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In fight for Illinois Senate seat, both sides already dealing blows

The Illinois Senate seat formerly held by Barack Obama stands a decent chance of going to a Republican, analysts say. Primary voters on Tuesday selected Rep. Mark Kirk (R) to vie against state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias (D).

The stage is set for a fierce battle over Barack Obama鈥檚 old Senate seat.

Rep. Mark Kirk, a moderate Republican, won Illinois鈥檚 primary Tuesday in the Senate race. He is hoping to reenact Scott Brown鈥檚 victory in Massachusetts and take the seat from Democrats in November.

His opponent is Alexi Giannoulias, the Illinois treasurer and a friend of Mr. Obama, who beat back a growing challenge from David Hoffman.

While a number of states, including Nevada, Delaware, and Arkansas, show potential for shifting the Senate landscape and ceding seats to Republicans, Illinois鈥檚 race is particularly personal for the White House.

The seat is currently held by Roland Burris (D), who took office after Obama vacated the seat to become president. Mr. Burris鈥檚 appointment by ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) was mired in controversy.

The loss of the seat to Republicans in this solidly Democratic-leaning state would be heralded by the GOP as a major coup.

'Out of touch' vs. 'corrupt'

Already, each side in the race is taking shots at the other.

Mr. Giannoulias, in his victory speech, sought to portray Representative Kirk as out of touch with the electorate. He cited an old Kirk quote about unemployment not being a big issue in his district, adding, 鈥淚t鈥檚 obvious that you鈥檝e spent too many years in Washington, voting with the special interests to ship our jobs overseas鈥�. But come November, Congressman, your days as a Washington insider are over.鈥�

The National Republican Senatorial Committee, meanwhile, has already trying to connect Giannoulias to former Governor Blagojevich (awaiting trial for fraud), Tony Rezko, and the Mob. 鈥淎lexi Giannoulias: He鈥檇 make Tony Soprano proud,鈥� the ad concludes.

Problems at Giannoulias's family bank, which last week agreed to tougher government oversight and was described as 鈥渦ndercapitalized鈥� by regulators, are also likely to be a liability for Giannoulias. Giannoulias worked as a loan officer there before becoming state treasurer.

鈥淭his will be a very bitter election,鈥� says Dick Simpson, a political scientist at the University of Illinois in Chicago. 鈥淭here will be a lot of attack ads not by the candidates themselves.鈥� Democrats have a 10- to 15-percent advantage over Republicans in Illinois in terms of party affiliation, Professor Simpson adds, but if Kirk can gain enough support from independents, he has a possibility of winning.

Kirk 鈥� a House Republican who supports abortion rights and voted for a cap-and-trade system to cut US carbon emissions 鈥� is far from a 鈥渢ea party鈥� candidate, though he moved to the right during the primary campaign. His military service and years in the US House are likely to be used by Republicans to paint him as a more experienced and knowledgeable choice than Giannoulias, who is nearly 20 years his junior.

鈥淗e鈥檚 the best candidate the Republicans have put forth since [Peter] Fitzgerald,鈥� who won a Senate seat in 1998, says Kent Redfield, a political scientist at the University of Illinois in Springfield. 鈥淗is challenge is to keep those conservative votes 鈥� the 35 to 40 percent who didn鈥檛 vote for him last night 鈥� while moving to the center.鈥�

Still, Professor Redfield notes, Illinois is a Democratic state and Giannoulias has some pluses, including name recognition, charisma, and a strong base.

鈥淭his is a tough state for a Republican to win in, but I鈥檇 be very nervous if I were the national Democrats. At a minimum, they鈥檒l have to spend a lot of money defending a seat rather than trying to pick up a seat somewhere else.鈥�

Gubernatorial lineup in limbo

While the Senate race is at least clear-cut, it鈥檚 still uncertain who the candidates will be for Illinois governor, in the first election since Blagojevich was indicted for fraud.

Pat Quinn, who has served as governor since Blagojevich was ousted, currently has a 0.8 percent lead over his primary opponent in the vote tally, Comptroller Dan Hynes, but Mr. Hynes has yet to concede the race.

The Republican side is even murkier, with the vote nearly evenly split four ways. The two leaders, state Sens. Bill Brady and Kirk Dillard, are separated by fewer than 1,500 votes with 99 percent of the votes counted, with Senator Brady in the lead. A recount seems inevitable.

Governor Quinn is weakened by the perception that he鈥檚 been an ineffective leader, and his apparent narrow victory in the primary won鈥檛 help. But if Brady 鈥搕he lone downstate Republican candidate and the most conservative of the field 鈥� is in fact the victor, 鈥渢he Republicans may have nominated the one person that Pat Quinn can beat,鈥� says Redfield.

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