Alexi Giannoulias
Bagels & Ballots: Counting the Days
Counting on Labor: Two candidates included in our Races to Watch are the subjects of negative union-backed ad campaigns: Pat Toomey for Pennsylvania senate, and Mark Kirk for Illinois senate, Republicans both. In Pennsylvania, the union will announce $2 million in campaign efforts, including a push for voter turnout for Democrat Joe Sestak. In Illinois, a union PAC is running an ad against Kirk. (YouTube via Politico’s Morning Score
Bagels & Ballots: Now With Kosher Meat
By the Numbers: Senatorial polls have been looking dismal for Democrats as they’ve slid downwards. But, as Nate Silver writes, recent numbers show a slight uptick. For example: In Illinois, “a Rasmussen Reports poll now shows the Democrat, Alexi Giannoulias, with a 1-point lead; he had trailed by 4 points in their previous survey of the race.” On the other hand, Wisconsin is trending Republican, with Ron Johnson’s eight-point lead over incumbent Russ Feingold. (FiveThirtyEight on the New York Times)
Republican Jewish Group Take Out Big Ad Buys in Races Nationwide
This could be the biggest single injection of Jewish organizational money into the mid-term campaign so far.
Bagels and Ballots — Wednesday
A Story You Can Bank On: Illinois senatorial candidate Alexi Giannoulias, a former official at his family’s Chicago area bank, is “consistently vague” about just what he did there, the Chicago Tribune finds. In the words of his opponent Mark Kirk, “First he said he was the senior loan officer and ran much of the bank in order to be elected state treasurer. Then, when it was revealed that the Tony Rezko loans were made, he said, ‘Well, I left in 2005.’ Then when it was revealed that he took a $2.7 million tax deduction that required him to justify 500 hours of work (in 2006), he said that he actually was there in 2006.” (Chicago Tribune)
Bagels and Ballots - Wednesday
-Reading Rahm: White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is still playing out the possibility of running to become Chicago’s first Jewish mayor. A recent poll of his own gave Rahmbo a 14-point lead against possible challengers. (NBC)