Monday, June 7, 2010

Illinois Senate race: All insults, all the time

The candidates in one of the nation’s most closely watched Senate races aren’t saying much about health care, the Gulf oil spill or even the economy.

Instead, they’re discussing who’s the least trustworthy.

Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk says Democrat Alexi Giannoulias is a “mob banker.” His allies compare Giannoulias to Tony Soprano and criticize him for wrongly claiming to still head a charity that’s actually defunct.

Illinois isn’t the only state where candidates have exchanged insults, although the race has turned nasty sooner during a time when Kirk and Giannoulias, both not well known statewide, should be introducing themselves to voters, said Christopher Mooney, a political science professor at the University of Illinois at Springfield.

Mooney’s comments were featured in a June 5, 2010, Associated Press article.

Download a PDF of the article