Lisa Madigan hasn't announced -- but she's light years ahead of Quinn, Bill Daley on fund-raising

If money is power in politics then Lisa Madigan is light years ahead of her potential challengers should she make a bid for the governor’s office.

The Illinois Attorney General reported $4.3 million at the close of the last quarter and the buzz is she’s working even harder to amass financial strength by the close of the next quarter.

By comparison, Quinn has about $1.5 million in the bank. Quinn has his hands full trying to clean up mess after mess in Springfield and repeatedly says he will not turn his attention to politics until pension reform is behind him.

While both Madigan and Quinn are reporting contributions by the thousands every week — Bill Daley just filed on Tuesday for an exploratory committee, for a “potential” run for governor. It would only now give him a mechanism to raise money. By contrast, Bruce Rauner announced an exploratory committee — and started lining up donors — in early March.

This is something Daley conceded in an interview with the Sun-Times on Tuesday, noting that Lisa Madigan has already hauled in a healthy chunk of cash.

“I come at a serious disadvantage to the governor and other potential candidates who raised money for 20 years,” Bill Daley told the Sun-Times. “I’ve got a lot of work to do in that area. It’s pretty expensive these days to do this stuff.”

Bill Daley Exploratory Committee report