From The Art of Politik
Democratic primary attacks from David Hoffman and his followers are hollow, reek of GOP anti-Obama criticisms in 2008.
Inter-party attacks show inconsistency, flagging support for a little known dem candidate.
Dems hopes to retain two Senate seats rise with a strong showing for Giannoulias in the primaries.
Even Cheryl Jackson, a lesser known candidate has a wide lead over Hoffman.
Chicago Tribune Polling 12/14/09 (Democratic Primary): Giannoulias (D) 31% - Cheryl Jackson (D)17% - David Hoffman (D) 9%
Rasmussen Polling 12/11/09 (General Election): Alexi Giannoulias (D) 42% - Mark Kirk (R) 39% - Giannoulias +3%
In the past two years alone, we've made great inroads to repairing the economic calamity America has been left with under Republican rule for eight years.
Once again, Americans are called upon to wield their constitutionally given right to fire or re-contract our representatives in the U.S. Congress. No doubt, these races get contentious, but sometimes every once in a while there are few issues thrown into the open because there's really not many to discuss.
In this case of David Hoffman versus Alexi Giannoulias, we find ourselves in similar territory.
Let's get some things cleared straight away. Alexi Giannoulias has former ties to a small bank owned by his family that formerly held ties to Tony Rezko; a bank Alexi quickly severed ties with. It is also significant to state that the bank is a small one, and any chances of ire directed towards the state treasurer because of his ties to a small town bank related to Henry Paulson's TARP program seem highly overstated.
The Giannoulias family is an immigrant family that got to the United States and quickly were able to bring upon themselves the reality of an American dream come true. I don't believe voters will be quickly hypnotized because the word 'bank' is mentioned near Alexi's name.
Many pundits are calling the race a toss up in a state that hasn't found itself very willing to vote republican since George Ryan was indicted a few years back. People of course aren't amnesiacs and aren't quickly to forget good ol' Blago, but these two governors are creating a cognitive dissonance among Illinoisans who simply don't know where to turn to find suitable people to run the state.
Let us not forget that the 2008 elections were held during the whole Blagojevich debacle and had little if any bearing on state elections at the time. We found historically republican districts being won by democrats.
There's no denying that the race in 2010 is closer because of Blagojevich, but Rasmussen's latest poll shows Alexi 3 percentage points ahead of Mark Kirk, and that's of course considering that Rasmussen has been recently proved to show inflated numbers for republicans. The last poll before that, run about this same time last year by Research 2000 showed Giannoulias 8 points ahead of Kirk.
I can't offer any big criticism of David Hoffman, because truly, there is little of it to be had. I could criticize him as Giannoulias did in a recent debate between the two for using tons of his own money to fund his campaign, but that issue is neither here nor there. A candidate has that option if they have the money to do so as much as it pushes down grassroots candidates.
Both Giannoulias and Hoffman would be great candidates to fill the President's old Senate seat, but let's be realistic about this. David Hoffman is a weak candidate for the seat severely lagging in primary polls.
Illinoisans know Giannoulias well. He's been on the political scene for a few years now and holds the respect of republicans and democrats alike. He's been the type of political figure you'd want to run your state, he's been people friendly and never afraid to lend his constituents a personal word despite how busy he may be. I've even had direct messages from the man himself through Facebook.
If all David Hoffman supporters can cling on to is his severely loose ties to Tony Rezko, then I really struggle to understand why these concerns weren't raised by these same people in their support of Barack Obama in 2008. That's being disastrously inconsistent in an attempt to boost a candidate that has little chance of winning to begin with.
The only real benefit that could come from Hoffman's challenge would be the strengthening of Giannoulias as a candidate, but since Mark Kirk has no real primary challenges himself, any serious attempt to low blow Giannoulias into a loss would give the image of a weak candidate and dimming the chances of Illinois maintaining dual democratic Senate seats since Peter Fitzgerald retired.
Let's end these shenanigans now. We have much left to do in the U.S. Congress to keep supporting a candidate in Hoffman who has little recourse left in trying to win this election.
If you must, cast your vote for Hoffman in the primaries, but a strong democratic showing for our nominee will undoubtedly reap huge benefits for that person in the general election. You should really think about it.