Update: Alexi Giannoulias' fiancee is longtime girlfriend Tara Flocco, a public-affairs staffer at Edelman and philanthropist with the Chicago Children's Choir. Hat tip to Slats Lonigan on Twitter (@chitownpolitics) for the link.
Original post: What do Google searchers want to know about state Treasurer and U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias?
Is it his platform? His endorsements? His take on the latest scuffle between Gov. Pat Quinn and rival Dan Hynes?
Nah. It's his girlfriend.
We don't know whether desperate housewives or college coeds are interested in Giannoulias' love life. Google's data will tell us only so much.
But next to the man himself, Google's most-suggested search related to Giannoulias is "Alexi Giannoulias girlfriend."
Also in the top 10: "Alexi Giannoulias married."
Google's suggested searches are based on popular searches related to initial letters typed by searchers. And you need type no further than the G in "Alexi G" to find the second-most popular search result.
Apparently, the campaign's adding to the mystique. We asked his campaign press secretary for a possible explanation, but Kati Phillips gave us no more than a "no comment."
The secrecy seems to be nothing new. In a 2007 St. Louis Post-Dispatch article, writer Adam Jadhav described Giannoulias' girlfriend as a woman "whose name he closely guards."
At least we know she likes French fries — and that he lets her check for food in his teeth.
Windy Citizen 