more on the U.S. Senate field in Illinois:

Just hours after Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan took herself out of the running for the seat held by Sen. Roland Burris (D), Rep. Mark Kirk (R) has begun telling influential folks in Washington that he will make the race. [...]

Kirk starts the race in impressive financial shape after raising $580,000 between April 1 and June 30. He began July with $1.1 million in the bank.

(UPDATE: Greg Hinz hears the same from several GOP sources.)

Well, this should be interesting.  For old times' sake, here's a sampling of our Kirk coverage from the past 16 months:

- Kirk Peddles Debunked China Drilling Claim, Mixes Up "Osama" And "Obama"
- Kirk Twists Facts About Uninsured Americans
- When All Else Fails, Kirk Blames The Unions
- Mark Kirk's Incredible Shrinking Property Tax Bill
- Kirk's Bogus "Two Weeks" Argument
- Kirk's False Proposition: Either Drill At Home Or Buy From Iran
- Kirk's Latest False Proposition: Either Drill Here Or Buy From Venezuela
- Flashback: Kirk Made Only $7K The First Time He Ran For Congress
- GOP Reps. Bail Out Wall Street, Stiff Detroit
- Kirk's Idea Of Diplomacy: "It's Time To Take Out The Trash" In Gaza
- Kirk Cherry-Picks And Twists Some Stimulus Stats
- Mark Kirk: Defender Of Inefficient Tax Breaks For The Wealthy
- GOP Reps. Sign On To Biggert's Anti-Immigrant Housing Bill
- The Full Kirk "Shooting" Statement
- Kirk's Health Care Blinders
- Kirk Tells Chinese Not To Believe U.S. Budget Numbers
- Kirk's Latest Priority: Saving Illinois From "Zombie-Like Kids"
- More Health Care Fearmongering From Kirk