Before him was a Republican, elected largely because Dan Rostenkowski, his predecessor and one of Washington's most powerful congressmen, had been indicted.

ECONOMIST: The race for Rahm Emanuel��s seat

Dan Rostenkowski, the steak-and-martinis Chicago Democrat who reigned over the House Ways and Means Committee for 13 years, used to write off many of his golf outings as campaign expenditures.

NPR: The Volatile Mix of Politics and Golf

One who has already said he might run is a former one-term congressman, Michael Flanagan, who is most famous for beating that redoubtable old Democratic baron, Dan Rostenkowski, after he was indicted for corruption in 1994.

ECONOMIST: Illinois politics