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...
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...
Two days ahead of a powerful pro-Israel lobbying conference in Washington, U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk's campaign is trying to tie Democratic rival Alexi Giannoulias with Iranian state interests.
Giannoulias has called Iran "the greatest single threat to peace in the Middle East." But his family's Broadway Bank secured a loan from a French bank with investments in the Central Bank of Iran and the country's energy sector.
The Weekly Standard, a conservative magazine, reported the link this morning, shortly before The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, commonly known as AIPAC, holds its annual policy conference this weekend. Read more...
