Progress Illinois

All four Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate Democratic have produced new videos in the last few days. Let's take a look, shall we?

The first comes from David Hoffman, who cut a highlight reel from a forum held by the Northern Illinois Coordinated Campaign Committee in Rockford on Sunday. In the clip, Hoffman discusses the economy, banking reform, the federal deficit, and Afghanistan:

The Hoffman campaign also released a new polling memo this week that The Hill, the Washington Post, and Politico all picked up. While pollster Geoff Garin took pains to argue that Alexi Giannoulias too "flawed" a candidate to beat GOP Rep. Mark Kirk in the general election, the underlying data is similar to other polls we've seen so far (Kirk leads Giannoulias 40-37 percent, but out-distances Hoffman -- whose name identification is at only 26 percent --  by 10 points.)  Here's what Giannoulias campaign manager Tom Bowen had to say to the Post's Chris Cilliza:

"Every public poll shows Alexi Giannoulias leading or neck-in-neck with Mark Kirk while David Hoffman is trailing badly. ... He is behind, desperate and now he is running a negative and dishonest campaign, preferring to attack fellow Democrats instead of telling us what he would do in the Senate."

Speaking of the Giannoulias, he earned an endorsement from Illinois' own U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky on Sunday. In this video clip from the press conference, the congresswoman said Giannoulias would be a strong voice for health care reform in the Senate. Watch it:

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Lots of new campaign advertisements and web videos out in the past few days.  Here's a rundown ...

Gov. Pat Quinn has a new ad out, titled "Finally," which hit the airwaves yesterday, according to Capitol Fax:

After yesterday's fiery debate in Rockford, the Quinn campaign also released this clip from the governor's remarks (under the title: "Quinn wins at Rockford Forum"):

You can read the Hynes campaign's take on the debate here.

In the 10th Congressional District primary, Julie Hamos is airing a new biographical spot on the cable airwaves:

U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias also has a new web ad up today, highlighting how the treasurer's Employ Illinois program helped a Springfield child care center create jobs:

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The latest from the 2010 U.S. Senate race ...

Yesterday afternoon, Rep. Jan Schakowksy announced her endorsement of State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias in the Democratic primary.  When they rolled out Rep. Luis Gutierrez' backing a week earlier, the campaign used the occasion to highlight Giannoulias' position on the need for stronger financial regulation.  This time, the topic was health care.  From a release:

"Alexi Giannoulias is the best candidate to retain President Obama's seat because he has the courage to take on powerful interests and stand up for Illinois families," Schakowsky said. "He supports health-insurance reform that will reign in the soaring costs of premiums and protect families from losing coverage during these difficult economic times." [...]

"Jan and I believe in a simple proposition: if you pay your premiums your insurance company should cover you - no exceptions, no caps, no limits," Giannoulias said. "Mark Kirk disagrees. He believes in protecting insurance companies, not protecting people."

Giannoulias has now racked up endorsements from five of the state's congressional Democrats (Reps. Bill Foster, Mike Quigley, and Phil Hare are also supporting him). Meanwhile, Cheryle Jackson is the only other candidate in the race to receive backing from members of Congress (Reps. Bobby Rush and Danny Davis).  

Elsewhere on Sunday, Giannoulias skipped a debate held in Rockford, which Jackson, David Hoffman, and Jacob Meister all attended.  ABC 7 has a report on their comments regarding Afghanistan. (All three "expressed deep doubts ... about sending more troops.) 

In other news, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee released a clever web ad today hitting GOP frontrunner Mark Kirk for his shifting positions on Sarah Palin. Watch it:

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Here's the latest news in the Democratic primary race for U.S. Senate:

Cheryle Jackson released an internal poll yesterday, the results of which are consistent with surveys conducted by independent outfits and other campaigns: Alexi Giannoulias holds a healthy lead but plenty of primary voters are still undecided. From the memo, obtained by Capitol Fax:

If the election were held today, “undecided” would win the race, claiming 45% of the vote, with the candidates’ current positions relating largely to name ID. State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias starts out with 31% of the vote (just 16% of which is strong support), followed by Cheryle Jackson at 13% (7% strong). David Hoffman and Jacob Meister each draw support in the single digits (8% and 2%, respectively

Jackson also includes data showing that support for her campaign doubles once the candidates' positive messages are read, vaulting her into the lead. As usual, those types of results should be taken with a grain of salt. For instance, when David Hoffman informed voters of his background in his campaign's first public poll last month, his support jumped almost 30 percentage points. But as Rich Miller noted in his SouthtownStar column, the description offered to respondents "paint[ed] the man as almost a superhero."

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Lots of action among the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate these past few days.

Alexi Giannoulias has received the endorsement of Rep. Luis Gutierrez (Illinois Reps. Phil Hare, Mike Quigley, and Bill Foster previously announced their support).  In a statement yesterday, Gutierrez said the Giannoulias "consistently fights for the middle class, represents people over special interests and will move our country forward by empowering working families."  In turn, Giannoulias praised the Chicago congressman's vote against a ten-year-old piece of legislation that ultimately paved the way for the financial crisis:

Giannoulias said he agreed with Gutierrez's vote against the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999 that allowed investment banks, commercial banks and insurance firms to create institutions that were "too big to fail" and mix government-insured savings with risky investments.

"Financial deregulation in Washington and pure greed on Wall Street led to the collapse of our financial system," Giannoulais said. "Congressman Gutierrez had the common sense to vote against deregulation. Now we hope to work together in Congress to fix what's wrong with our financial sector, restore accountability and oversight to the industry and prevent these speculative binges and high-wire gambles so taxpayers aren't left footing the bill."

On Friday, David Hoffman rolled out his economic plan.  But that news got overshadowed by his baseless claim that Giannoulias broke a campaign pledge not to accept corporate PAC money by taking $500 from the Community Bankers Association.  In fact, as the Tribune pointed out, the Giannoulias campaign never cashed the check, opting to return it instead. 

Yesterday, the Giannoulias campaign said that Hoffman "owes Alexi an apology."  This morning, they got their wish:

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Since entering the U.S. Senate race, former Chicago Inspector General David Hoffman has repeatedly suggested that fellow Democrat Alexi Giannoulias can't beat GOP frontrunner Mark Kirk in the general election.  Today, the Giannoulias campaign released a poll that indicates, if the election were held today, their candidate would fare better against Kirk than Hoffman.  Here is the pair of head-to-head results (the only data made available by the Giannoulias camp):

Giannoulias: 46%
Kirk: 43%

Hoffman: 39%
Kirk: 48%

*Results based on a sample of 805 likely general election voters conducted October 25th – 28th.  Margin of error: +/- 3.5%

A Rasmussen poll conducted in mid-September found somewhat similar results: Giannoulias and Kirk tied at 41 percent and Kirk leading Hoffman by 10 percentage points. Rasmussen also had Kirk leading Democrat Cheryle Jackson by four points.

Speaking of Jackson, she filed her nominating petitions just an hour before the deadline today.

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As some may have noticed, our campaign coverage has taken a back-seat to some other issues in the past month.  Expect it to ramp back up at the beginning of next week.

In the meantime, those interested in the intersection of social media and political campaigns should check out a feature on U.S. Senate David Hoffman's newly-redesigned website.  First some background: From a technological standpoint, one of the notable aspects of Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign was the large user community that sprung up around its website, my.barackobama.com.  Millions of users regularly flocked there because the campaign allowed them to actually publish blog posts and interact with each other on the site.  Now, in the wake of his victory, lower-level campaigns are wondering how they can build similar engagement online.  Most don't have the resources to moderate the type of community built by Obama's new media team.  Moreover, there just isn't the same degree of interest in congressional or statewide races as you see during a presidential campaign. 

So what other options are out there?

Many campaigns are actively using Twitter to keep followers up-to-speed on the latest developments (see Alexi Giannoulias, Cheryle Jackson, and Dan Hynes as prime examples on the Democratic side).  Now, with his new website, Hoffman is trying to up the ante by encouraging and exposing the interaction that happens on Twitter. 

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The latest from the 2010 electoral landscape in Illinois ...

IL GOVERNOR

As we watched him roll out campaign ads and accept high-profile endorsements in recent months, we forgot that Gov. Pat Quinn never actually held an official launch for his 2010 campaign.  Today, he's doing just that with a kick-off event in Chicago, followed by announcement stops in eight other Illinois cities: Springfield, Cahokia, Herrin, West Frankfort, Mt. Vernon, Salem, Mattoon, and Tuscola.  We'll have some photos from the Chicago event later today.

Quinn's launch coincides with his release of his economic plan, titled "Jobs and Growth for Illinois."  Here are the five priorities laid out under this plan:

1) Rebuilding the state’s foundations by investing in public works and 21st-century communications systems.

2) Investing in clean energy to create jobs today and sustainable energy resources for our future.

3) Protecting and increasing the state’s investment in our human capital through education. 

4) Encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation through strategic use of state investment to provide start-up capital.

5) Expanding the state economy by bringing Illinois to the world.

You can find more detail on each priority here.

Meanwhile, if you haven't seen challenger Dan Hynes' latest ad -- this one 100 percent positive -- you can view it below:

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After voting for Barack Obama and a Democratic majority in 2008, most of the electorate is clearly ready to see a liberal Congress fix some of America's enduring problems. Health reform is one of those top priorities. Both Obama and congressional hopefuls emphasized the issue throughout their campaigns, promising to tackle health care accessibility quickly when they got to Washington. And voters approve of the broad approach they have taken. An August Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll found that when the interviewer read an "accurate, neutrally phrased description of the main features of the plan that Obama supports," 56 percent of people approved and 38 percent opposed. Just this week, a majority of respondents told the Washington Post that they favor a Democratic-only bill rather than a bipartisan one if the Dem version includes a public insurance option (arguably the most contentious issue in the health care debate) and the bipartisan one doesn’t.

That being said, health care reform as structured by congressional Democrats and the White House is viewed by some as a risky proposition for Democrats representing moderate districts.  And according to congressman and U.S. Senate candidate Mark Kirk -- master political opportunist that he is -- the Democratic leaders should kill the entire reform push as a result. From Politico this morning:

“If they pass this bill, I wouldn’t want to be a Democrat standing for reelection in 2010,” said Arizona Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.).

Added Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.): “Several dozen House Democrats risk losing their jobs if they vote for reform.”

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and all three major Democratic Senate candidates here in Illinois blasted Kirk for his comment this afternoon.

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The latest from the Illinois electoral landscape ...

IL GOVERNOR

A poll released by the Paul Simon Institute on Public Policy late last week showed Gov. Pat Quinn with a sizeable lead over comptroller and Democratic gubernatorial challenger Dan Hynes:

Quinn:  33.9%
Hynes: 16.5%
Someone else: 14.2%
Don't know/No answer: 35.4%
MOE +/- 5/4%

Since our last 2010 round-up, this race has also seen its share of additional endorsements.  A week ago, Quinn accepted the backing of Rep. Phil Hare, who said that the "Illinois Congressional delegation finally has a partner inSpringfield, instead of a punch line."  Watch a video put together by the campaign: 

Today, Quinn is scheduled to receive the endorsement of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150. Last week, that same union's state council announced their support for challenger Dan Hynes, who also received the endorsement of the sheet metal workers union.

IL SENATE

In the nation's Capitol last week, reporters spotted Alexi Giannoulias leaving the White House where he told them he'd been huddling with senior adviser David Axelrod to discuss the Democratic Senate primary. At this point, Giannoulias is leading in the polls and in the fundraising race, but doubts remain about his viability among the Democratic establishment in D.C. Yesterday, the Washington Post reported on that dynamic:

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