Rep. Danny K. Davis, D-Ill., has filed paperwork to run for both Cook County Board President and for re-election in 2010, as the 2010 candidate filing deadline closed Monday at the Illinois Board of Elections.

Davis, who has said he will pick a race by the Nov. 9 deadline to withdraw petitions, was one of several candidates who filed to run for Congress in his district in the Feb. 2 primary by the Monday evening deadline.

Several Democrats who are interested in running for Davis' 7th District seat also filed, including a couple of elected officials: Chicago Alderwoman Sharon Dixon, Chicago Alderman Bob Fioretti, former state Rep. Annazette Collins, state Sen. Rickey Hendon, Cook County Recorder of Deeds Darlena Burnett and 2006 candidate Jim Ascot. If Davis runs for re-election, he is expected to keep his seat.

Monday's filings also showed every announced candidate for Senate submitted signatures for the race. Former Chicago Urban League President Cheryle Robinson Jackson, a Democrat, was the last of the major candidates to file her signatures Monday. Her spokeswoman said Jackson wanted to ensure she was last on the ballot.

A large Republican field is forming to oppose Democratic Rep. Bill Foster in Illinois' 14th District.

The latest entrant is state Sen. Randy Hultgren, who recently filed a statement of organization with the Federal Election Commission and who formally announced his candidacy on Monday.

Hultgren served eight years in the Illinois House (1999-2007) and was elected to the Illinois Senate in 2006, replacing Republican Peter Roskam, who was elected to Congress from the 6th District.

If there's any state that might need a breather from politics, it's Illinois.

But the state that ejected Democratic Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich on corruption allegations earlier this year has the first-in-the-nation 2010 primary on Feb. 2, and Tuesday was the first day that prospective candidates could ask voters to sign nominating petitions to place them on the primary ballot.

Yes, you read that correctly: just seven months after the 111th Congress convened and 15 months before the November 2010 elections, Illinois incumbents and candidates have to make their political plans now. The candidate filing deadline is Nov. 2.

Here's a look at some of the Illinois races CQ Politics will be watching most closely:

• Governor: Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn, a former lieutenant governor who became Illinois' chief executive after Blagojevich was ousted, probably will be opposed in the primary by state Comptroller Dan Hynes. More than a half-dozen Republicans are planning to run.

Ethan Hastert, a Republican waging a 2010 campaign in Illinois' 14th District, collected $86,600 in this year's second quarter -- all of it on June 30, the last day of the reporting period.

If Hastert's name sounds familiar, it should: he's a son of former Republican Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (1987-2007), who gave his son $10,000 from his political action committee, Keep Our Mission PAC.

Ethan Hastert, who organized his campaign committee just before the end of the second quarter, also got $5,000 from the leadership PAC of Illinois freshman Republican Rep. Aaron Schock, who represents the Peoria-area 18th District.

Illinois Republican Jeff Danklefsen is waging a 2010 campaign in the state's 14th District, where Democratic Rep. Bill Foster already faces a challenge from a son of former House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert.

Danklefsen's lives in Geneva, about 40 miles west of Chicago in Illinois' Fox River Valley, and works as a maintenance manager for a property management company.

"I do not have a political resume, but I understand the challenges families face with increasing tax burdens and the uncertainty of the job market," Danklefsen says on his campaign Web site. "I am asking for the opportunity to represent the 14th District taxpayers in Washington D.C. I will stand up for responsible taxation, a balanced budget, and job growth."

The youngest son of former House Republican Speaker J. Dennis Hastert is seeking a U.S. House seat in Illinois that his father long held but is now represented by Democratic Rep. Bill Foster.

Ethan Hastert, a lawyer with the Chicago-based firm Mayer Brown, said Monday that he will be a candidate next year in the 14th District, a collection of suburbs and rural territory west of Chicago that his father held for more than two decades.

Hastert, 31, told the Kane County Chronicle that he wants to be part of the "next generation of leadership."