* There’s little doubt that House Speaker Michael Madigan’s control of the Democratic Party of Illinois has been more about power and saving money on postage for his House candidates. During the last cycle, there were lots of grumbled complaints that no coordinated campaign was in place to help congressional candidates. And Madigan is the only state party chairman in the country to refuse Democratic National Committee field staff.

So, US Sen. Dick Durbin is ever so gently trying to build an organization parallel to Madigan’s…

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, a figurehead among Illinois Democrats, is working to build his own Illinois voter database — a “voter file” distinct from the party’s central voter file, which is controlled by House Speaker Michael Madigan’s political organizations — as well as a new layer of the party’s grass-roots operation. […]

“Under Speaker Madigan, (the Illinois Democratic Party) really has focused on the House, particularly,” Durbin said.

* Durbin is working with the Democratic County Chairmen’s Association, which is beyond Madigan’s direct control. The chairman of the association, Alan Pirtle, is allied with Rep. Jay Hoffman, Gov. Blagojevich’s House floor leader.

As mentioned above, one of the initial tasks is creating a new “voter file”…

The state party’s own voter database, known as the “voter file,” has been developed and maintained by Madigan’s personal campaign committee, Friends of Michael J. Madigan, since the early 1980s, Brown said. The database contains layers of information including voting history and demographics to help candidates identify potential voters. […]

[Brown] said candidates can gain access to [the voter file] for a fee, and who can gain access to the file is made on a “case-by-case basis.”

* “Bored Now,” a regular commenter here, explains…

What Durbin has done is to make Votebuilder (also known as The Van) available in Illinois. Durbin correctly points out that Votebuilder is available “across the count[r]y.” elsewhere, the state parties have partnered with the DNC to bring it to their states. The Van was also the basis for both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama’s databases. It had been previously available in Illinois through resolute consulting and was used in 2006 by Congressional candidates like Dan Seals. others may remember van through efforts in 2004 on behalf of John Kerry through act and the America votes coalition. it was one of several attempts by Democrats to duplicate the success Republicans have had with the voter vault.

The Van is also the basis for the DNC’s neighborhood volunteer program. What is interesting about this effort is that the national party is giving people access to their database at a local level for voter contact. The information gathered by these efforts gets folded back into the database for future use by democrats running at all levels.

* Durbin has played a role in several local and congressional elections over the past few years. He has been heavily involved in helping turn Will County from “red to blue,” for instance.

Durbin is not a particularly threatening figure in the Democratic Party, so there’s never been much of a push-back from Madigan when he’s done local party building efforts. But controlling that voter file is a big thing for Madigan. Information is power, even if the system he’s using is out of date…

If you’ve ever worked with Madigan’s database, you know that it is fairly ancient is both design and user-friendliness, and the backend is limited, at best, to simple variables limited to (primarily) public data. But it has been the only game in town, and its success was largely due to the fact that it had no competition.

* But Durbin will need all of his political skills when encroaching on MJM’s turf…

Durbin said he has reached out to other Illinois Democrats, including Comptroller Dan Hynes, about his joint effort with the county chairmen’s group, but no one has signed on yet.

“I’m not trying to side with any faction in the party,” he said.

He’s about the only one who could do this.