You might be aware there's a fierce race for president under way.

President of the Illinois Senate, that is.

If money is any guide, the battle over who's leading the race to replace retiring Senate President Emil Jones appears to be coming down to two candidates.

State Sens. John Cullerton of Chicago and James Clayborne of Belleville are throwing money into Democratic races across the state in hopes of sealing up support when senators vote in January on a successor to Jones.

State Sen. Gary Forby of Benton is among those benefiting from the largesse. Martin Mulcahey, a Galena Democrat trying to take over the seat vacated by Republican state Sen. Todd Sieben in northwest Illinois, also has received money from the wannabes.

Cullerton is widely believed to have the backing of House Speaker Michael Madigan and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley.

It's not clear if Clayborne, who is African-American, has the support of the black caucus, since at least one of the members, Sen. Rickey Hendon, also fancies himself as a possible replacement.

Cullerton is perhaps best known for his support of mandatory motorcycle helmet laws and the statewide smoking ban. Clayborne has had a high profile role regarding electric utility issues.

Money check

At the rank-and-file level, Republicans and Democrats are dropping some big bucks into a key southern Illinois Senate race, hoping to chip away at the Democratic majority that controls the chamber.

A campaign committee controlled by Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson earlier this week pumped nearly $79,000 into GOP candidate Ken Burzynski's bid to unseat Forby.

Some of the cash paid for a targeted mailing campaign on Burzynski's behalf.

Not to be outdone, Democrats are coming to Forby's aid. In a single day, Forby brought in $176,000, thanks to a $100,000 check from Cullerton, as well as thousands more from some of his fellow members of the Democratic caucus.

Both candidates also have been airing television ads throughout the district, which includes most of the southernmost counties of the state.

It's not the first time Forby has been targeted by Republicans, who control only 22 of the Senate's 59 seats.

In 2004, he fought off Republican Ron Summers in a race that ultimately cost both candidates a total of about $2.3 million.

The most recent campaign finance reports show Forby holds a wide fundraising lead over Burzynski with $152,000 in the bank as of July 1.

Since then, however, both candidates have been busy raising money.

On Monday, for example, Forby held a fundraiser at Rend Lake Resort in Whittington, where donors could pay between $250 and $1,000 for appetizers and refreshments.

Concrete facts

Politicians say the darndest things.

During a recent interview, 11th Congressional District candidate Martin Ozinga repeatedly said he's a small business owner. Apparently, this is his way of trying to establish his street cred as a regular guy.

"I'm just a little local concrete guy," Ozinga told me.

It made me wonder: What is a small business?

There's no exact definition, but a general rule-of-thumb is that a small business is any company with 100 or fewer employees.

In order to qualify for certain state loans and grants, small business owners in Illinois can't have over 500 workers.

On his website, Ozinga says his family-run concrete business has 1,200 employees.

Join the crowd

Pontiac Mayor Scott McCoy was complaining last week that he can't get a meeting with Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Our response: Get in line.

McCoy says he's called Blagojevich's office in search of answers to the governor's plan to close the maximum-security prison in his community.

"I want to see where the logic is," McCoy said. "I'd like to ask him what its going to take to change his mind."

McCoy isn't alone. U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin recently told the State Journal-Register editorial board that he can't get phone calls returned from the governor. U.S. Rep. Phil Hare is in the same boat.

There are solutions.

Instead of waiting around for a phone call, these guys need to find out when the governor is having a press conference and approach him before he retreats to his home office to watch Hannah Montana reruns.

Or, they could wait for him with us in the south loading dock of the Capitol, which he prefers using over the front door of the building during those rare occasions when he's actually in Springfield.

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.