Mark Kirk, the GOP's most endangered senator, is doing his damnedest to convince the people of Illinois that he really isn't a Republican. No, he wants them to know, he's an "independent" voice for the state. Call it the Trump effect.
The Illinois senator became the first Republican last month to release an anti-Trump television ad, which said his party's presumptive nominee "is not fit to be commander in chief."
The 32-second spot, running in the Chicago market, outlines Kirk's efforts to present himself to voters in his liberal-leaning state as more moderate than his fellow Republicans in Washington. […]
A few weeks into his dump Trump strategy, Kirk says bucking the top of his ticket is paying off.
"It's helped because I'm a very independent voice for Illinois," he told CNN, adding that his strategy helps "make sure that people know that I always put Illinois first."
Never mind his anti-Obamacare vote, or his participation in all those Republican filibusters before they regained control of the Senate. Or how, just last year, he remained in lockstep with Republicans to allow the Department of Homeland Security to shut down over a fight with President Obama on immigration. You remember that, when he famously said: "The Republicans—if there is a successful attack during a DHS shutdown—we should build a number of coffins outside each Democratic office and say, 'You are responsible for these dead Americans.'" No, nothing Republican about saying that.
Of course, within days of that inflammatory statement there was new polling out on the issue, and Kirk swung wildly around to the conclusion that "I generally agree with the Democratic position here."
So what are Illinois voters to believe? Nothing that comes out of Mark Kirk's mouth.
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