Illinois Republicans are in a dilly of a pickle: Sen. Mark Kirk is almost certainly the only guy they have who's both sufficiently prominent and capable of pulling off the tricky-to-wear "moderate" outfit to give them a chance at holding his Senate seat next year. But Kirk's dangerous mouth keeps undermining his carefully composed look, which led one prominent local fundraiser to say over the summer that he'd
like to see Kirk replaced on the ticket.
That uncomfortably public suggestion was quickly shouted down and retracted, but even if the GOP is indeed worried that Kirk's penchant for idiotic remarks presents a serious obstacle to his re-election, what alternatives do they have? No one, really, but Rep. Adam Kinzinger's willing to trying out for the part.
Kinzinger's certainly conservative, but lately, reports Crain's Chicago Business, he's been trying to remake his image and done a more moderate guise. Kinzinger still wants to defund Planned Parenthood (unlike Kirk)—the videos are "barbaric"—but he's smart enough to say things that make him sound like a dissenter from the GOP's hard line, like, "I'm worried that we're alienating the people we need to win" and "I'm not anti-federal government. I'm for a smaller, more efficient government."
So what's Kinzinger's angle? He says that the House won't be the last stop in his electoral career and that he'd run for something bigger "[i]f there's a need." Could that need involve, say, Mark Kirk stepping aside? Kinzinger would only say he has "no indication" that Kirk isn't running again. There are certainly stronger statements of support Kinzinger could have offered than that.