Suburban Political Recount

U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider's campaign is circulating a fundraising email suggesting that the Deerfield Democrat's 2012 election opponent, Republican Robert Dold of Kenilworth, is going to take another shot in 2014.

It's pretty direct: "We just got word that former Republican Congressman Bob Dold has decided to run again."

Here's the thing. The National Republican Campaign Committee says he hasn't decided yet.

"The NRCC is hopeful Mr. Dold will make a decision in the coming days to run for his seat again in 2014," said NRCC spokeswoman Katie Prill.

It wouldn't be a shock if Dold made the run. The race for the 10th Congressional District in Lake and Cook counties was the closest race in the suburbs in 2012. And any number of factors could tip it in either direction.

Whether same-sex marriage is approved in Illinois is coming down to a handful of votes, so a lawmaker who hasn't picked a side yet might get extra attention from all angles.

State Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia, an Aurora Democrat, is one of them. She told us she wants to know for sure how her constituents feel.

So far, she says, they are "really evenly split." Her district includes much of Aurora and North Aurora.

"I'm still getting information from the district and citizens," Chapa LaVia said.

Some of that information came via demonstrators on both sides of the issue at her office this weekend. Here are videos from both sides, first posted at Capitol Fax.

We learned this afternoon that legislation that would send epilepsy data to a national registry passed the state Senate.

State Sen. Dan Kotowski - diagnosed, himself, with epilepsy at 13 - worked with Tom Stanton, the executive director of the Danny Did Foundation, to put together the proposal. Stanton's nephew Danny died at age 4 from a seizure that occurred in his sleep.

"Coroners and medical examiners can play a key role in recording instances unexpected death in epilepsy, and this data will help to educate the public on its causes and signs," Kotowski, a Park Ridge Democrat, said in a statement.

We didn't plan this, but the day before we ran a story about the possible importance of suburban Senate Democrats to the Illinois pensions debate, The Associated Press offered a story about how suburbs across the country are important to the gun debate nationwide.

Packed with married women and political independents, vote-rich communities like these are starting — in the wake of a string of shooting massacres — to act more like urban centers that long have been concerned with the threat of local gun violence and have favored stricter laws. Those include the expansion of background checks, viewed by gun control advocates as a way to prevent criminals and the mentally ill from buying firearms.

Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth's staff told us today that the Hoffman Estates Democrat cancelled a scheduled appearance with Meet the Press (quite a coup for a House freshman) to instead head home to assess flood damage in the 8th Congressional District. She spent time visiting the Red Cross Shelter in Wheeling, and assess damage in Des Plaines, Addison and Lombard.

From a statement:

State Sen. Jim Oberweis won preliminary approval for his first piece of legislation Tuesday, a plan to raise the interstate and tollway speed limit to 70 mph.

Before the Senate committee hearing on his plan, the Sugar Grove Republican handed out small, disposable containers of ice cream to other senators in the room. He carried a cooler to keep it cold.

Shortly after, his legislation was approved. Only one senator voted against it: Sen. Jacqueline Collins, a Chicago Democrat.

"I just wanted to let you know your ice cream didn't work on me," Collins said after the vote. "But it was very good."

From Kerry in Washington:
Without any votes scheduled today in the U.S. Senate, we spent some time hanging out in the Capitol tunnels, watching senators from both sides of the aisle arrive at their weekly (lengthy) Tuesday policy lunches.

Former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords - a guest of Congressman Joe Manchin's at lunch today - also passed through the tunnels with her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly. Giffords - who was nearly fatally shot in the head in her district in January 2011 - is on the hill to try to rally support for gun control.

Good morning from Washington, DC, where Kerry is for a few days this week to do some on-the-ground reporting about local members.

As we wait on the Senate's "Gang of Eight" bipartisan immigration reform proposal to be released (it was delayed, this morning, because of the Boston marathon bombings), we wanted to pass on a CQ Roll Call piece by David Drucker .

Roskam says here that instead of comprehensive immigration reform legislation, overhaul in several incremental pieces is more likely.

The transcript here:

"CQ Roll Call: On an immigration overhaul, what’s more likely, comprehensive legislation or running an overhaul through in pieces?