We finally have a ballot. On Friday, the Illinois State Board of Elections decided the Libertarian slate had made the grade, but the Constitution Party had not. They also voted to remove Senate hopefuls Corey Dabney and Andy Martin. The decisions cleared up the final objections to independent and third-party candidate petitions. Appeals could cause hiccups down the road, but these rulings will allow local election officials to get the ballot-printing process underway. So here we go: your guide to some of the hottest races in the 2010 general election. We know there will be other hot races, but - for now - we’ll focus on these: * denotes the incumbent (note that many of the top races in Illinois this year are incumbent-free) U.S. Senate - Illinois

Candidate	Party	Who’s that?	Who gave the cash?	What about the issues?
Alexi Giannoulias	Democratic	Illinois Treasurer, former banker	Answers from the FEC	From the campaign website
LeAlan Jones	Green	Freelance journalist, speaker	Answers from the FEC	From the campaign website
Mark Kirk	Republican	Congressman, Navy reservist	Answers from the FEC	From the campaign website
Mike Labno	Libertarian	Project manager in electrical construction	No filings with the FEC	From the campaign website

U.S. Senate - Indiana

Candidate	Party	Who’s that?	Who gave the cash?	What about the issues?
Dan Coats	Republican	Former lobbyist, ambassador and U.S. senator	Answers from the FEC	From the campaign website
Brad Ellsworth	Democratic	Congressman, former sheriff	Answers from the FEC	From the campaign website
Rebecca Sink-Burris	Libertarian	Family business owner	No filings with the FEC	From the campaign website

Illinois’ 10th Congressional

Candidate	Party	Who’s that?	Who gave the cash?	What about the issues?
Robert Dold	Republican	Owner of pest control business, former U.S. House staffer	Answers from the FEC	From the campaign website
Dan Seals	Democratic	Business consultant, ‘08 and ‘06 candidate	Answers from the FEC	From the campaign website

Illinois’ 11th Congressional

Candidate	Party	Who’s that?	Who gave the cash?	What about the issues?
Debbie Halvorson*	Democratic	Congresswoman, former state legislator	Answers from the FEC	From the campaign website
Adam Kinzinger	Republican	Captain in Air National Guard, former McLean County Board member	Answers from the FEC	From the campaign website

Illinois’ 14th Congressional

Candidate	Party	Who’s that?	Who gave the cash?	What about the issues?
Bill Foster*	Democratic	Congressman, former scientist, business owner	Answers from the FEC	From the campaign website
Randy Hultgren	Republican	State legislator, investment advisor	Answers from the FEC	From the campaign website
Dan Kairis	Green	Substitute teacher, small business owner	No filings with the FEC	From the campaign website

Illinois Governor and Lieutenant Governor

Candidate	Party	Who’s that?	Who gave the cash?	What about the issues?
Bill Brady & Jason Plummer	Republican	State senator and business owner (Brady), lumber company executive (Plummer)	Answers from the SBE	From the campaign website
Scott Lee Cohen & Baxter Swilley	(Independent)	Pawn shop owner (Cohen), campaign staff member (Swilley)	Answers from the SBE	From the campaign website
Lex Green & Ed Rutledge	Libertarian	Technical maintenance Mitsubishi factory (Green), financial industry (Rutledge)	Answers from the SBE	From the campaign website
Pat Quinn* & Sheila Simon	Democratic	Incumbent governor (Quinn), law professor (Simon)	Answers from the SBE	From the campaign website
Rich Whitney & Don Crawford	Green	Lawyer (Whitney), teacher and guidance counselor (Crawford)	Answers from the SBE	From the campaign website

Illinois Comptroller

Candidate	Party	Who’s that?	Who gave them cash?	What about the issues?
Julie Fox	Libertarian	Comptroller for Bell Flavors and Fragrances, Inc.	Answers from the SBE	From the campaign website
David Miller	Democratic	State legislator, dentist	Answers from the SBE	From the campaign website
Erika Schafer	Green	Financial services director at Center for American Progress	No filings with the SBE	Focus on fiscal oversight, and tax and budget reform
Judy Baar Topinka	Republican	Former state treasurer, state legislator	Answers from the SBE	From the campaign website

Illinois Treasurer

Candidate	Party	Who’s that?	Who gave the cash?	What about the issues?
Robin Kelly	Democratic	Chief of staff in treasurer’s office, former state legislator	Answers from the SBE	From the campaign website
James Pauly	Libertarian	Attorney	No filings with the SBE	From the campaign website
Dan Rutherford	Republican	State legislator, Servicemaster employee	Answers from the SBE	From the campaign website
Scott Summers	Green	Attorney	Answers from the SBE	From the campaign website

Cook County Board President

Candidate	Party	Most recent job or office	Who gave the cash?	What about the issues?
Roger Keats	Republican	Former state senator, works in financial securities industry	Answers from the SBE	From the campaign website
Toni Preckwinkle	Democratic	Chicago alderman	Answers from the SBE	From the campaign website
Tom Tresser	Green	Community organizer, arts activist	Answers from the SBE	From the campaign website

Cook County Assessor

Candidate	Party	Who’s that?	Who gave the cash?	What about the issues?
Joseph Berrios	Democratic	Cook County Board of Review commissioner, lobbyist	Answers from the SBE	From the campaign website
Forrest Claypool	(Independent)	Cook County commissioner, business owner	Answers from the SBE	From the campaign website
Robert Grota	Green	Employee in Cook County Assessor’s office	No filings with the SBE	From the campaign website
Sharon Strobeck-Eckersall	Republican	Former Evanston Township assessor	No filings with the SBE	From the campaign website