44 Comments - Cincinnatus - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 11:40 am: Salon’s Mark Greenbaum calls this the “race between the worst candidates ever“… “No matter what, Illinois voters seem certain to face a choice between two candidates with comically offensive deficiencies.” Apparently, Salon hasn’t focussed on the Gubernatorial race. Probably would be a photo finish… - Living in Oklahoma - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 11:56 am: Salon is right on the mark. Kirk is the worst candidate in the history of the republican party, and Alexi has become a giraffe on stilts. One one hand I have a congressman who lies about his military record, and stands for hardly any of the republican parties values, and on the other hand I have a silver spoon in his mouth banker / basketball player. Can we just keep Roland? - Rob_N - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 12:00 pm: Rich says, “Kirk has had media availabilities almost every day for the past week or so.” And the result has been headlines like these: Daily Herald: “Kirk now silent on military record” SJ-R: “Kirk reverses strategy, declines to talk about military record” AP via Trib: “Ill. Senate candidate clams up over Navy record” …Whole lotta good it’s doing Kirk to (yet again) say one thing and then immediately do another. - Anonymous - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 12:09 pm: I think it’s a smart move on the part of Giannoulias’ campaign. They’re still firing, but keeping Giannoulias in the clear. Still riding the “dishonesty” wave, Giannoulias’ not being available could be perceived as–”well-mannered” guy that he is, he doesn’t want to get all personal by having to talk anymore about Kirk’s alleged “personality flaws”. Kirk’s dodging the press was probably perceived as Kirk’s dodging questions about Kirk himself. Looks like he’s applying the advice V-Man and others here provided re: the Broadway Bank issue after it had obviously taken on a “life of its own” in the media. And while I’d hate to add to everyone’s probs, I’m wondering how “valid” McConnell’s statement regarding how well Kirk’s Campaign is being run sounds to others–and whether he might be trying hard to convince others. Obviously watching this stuff closely, I’m sitting back and wondering what he’s seeing–or has been told, or whether his only measure is $$. Maybe not a big deal with the general public, though, because of the number of people who probably heard that sound byte and then of that group, how many are in the habit of evaluating Campaigns. But that sound byte in particular is making me wonder. - VanillaMan - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 12:10 pm: I don’t expect candidates really seeing the need for press support and news transparency as benefitting them. With our new media and with the continual decline of traditional news reporting, candidates have more options than glad-handing and appeasing journalists with accessibility to their candidacies. Both US Senate candidates have experienced rather unfavorable treatment recently. For them to wish to avoid journalists right now is completely understandable. Reporters wondering why both candidates are avoiding them by publically questioning how they are hiding from the media are just looking for new spots on these politicians to stick their pins into. Over the past decade, citizens have become more aware of the political role being played by traditional media. So when journalists hound candidates and attempt to hide their political biases while they report on a political race, citizens are also measuring journalists, and finding them lacking as well. So when journalists complain, not everyone jumps anymore. - shore - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 12:16 pm: Remind me again how Congressman Kirk is the worst candidate ever for senate. He has the best resume and experience of any general election candidate for the job at least the last 20 years. - Anonymous - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 12:18 pm: =Whole lotta good it’s doing Kirk to (yet again) say one thing and then immediately do another.= I kind of disagree with that one. The repetition in this case is probably helpful. Headline after headline saying he’s not going to talk about it anymore, so when he refuses again in future, people will probably (begin to) “understand”. - Anonymous - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 12:19 pm: BTW, is there a press conference on the calendar for Kirk this afternoon? Any ideas as to topic(s)? - A.B. - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 12:23 pm: @ Oklahoma Kirk is the worst Senate candidate? I think Alan Keyes has that award locked up for generations. The fact is that Kirk is neck and neck in this race and is the strongest Republican in an Illinois Senate race since Fitzgerald’s candidacy in ‘98. If we had put up one of the other candidates that were in the primary, Giannoulias would likely be leading and have a 2 to 1 money advantage. Name recognition and the ability to raise money made Kirk the only real candidate in the primary from the beginning. - Rob_N - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 12:25 pm: Anon 12:18, Oh please. The man said he was going to be open and upfront and that all questions were legitimate since he’s running for a “higher office”. And now, as the papers have said, he’s “clammed up”. – Shore says, “He has the best resume and experience of any general election candidate for the job at least the last 20 years.” If that’s true then why has Kirk habitually lied about his resume and experience? And what else is he lying about now and what else will he lie to us about in the future? - Anonymous - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 12:28 pm: “Image”, shore–and his integrity (right or wrong) has been hit. Tough stuff from which to recover. Doable, but it’s probably not going to happen by continuing to beat up on Alexi day after day–until a certain level of “recovery” has been achieved. - Anonymous - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 12:29 pm: So you could say it looks like Kirk might be in a bit of a “catch 22″ right now. - Thomas Westgard - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 12:30 pm: “When your opponent is destroying himself, don’t intervene.” Alexi has his share of problems and mistakes, but this isn’t one of them. Kirk’s desperate need for a change of subject just comes off as weak to me. - Rich Miller - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 12:30 pm: ===is there a press conference on the calendar for Kirk this afternoon?=== Yes. - A.B. - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 12:31 pm: Honestly the key to an election is to raise your opponents negatives, while raising your positives. Right now, I think, we see Kirk stepping away from his negatives and attempting to focus on raising his positives, and breaking the negative cycle is a challenge. On the flip side, I think Giannoulias is taking the tact of focusing on raising money and trying to move past his negatives without talking for awhile. I think the failure here is that he will still have an uphill climb to raise his positives, because the media won’t allow the questions to go away. All the while he is trying to continue to raise Kirk’s negatives, without attaching his face to a sound bite. It will be interesting to see which strategy works best. If I were building the strategy, I’d be taking the Kirk route because it gets the positives ball rolling quicker and allows the media to get all of their questions out, before the public really starts to make their decisions around Labor Day. - Anonymous - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 12:31 pm: The only “quick” recovery, might be something absolutely “startling” about Giannoulias–and that’ll probably raise things to a whole new level, fairly “early on”. - Anonymous - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 12:36 pm: =Anon 12:18, Oh please.= People do it all the time, Rob–and IMHO the one who’s mastered it completely: Daley. - Anonymous - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 12:39 pm: And I’ll even repeat (paraphrased), shore, something said on another blog. The hits to his integrity came out before alot of people had an opportunity to “meet him”. Bit of a different perspective to those who don’t live in the 10th. - Responsa - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 12:51 pm: With respect to Mark and Alexi and the Salon article: The “They’re both lousy candidates” seems to be a mantra being pushed mostly from the left side of the media and blogosphere. But it does not appear to be the over-arching sentiment from the other side of the political spectrum from what I can ascertain. At least most Kirk supporters, as well as a number of independents I have spoken with recently who admit they were surprised and disappointed about his resume enhancements, still view Kirk as a vastly superior and much more qualified candidate for US` Senate than his opponents and do plan to vote for him. I include myself in this group. Obviously, there are some both on the far right and the left who will not vote for Kirk on idealogical grounds, separate from any perceived character issues. The polls a month from now may be more instructive on what issues have legs and which do not. - Anonymous - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 12:52 pm: =Kirk’s desperate need for a change of subject just comes off as weak to me.= Short of a bomb as I stated earlier, I’d say it depends entirely on the “change of subject” and how it’s handled. Being in a catch 22 and continuing to “nag” probably isn’t going to do it. Starting to focus on issues will. Recovery will be slower, but stable (with hopefully enough time left)–unless, of course, they screw it up by sending out pages and pages and pages of “stuff” on highly complex topics instead of being able to communicate that info in a way that voters can understand and relate to. - The REAL Anonymous fka Anonymous - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 12:57 pm: Sorry, before people start jumping in. Forgot to change my handle from the default. All previous entries are mine. - The REAL Anonymous fka Anonymous - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 1:09 pm: And, just some feedback (which I’m sure NO ONE is going to hear), the $100 board and PowerPoint presentations are great visuals and it’s nice to see a bit of a “business” oriented approach to politics. However, they–too–are EXTREMELY complex AND cluttered. Anyone in the business world will tell you so. Fewer boxes, not as many colors (or more efficient use of colors), less “obvious” callouts (with the more obvious ones like “arrows” providing too much of a distraction from the real flow or relationships), etc. will go a long way. Might sound nit-picky, but good communication and use of solid visuals is just that. - Wumpus - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 1:21 pm: Kirk is flawed, not perfcect, but he is qualified (IMO). Alexi is similar, but not qualified at all. Alexi, last I heard, was in the gulf cleaning up the oil - The REAL Anonymous fka Anonymous - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 1:32 pm: You do know, Wumpus, that sooner or later someone’s going to post the actual “qualifications” to run for Senate, right? - GOB Bluth - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 1:33 pm: Speaking of AWOL. Has Alexi released his fundraising totals? - The REAL Anonymous fka Anonymous - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 1:33 pm: And as much of a disappointment this may seem to SOME of Kirk’s supporters, no one ever saw him as “perfect”. - wordslinger - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 1:37 pm: I think it’s poor practice for the media to allow candidates to drop negative quotes from press releases. It’s too easy. If someone wants to go negative, make them say it themselves out loud and take a few followup questions. - A.B. - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 1:52 pm: @ wordslinger I think that might be the best comment you have ever made! Unfortunately I think that today’s shrinking media hole makes that less and less likely. - The REAL Anonymous fka Anonymous - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 1:53 pm: Word, word! And no one said this was a “perfect” world either. lol - Anonymous - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 2:06 pm: Cinnnatus is right. Alexi/Kirk does not even make worst ILLINOIS race THIS YEAR. Who, given the choice, would not vote for Alexi or Kirk over Quinn and Brady? Compared to Quinn and Brady, Alexi/Kirk is Lincoln/Douglas. Or maybe Simon/Percy (the last time we had two quality candidates on the ballot for both parties). - chiatty - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 2:07 pm: Where’s Alexi? I’m guessing he’s enjoying his summer while ducking the media and waiting for the post-Labor Day bombs to hit Kirk. - The REAL Anonymous fka Anonymous - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 2:21 pm: =would not vote for Alexi or Kirk over Quinn and Brady= There’s that apples and oranges thing again. - raising kane - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 2:21 pm: Alexi can’t emerge from his hole now because of his taxes. And he can’t emerge later this week because of his fundraising numbers. And on it will go. So, I think between now and the end of the campaign we will have a better chance of seeing Punxsutawney Phil’s shadow than Alexi’s. - The REAL Anonymous fka Anonymous - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 2:26 pm: Why, Kane? Alexi is the “lovable, puppy-eyed” underdog right now. - Loop Lady - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 2:40 pm: Alexi should be a man let someone else take the spot if it’s not too late politically speaking…he’s in way over his head and will surely lose the seat…trouble is what Dem could best give Kirk a run for the money?… - The REAL Anonymous fka Anonymous - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 2:48 pm: LL, why would you be calling on Alexi to step down right now? Not to say some people wouldn’t like to see that, but I’m confused re: what you’re using as criteria. - The REAL Anonymous fka Anonymous - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 2:51 pm: i.e., do you know something some of us don’t re: his numbers this quarter and/or ongoing support? - A.B. - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 3:28 pm: @LoopLady Nobody of merit would take on the challenge, too far behind in money to go after Kirk at this point. $4 Mil down is way too much. - 10th Indy - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 4:40 pm: Where is Alexi? Collecting campaign cash in Canada according to Crains. - Team America - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 5:02 pm: To be fair, it appears that Alexi was chasing American trial lawyers up there, not so much trying to collect Loonies for his campaign. - (618) Democrat - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 5:21 pm: @ shore 12:16 =Remind me again how Congressman Kirk is the worst candidate ever for senate. He has the best resume and experience of any general election candidate for the job at least the last 20 years.= Kirk is a liar! You can’t believe a word Kirk says. A question for those who know Kirk. How old was Kirk and what body of water was he in when he allegedly almost drowns and was saved by the Coast Guard? - The REAL Anonymous fka Anonymous - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 5:41 pm: Why, 618, do you have something that contradicts his story? - Cincinnatus - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 9:09 pm: - 10th Indy - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 4:40 pm: Where is Alexi? Collecting campaign cash in Canada according to Crains. Sure hope that 100% of the monies Alexi collects are from American citizens. He wouldn’t be foolish enough to accept money from foreigners, would he? - Rob_N - Monday, Jul 12, 10 @ 11:46 pm: Team goes after his own kind by bashing his fellow lawyers. Odd. Cincy, it was a convention with plenty of US citizens present. PS - John McCain had a fundraiser for his presidential run across the pond in London, England. This isn’t a new concept. http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/03/394164.html Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.