* I’ve been told by a very top source that Kinzinger will run in the 16th. This report is from Kurt Erickson at Lee Newspapers…

Mapped out of his home territory by a new Democratic map, Republican U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger could be gearing up to run in a district stretching from Livingston County to Rockford.

In a note distributed Saturday, Livingston County Republican Party Chairman John McGlasson said Kinzinger may be planning to run in the newly drawn 16th Congressional District in the 2012 election.

That would set up a potential face-off against fellow GOP colleague Don Manzullo. Freshman Republican U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh of McHenry also may be angling for a shot in the 16th after Democrats drew him into a district with Republican U.S. Rep. Randy Hultgren of Winfield.

The confusing jockeying by Republicans is exactly what Democrats had hoped would happen as they released a proposed new set of boundaries for Illinois congressional districts Friday. The map is drawn to favor Democrats and puts Kinzinger, a former member of the McLean County Board, into a tough-to-win district with Democratic U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. […]

In his note, McGlasson said Kinzinger “has called to say he intends to run for election in our new district.”

* And some potential primaries are taking shape for the Democrats as well…

Former U.S. Rep. Bill Foster has plans to make another run at Congress. The Foster campaign on Saturday confirmed that Foster on Tuesday is expected to announce that he will be running in the Congressional district containing Aurora.

A filing with the Federal Election Commission shows that Foster, of Batavia, filed to run as a Democrat in the proposed 11th District, which would cover Naperville and Joliet in addition to Aurora. He would run in the 2012 election.

Foster, a Democrat, represented the 14th District for more than two years before losing the seat to Randy Hultgren in November.

* That district wasn’t meant for Foster…

But state legislative leaders want Foster, a physicist and businessman, to run in an expansive new 14th district that includes his home in Batavia and runs from far north suburban Antioch and Harvard to southwest suburban Minooka.

Democrats, who control both houses of the state Legislature, could approve the new congressional map Sunday.

The new map of the 11th district includes Burr Ridge, where insurance broker John Atkinson lives. Atkinson, though, has already raised $500,000 to launch a primary challenge in the 3rd district against Rep. Dan Lipinski, a conservative Democrat from the Southwest Side.

“I have serious policy differences with Dan Lipinski — I would prefer someone in that seat who wanted to work with the president,” Atkinson said Saturday.

But state Democratic leaders want Atkinson to win a new seat for Democrats in the 11th rather than challenge Lipinski, an ally of powerful state House Speaker Michael Madigan, who lives in the 3rd district.

Atkinson said Saturday he was still evaluating what to do.

“I’m not going to be rushed — this is not about who plants a flag first. This is about who puts together a campaign to be able to win,” he said.

Best laid plans, etc.

* Meanwhile, the jockeying has begun in the 13th…

The new 13th District includes the home of U.S. Rep. John Shimkus, R-Collinsville, but it is a virtually new district for him, including not only most of Champaign-Urbana, but also most of Bloomington-Normal, and Springfield, Decatur and some parts of Democratic Madison County.

It would be a politically competitive district, said Sen. Mike Frerichs, D-Champaign.

Frerichs was coy when asked if he would be interested in running in the district, which has a heavy tilt toward higher education and student voters. It has four public universities — the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Illinois-Springfield, Illinois State University and Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville — plus a number of private schools, including Illinois Wesleyan in Bloomington and Millikin University in Decatur.

“I’ve told people I’m interested in serving the people of East Central Illinois,” he said. “I think I am happy where I am today.”

* But don’t count on this happening…

One feature of the new map is a district connecting Decatur with the east side of Springfield. It appears designed to oust freshman Republican state Rep. Adam Brown of Decatur and replace him with a Democrat.

Which got us to thinking: Is there a Democrat who lives in Decatur but works in Springfield and has extensive knowledge of both state government and Decatur city government?

Indeed, there is. His name is Michael Carrigan, a former member of the Decatur City Council who serves as president of the Illinois AFL-CIO.

We ran the scenario past him during a break in the action of the General Assembly last week. He laughed and said he was a bit too busy to contemplate the idea of running for the seat because of the crush of legislative business under way in the Capitol.

* And Democrats Ilya Sheyman of Waukegan and Brad Schneider of Deerfield have already opened campaign offices in the new 10th District…

Sheyman, who was endorsed by former presidential candidate and Vermont Gov. Howard Dean this week, likes the look as well. He has lived and worked in the areas as a community organizer. He feels he knows the people and their needs.

“I’m extremely pleased Buffalo Grove where I grew up and Waukegan where I live are in the district,” Sheyman said. “These are communities I have organized for years.”

Though the campaign is young, charges have already been made Schneider has voted in Republican primary elections and donated $3,300 to Kirk. He explained he voted in the 2000 Republican primary to support close friend Andy Hochberg.

Local Democrats are looking elsewhere, however.

* In other news, Chinese-American groups are upset at the new congressional map. From a press release…

The Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community (CBCAC) is deeply disappointed with the Illinois Congressional map proposal, issued yesterday, which continues to divide the Greater Chinatown community area into three districts at the Congressional level. After a great deal of hard work to keep the community intact at all levels in the redistricting process, CBCAC considers this new development to be a setback in its effort to gain fair voting rights for the Chicago Chinatown community. Despite the community’s success with the state house and senate maps, which keep Chinatown intact, the result of Congressional redistricting indicates a lack of regard for the community that is unacceptable.

CBCAC is disappointed in the process that did not provide opportunity for input in the drawing of Congressional boundaries and asks that adjustments be made in the remaining time before the map is passed by the state legislature. For the past ten years, the Chinatown community has suffered from neglect and poor representation as a result of the way it was fractured at all levels during the 2001 redistricting process. According to the 2010 census, the Asian population in Illinois grew by 38.6 percent, the fastest rate among minority groups in the state. The area that is currently and continues to be divided between Danny Davis’s 7th District, Daniel Lipinski’s 3rd District, and Luis Gutierrez’s 4th District, includes about 30,000 Asian Americans, an increase of more than 50 percent since the 2000 census. The people in this community deserve better. We call on the Illinois Senate and House Redistricting Committees to address our community’s concerns so that we may be fairly represented all levels of government.

* Related…

* Editorial: Guv has every excuse to veto this map, too

* Map proposal for congressional districts unifies Macon County with Shimkus as incumbent

* Marion and Most Area Counties Put Into 15th Congressional District Under Proposed Redistricting Map