It's official: Alexi Giannoulias will face off against Mark Kirk this November to fill Barack Obama's former senate seat. It only took four plus hours after the polls closed to call it, but Giannoulias held off a challenge from David Hoffman, 39% - 34%.
The Republican side was never in doubt, with Kirk crushing his teabagger opponent 57% - 19%.
And with 93% of the vote in, we still don't know who the Democratic candidate for Governor will be. As of this writing, incumbent Pat Quinn is in a statistical dead-heat with challenger Daniel Hynes -- expect the counting in this one to go on through the night, as it will to decide the Republican challenger, where three candidates are still within striking distance.
In another notable race, it looks like Dan Seals (IL-10) held off a strong challenge from Julie Hamos -- with 99% of the vote in, Seals leads by barely 600 votes.
And I'm sorry to report that we will not, I repeat, will not have another Hastert to kick around. In the 14th District, Randy Hultgren handily defeated former congressman Dennis Hastert's son, Ethan Hastert, 55% - 45%.