Giannoulias, Quinn At Risk In Illinois Primary

[spiritual_gunfighter]

Giannoulias, Quinn at risk in Illinois primary
By Aaron Blake - 02/02/10 06:00 AM ET

Illinois voters head to the polls Tuesday for the nation’s first primary of 2010.


While much of the action lies ahead in these races, Tuesday’s outcome will determine who will be on the ballot in November, and who has the momentum.

Here’s what you need to know to follow the contests:


Senate

State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias’s campaign is confident heading into Tuesday despite some late troubles, and he is the odds-on favorite. If he struggles, it will likely be at the hands of former Chicago Inspector General David Hoffman, who has harnessed some momentum but appears to be stunted by the presence of Chicago Urban League President Cheryle Robinson Jackson in the race.

Hoffman has raised more than $2 million for the race, but recent polling shows him trailing by double digits. All of that polling, however, was conducted before the Giannoulias family bank was forced to enter into a consent decree with federal and state regulators to avoid collapse. The bank has also caused problems for Giannoulias because it provided loans to an organized crime figure and convicted political fixer Tony Rezko.

Should Giannoulias hang on for the win, observers will look closely at his margin of victory for hints as to how strong a general-election candidate he will be against the presumptive GOP nominee, Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.). The good news for Giannoulias is that even if he doesn’t come out of Tuesday looking strong, he has nine months to put together the kind of campaign Democrats hoped for from the young former basketball buddy of President Barack Obama. The bad news is, he’s got plenty more of what’s happened in the past week ahead of him.

Kirk is a heavy favorite on the GOP side, despite some early questions about just how much the GOP base would support someone with a centrist record in the House. Developer Patrick Hughes hasn’t been able to put together the kind of funds needed to give Kirk a real scare, and a crowded field should benefit the congressman on Tuesday. Kirk doesn’t appear terribly concerned with the primary, as he had $3.2 million in unspent campaign funds in the bank as of Jan. 13.


Governor

Gov. Pat Quinn (D) could well be the victim of a primary challenge Tuesday, with state Comptroller Dan Hynes surging toward the end of the race and the two neck-and-neck in the most recent polling. Hynes has used some brutal campaign advertising to call into question Quinn’s competency for the job, which he was not elected to. And that’s to say nothing of the fact that Quinn was Rod Blagojevich’s lieutenant governor.

Republicans are hoping for the best when it comes to their primary, but it’s not clear what “the best” is. Former state party Chairman Andy McKenna brings plenty of personal funds to the race, but he’s involved in a jumbled field of Republican hopefuls. Others who could factor into the primary Tuesday include former state Attorney General Jim Ryan, state Sen. Kirk Dillard and state Sen. Bill Brady. Businessman Adam Andrzejewski and political consultant Dan Proft are also in the mix and could draw significant votes.

http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/79129-giannoulias-quinn-at-risk-in-illinois-primary-tuesday

[ieoeja]

1. I'm voting for Giannoulias ... because of Hoffman's ad.

The bank issued loans to Rezko? It would probably be more difficult finding a bank that did *not* issue loans to Rezko. What that ad said to me was, "vote for me if you're stupid." Since I don't particularly consider myself stupid, I decided to vote for Giannoulias.

I also made a last minute switch to Hynes. I think Quinn is getting screwed in all of this. But Hynes favors pretty much the same agenda, would stand an infinitely better chance at getting that agenda through Springfield (where Quinn is an ignored do-gooder), has a better chance of winning the general, and makes no bones about favoring full marriage equality.