Sanderson,
Sounds like the fonts could be the culprit, you may have some corrupt fonts. Unfortunately (from my understanding) there isn't really a super efficient way of doing this.
I've heard suggestions that in Font Book you can disable the first half of your fonts and try Illustrator. If it opens, then your culprit is in the half you just disabled (if not, try the second half). From there you just have to fine-tune your search by disabling smaller groups until you find that bad boy.
This thread may be of use. Hope this helps.
Michael
