Lisa Madigan (Getty)

President Obama won’t play kingmaker in the 2010 Democratic primary for the Illinois Senate seat he once held, his chief spokesman indicated today.

“The President is not going to pick a candidate in the Illinois Senate race,” White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said at a press briefing Thursday.  

Gibbs was responding to a question about Illinois state Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who met last week with Obama and some of his senior advisers to discuss running for the Senate next year.