It's 2008. There's a presidential election under way. One of the candidates is from Illinois.

You'd think that'd be enough fodder to keep us busy.

But what have we been hearing about lately?

The 2010 governor's race.

Already, people are prognosticating on who will run.

The latest name to surface is state Sen. Christine Radogno of Lemont, who has attempted to carve out a niche among the Senate GOP as a budget expert.

Lately, Radogno has been traveling around the state with state Sen. Dan Rutherford of Chenoa in a push to bring some sanity to the process the state uses to open and close prisons.

Speaking of Rutherford, he also has signaled that he's up for another statewide run after having lost a bid for Secretary of State in 2006.

Perhaps the two of them are working out a deal as they travel from prison town to prison town.

Radogno's emergence comes as state Sen. Bill Brady of Bloomington continues to say he'll be in the gubernatorial mix in 2010.

Brady, who was unable to win his party's nomination in 2006, is a conservative Republican with credentials as a longtime legislator, small business owner and real estate developer.

Also making noise as a potential Republican candidate is DuPage County State's Attorney Joe Birkett - another veteran of a couple of statewide campaigns, none successful.

Several Democratic toes also are being dipped in the electoral waters.

Comptroller Dan Hynes has been positioning himself for a move up the ladder.

Attorney General Lisa Madigan's name continues to surface as a potential contender.

Alexi Giannoulias also is getting some play, although the political rookie is less than two years into his first term as treasurer.

Former Chicago Public Schools chief Paul Vallas has been making noise about a possible run.

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley's brother, Bill, also has popped up on the scene, but we're guessing that's more about the mayor toying with Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Blagojevich, of course, could always run for a third term. He continues to raise campaign money, despite the black cloud of a federal corruption investigation and the threat of impeachment by the House hanging over his administration.

It's probably safe to say all of this talk about the 2010 race is premature, given what could happen if Barack Obama wins the presidency.

If he were to beat John McCain in November, it would launch a game of political dominoes in Illinois that likely will have an effect on the 2010 governor's race.

For one, Blagojevich would have to appoint someone to replace Obama in the U.S. Senate.

He could pick any one of the gubernatorial wannabes including himself - thus changing the dynamic of the 2010 governor's race.

There's even one slightly bizarre story going that Obama could appoint Lisa Madigan to a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court if an opening there arises in his first term. Perhaps Hynes or Giannoulias would rather leap from their statewide offices to her attorney general post.

Or, Blagojevich could pick someone out of the state's congressional delegation - Luis Guitierrez or Jan Schakowsky - to serve out Obama's Senate term, thus starting a game of dominoes at the legislative level.

A new name in the Senate appointment mix is Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq war vet now serving as Blagojevich's director of veterans' affairs.

In any case, until the 2008 presidential campaign has run its course, it may be a little to early to get too worked up about 2010.

The kitchen cabinet

Reading in between the lines, various news reports offer up a thumbnail sketch of how an Obama cabinet might be shaping up.

On a rare day off from the campaign trail last weekend, the Illinois Democrat shot basketball with Arne Duncan, the head of the Chicago public school system.

He later met up with Eric Whitaker, the former director of the state public health department.

Secretary of Education? Health and human services czar? You get the picture.

For the record, Obama also had his hair cut, but we don't know if there is any specific cabinet post for barbers.

Thanks to the interns

Over the past six months, many of you have seen stories by Kartikay Mehrotra and Kenneth Lowe. Both were interns working in the Springfield bureau while they pursued their master's degrees at the University of Illinois-Springfield.

Many thanks to both of them. Their internships have ended and they are off to pursue their journalism careers.

KURT ERICKSON heads the Lee Enterprises Springfield Bureau, which serves The Southern and other Lee newspapers; he can be reached at kurt.erickson@lee.net or (217) 789-0865.