* US Sen. Dick Durbin reiterated his support today for US Rep. Tammy Duckworth’s Senate bid. But others are touting one of her opponents…

U.S. Senate candidate Andrea Zopp is more qualified for the post now than President Barack Obama was when he ran for the Senate in 2004, one state senator said Thursday.

“If you look at President Obama’s experience at the time he was running for U.S. Senate, yes, [Zopp is] better than President Obama,” Sen. Kwame Raoul, D-Chicago, told reporters. “President Obama did not have the experience of being in the U.S. Attorney’s office, running the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. President Obama didn’t have the experience of being the senior vice president and general counsel of three major corporations. President Obama, you know, he was a community organizer but he did not run the Chicago Urban League.”

“I don’t think we’ve had a candidate like this,” said Raoul, who replaced Obama in the Illinois Senate.

* Sen. Raoul left out part of her work history, however. Zopp sat on the CPS board when it closed all those schools. And one of the other African-American Senate hopefuls brings that topic up everywhere he goes, including today…

Cook Cmsn Boykin goes after Zopp's CPS tenure. "Close a school, open a prison," says Boykin in Dem US Sen exploratory bid.

— Rick Pearson (@rap30) August 20, 2015

* Zopp, who will formally announce her candidacy today, responded…

Zopp said it was a “very difficult decision” but it was the right one and she doesn’t regret it.

* Meanwhile, a bit of member management…

#ILSen Pres Cullerton says he'll back state Sen. Napoleon Harris if he runs for US Sen. Harris says he'll file papers "soon."

— Rick Pearson (@rap30) August 20, 2015

* Duckworth spent a good part of her speech today talking about her upbringing. Her middle class family went broke after her middle-aged father was deemed “over qualified” for his job, she said. They wound up in a one-room apartment and had real trouble making the rent payments.

She also told some jokes…

Tammy Duckworth on Mark Kirk's absence at fair: "I don't blame him, I wouldn't want to be seen with Gov. Rauner either."

— Monique Garcia (@moniquegarcia) August 20, 2015