* Chicago Inspector General David Hoffman already has a campaign website. David Axelrod’s former firm, AKPD, just sent out a press release announcing that Hoffman was resigning to run as a Democrat for US Senate. And he has a campaign video…

…Adding… From Lynn Sweet…

The [former Axelrod firm] –poised to represent Merchandise Mart mogul Chris Kennedy if he had jumped in the race– had clearly wants to cloister Hoffman at this stage and not repeat the mistakes made by Caroline Kennedy when she tested-the-waters for securing the appointment to replace then Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in the U.S. Senate and found herself stumbling in the rough and tumble of New York politics and press.

*** 1:17 pm *** I just got off the phone with AKPD, and was told Hoffman has already retained Geoffrey Garin, the president of Hart Research, as his pollster. That’s Dick Durbin’s pollster, so they know something about Illinois.

*** 1:19 pm *** Laura Washington’s early take…

The Pollyanna crowd will pooh-pooh that the Senate race is too important to become the plaything of race and gender politics.

But demographics have long been major players in the ups and downs of Illinois politics.

Jackson’s campaign knows that. […]

While she doesn’t want to push this button hard, she can also appeal to the “race men” who desire to “keep the seat” for an African American.