< This is the scene greeting visitors this morning in the front lobby of the Illinois Statehouse press room in Springfield, a city of divided loyalties.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn this morning made a major new push for Illinois’ long-sought plans for a Chicago-to-St. Louis high-speed rail corridor, urging state lawmakers to come up with $400 million to convince the federal government to kick in more.

Quinn said he talked to Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon by phone on Thursday, shoring up support. He said Nixon reiterated his backing for the proposal, which could ultimately involve $2.7 billion in state and federal funding and fundamentally change the way people travel between the two metropolitan areas and around Illinois.

The two governors also talked baseball - probably an uncomfortable topic for Quinn just now, given the Cardinals’ three-game sweep of the Cubs this week. Quinn said he expressed his desire for a cross-state championship, but that “I also believe the Cubs should beat the Cardinals.”

Unlike that comment, Quinn’s hope for the $400 million in high-speed rail seed money is fairly realistic. It could be folded into the multi-billion-dollar statewide public-works program that lawmakers are cobbling together this month, paying for it with expanded gaming, liquor taxes and drivers’ fee increases.