A new round of polling from CNN/Time shows the race for the governor's mansion is tightening while the battle for Barack Obama's former U.S. Senate seat remains a toss-up.
A new poll released
by Public Policy Polling (PPP) shows U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk with a small
edge over Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias.
GOP candidate for the U.S. Senate Mark Kirk released a new ad in which he highlights his downstate roots and "mainstream Illinois values." What values does he mean, exactly? Could Kirk be referring to his opposition to gay marriage? According to recent data, support for gay marriage among Illinoisans is growing at a rapid pace. By 2012, Nate Silver predicts that a majority of residents would vote down legislation calling for a constitutional marrage ban. Maybe he means his support for the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, which three-quarters of Americans want to see repealed.
The congressman also brags of being fiscally conservative during his time in Congress. But Kirk supported the Bush tax cuts, which added some $2.3 trillion to the federal deficit over 10 years. Considering the fact that Kirk wants the tax cuts to be extended for even the wealthiest Americans, it's difficult to take his "deficit hawk" chatter seriously. Here's the ad:
President Barack Obama will visit
Chicago on October 7 to campaign for Democratic U.S. Senate nominee
Alexi Giannoulias, a White House official said Sunday.
The Democratic and Republican candidates for U.S. Senate are offering differing opinions
on the effect that Chicago's mayoral race will have on November's general election.
GOPer Mark Kirk believes the mayoral election will drain Democratic
resources from the Senate race, while Democrat Alexi Giannouliasthinks it that will create excitement in politics and increase the
number of registered voters in the city.
Washington insider, Washington outsider. A corporate crony versus a backer of working families. A friend of President George W. Bush, a friend of President Barack Obama. Such are the contrasts between Rep. Mark Kirk and State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, the candidates running for Illinois' U.S. Senate seat this fall, according to a new advertisement from the Giannoulias campaign. Here it is:
Immigrant advocates have pleaded
with U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk to support the DREAM Act, a once-bipartisan
bill that would give immigrant youth a path to earn citizenship via
college or the military. The GOP U.S. Senate nominee, whose record on immigration issues isn't sterling, won't budge. In an interview
with the AP, Kirk said the federal government should wait to take up this
provision at least until it gains more control of the southern border.
Apparently, increasing deportations and adding more guardsmen and drones at a time when illegal immigration has declined precipitously across the country isn't enough.
Undocumented students rallied at Roosevelt University yesterday afternoon in support of the Act, which U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin has re-introduced. According to local college student Jorge, the law would let him and his sister "reach our dreams." Watch it:
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a 2008 GOP Presidential candidate, is scheduled to come to Chicago Friday to raise money
for Illinois' leading statewide Republican nominees, State Sen. Bill
Brady and U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk. Romney's political action committee will
be making a $1,000 contribution to Brady's campaign.
