Duckworth Expected To Announce On 'This Week'

ABC News' George Stephanopoulous is traveling to IL 12/16 to interview for "This Week" Iraq war veteran Tammy Duckworth, who lost both her legs as a Black Hawk pilot in Iraq. She is expected to announce her candidacy on the show, which airs this Sunday -- a day before the IL filing deadline.

The race has national implications. DCCC Chmn. Rahm Emanuel (D), whose district borders IL 06, has been aggressively recruiting Duckworth for weeks as a plausible contender in Rep. Henry Hyde's (R) current IL 06 seat. But State Sen Peter Roskam (R), running unopposed for the GOP primary, is a polished candidate with strong ties to the district.

The district leans GOP, but Obama won easily here, and Bush only won with 53% of the vote in '04. Duckworth has been mum about her intentions to date because she's still on active military duty, and spokesperson Lori Goldberg said she couldn't comment about the race because she still was on active duty in the military.

The primary contest will pit her against technology consultant Christine Cegelis, who has close ties with the DuPage Co. Democratic party and won 44% of the vote against Hyde last cycle. Emanuel has been disappointed with Cegelis' lackluster 3rdQ fundraising, and ties between the two are cool. Cegelis has already told the Sun-Times she will make an issue of Duckworth's lack of ties to the district -- a likely theme of the primary campaign. Professor Lindy Scott is also running in the primary. [JOSH KRAUSHAAR]

UPDATE: Sources clarify that it's possible she will make her campaign announcement before the show's taping, so the "This Week' interview would not be an exclusive.

Update 2: A campaign source adds that while Duckworth will be on This Week she will not be volunteering a campaign announcement on the show. She is running for the seat, and will be making an announcement before Monday's filing deadline.