* Press release…

The largest progressive group of veterans in America, VoteVets Action Fund, is up in Illinois with a $600,000 statewide ad buy, over the next two weeks, featuring an Illinois veteran saying that when it comes to security, the military, and veterans, he trusts Tammy Duckworth, over Senator Mark Kirk. VoteVets vowed that this would be just the first ad on the issue of security, military, and veterans, as long as Senator Kirk wants to make it into an issue.

Opening with a shot of a Blackhawk helicopter and fading to pictures of Tammy Duckworth, Michael Terranova, a Marine Corps veteran from Chicago says, “You gotta be a special kind of person to fly one of these. That’s Tammy Duckworth. After she lost her legs in service to her country, she still served ten more years in the National Guard. But now Senator Mark Kirk is attacking her, asking who do you trust? Well Senator, you voted against fixing broken equipment that keep guys like me safe in the field, and against expanding our veterans benefits when we get home. So to answer your question…I trust Tammy Duckworth and it’s not even close.”

In 2014, Senator Mark Kirk voted against a $21 billion package, supported by veterans’ groups, that would have greatly expanded veterans care. And in 2003, while in the House, Mark Kirk voted against an amendment that the Washington Post said, in part, would have allocated money “for the repair and replacement of damaged equipment” for troops in the field.

“Frankly, we’re thrilled that Senator Kirk spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to turn this election into one about security and the military,” said Jon Soltz, Iraq War Veteran and Chairman of VoteVets.org, referring to an ad that Kirk launched this week. “If there are two political losers for Mark Kirk, they’re the issues of trust and keeping America strong and safe. As long as he wants to keep on talking about it, we’ll happily keep running ads like these, because there’s not a shadow of a doubt that Tammy Duckworth wins if this campaign is about those issues.”

* The ad is pretty good…

…Adding… Kirk campaign…

“Yet another blatantly false and dishonest ad by Rep. Duckworth and her liberal SuperPac allies in an attempt to distract from Duckworth’s reckless and extreme policy of allowing 200,000 Syrian refugees into the US even though they cannot safely be screened. The simple truth is that while Senator Kirk secured a historic level of funding for veterans’ benefits, Rep. Duckworth has spent her time preparing for her April trial where she faces charges that she fired Veterans’ Affairs employees after they blew the whistle on her for not responding to veterans being abused and receiving poor care while she served as the Director.”

More here.

* Meanwhile, from the Tribune…

Republican Sen. Mark Kirk’s campaign is complaining about the latest in a series of incorrect statements and advertising against the incumbent lawmaker. […]

The latest came Thursday when the Democratic-backed Senate Majority PAC attacked Kirk in a social media ad for “obstructionism” on filling the vacancy of Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court.

Kirk initially took no stand on whether President Barack Obama should forward a nominee to the Senate, but then broke with party leaders and said a nominee should be considered. Kirk’s decision to break ranks came a day after Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, of Kentucky, declared that no nominee would be considered by the majority.

All this huffing and puffing (I received 6 e-mails from the Kirk campaign) was about a single tweet pointing to a web page. Happily, the offending tweet is no longer on the Senate Majority PAC’s feed.

* And I’m told there are just 275 ratings points behind this new Andrea Zopp ad as of yesterday morning, all in Chicago…

* Apparently, a TV ad touting Kay Hagan for US Senate is also playing occasionally on Chicago network TV. Somebody really messed up badly. Hagan lost her North Carolina race in 2014 and isn’t running again.