Below are our daily picks from the Illinois blogosphere and media at large:

Let The People Decide
Because he thinks a Democrat wouldn't lose a state-wide senate contest unless the nominee is involved in a scandal or is politically tactless, FiveThirtyEight's Nate Silver makes the counter-intuitive case that former Senate President Emil Jones or a similar placeholder is the best replacement for Barack Obama's open senate seat. "The best way to prevent these things," he writes, "would be to appoint a placeholder like Jones and then let the younger candidates battle it out on a level playing field in the primaries." (UPDATE: Archpundit and CF respond)

Power Grab At DuPage
The board of directors at the College of DuPage (influenced by David Horowitz's controversial "Academic Bill of Rights") recently proposed major overhauls to the school's curriculum, the role of the student newspaper, and how outside speakers should be selected. Inside Higher Ed details the brewing controversy.

Forgiving And Forgetting
Slate's Dahila Lithwick outlines the major challenges at the Department of Justice facing Eric Holder, Barack Obama's pick for attorney general. "If confirmed," she writes, "he will take over an institution where, at least in recent years, politics sometimes had no end."

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