U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias' campaign this afternoon released new poll results showing he's dead even with G.O.P. opponent Mark Kirk.
Giannoulias had trailed Kirk by six points last month after federal regulators seized Broadway Bank. The bank is owned by Giannoulias' family, and he worked as a senior executive during a period when Broadway wrote a series of questionable loans.
Kirk, a congressman representing the North Shore, is now tied at 44% with Giannoulias, according to Giannoulias pollster Michael Bocian. The campaign attributed the bump to ads painting Kirk as a Washington insider who hasn't done much to fix the economy. Read more...
The impact of the upcoming trial of former Governor Rod Blagojevich is already being felt throughout the halls of the Illinois state Capitol.
While the upcoming trial will no doubt bring negative fallout to state Democrats in the coming months, the federal corruption probe into Blagojevich and his administration has spurred numerous ethics-related developments including the formation of a government reform commission headed by former prosecutor Patrick Collins.
The commission proposed campaign finance reform and a renewed push for term limits. Both provisions were rejected by the Democrat majority in the Legislature. Read more...
Alexi Giannoulias got lemons, and he's trying to make lemonade.
Last week, the Giannoulias family's Broadway Bank failed. Federal regulators seized the community bank after it couldn't raise the $85 million it needed to stay out of government hands.
It was a huge and expected blow to Giannoulias' U.S. Senate campaign. His experience at the bank as a senior loan officer was a major asset to his successful 2006 state treasurer campaign — and now it's a liability. Read more...
It's over.
Broadway Bank, for 30 years the Giannoulias family's business, has closed. The Chicago Tribune reports that federal regulators entered the Uptown building just a few minutes ago.
The shutdown was expected after the bank failed to come up with the $85 million it needed to stay out of government hands, and it confronts Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias as his campaign has struggled to win attention from the White House and maintain fundraising pace with Republican Mark Kirk. Read more...
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias criticized Republican opponent Mark Kirk today, poking fun at Kirk's attempt to highlight problems at Giannoulias' family's bank as part of a one-trick campaign.
"He has campaigned on one thing and one thing only: Broadway Bank," Giannoulias said this afternoon. "Just about every sentence ... is a noun, a verb, and 'Broadway Bank.'"
Kirk's campaign spokesman, Eric Elk, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. His campaign released a new video today about the state treasurer's attempt to "downplay" problems at the bank. Read more...
