* National Journal…

“The way I look at it is: Could Ted Cruz win a Sen­ate race in Illinois? I don’t think so,” says Josh Holmes, a former seni­or ad­viser to the Na­tion­al Re­pub­lic­an Sen­at­ori­al Com­mit­tee. He notes that the state’s Re­pub­lic­an sen­at­or, Mark Kirk, has “out­per­formed” the tick­et in the past. […]

While wait­ing to fig­ure out who will be­come their nom­in­ee, Law says that the most ef­fect­ive Sen­ate GOP can­did­ates, like Sens. Rob Port­man of Ohio and Kelly Ayotte of New Hamp­shire, are “hug­ging the ground,” fo­cus­ing on state is­sues like the heroin epi­dem­ic. That, and re­mem­ber­ing the first rule of Steph­en Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Ef­fect­ive People.

“The first habit is to fo­cus your en­ergy on your circle of in­flu­ence versus your circle of con­cern, which ba­sic­ally means you fo­cus your at­ten­tion on things you can af­fect rather than the things you worry about,” said Law.

It ap­pears the can­did­ates agree.

“For me, you could drive your­self crazy, in a tar­geted race like mine, of what will hap­pen,” Kirk told Na­tion­al Journ­al. “And I’m just fo­cused on the people of Illinois.”

* Part of that local focus is pinning his probable Democratic opponent to Speaker Madigan, who has lower poll numbers than just about anybody in the country. It started when Duckworth visited Chicago State University this week and blasted Gov. Rauner…

“Because of the stubbornness of the governor, it’s a month away from shutting its doors to these kids,” Duckworth said, according to remarks released by her campaign. “We can’t punish kids like this.” […]

“By attacking Gov. Rauner, it is clear that Rep. Duckworth is siding with Speaker Michael Madigan and his agenda of higher taxes and no reform,” Kirk campaign manager Kevin Artl said in a statement. […]

“The problem is, Duckworth’s record on higher education is just as bad as Kirk’s,” a statement released by Zopp’s campaign manager Bryce Colquitt read. […]

In debating who supported federal efforts to make college more affordable, Duckworth compared Kirk to Rauner. Kirk compared Duckworth to Madigan. And Zopp compared Duckworth to Kirk.

Got all that?

* Meanwhile, Sen. Kirk just received an “A” grade from the Illinois Education Association…

Illinois’ junior Senator, Mark Kirk, like fellow Republican Rep. Rodney Davis, was a strong supporter of the “Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA),” which replaced the “No Child Left Behind Act.” In addition, though it was not included in the final bill, Kirk and Davis fought hard to get the NEA-backed “Accountability Dashboard” included in ESSA.

Shhhh. Don’t tell Rauner.

* Also, here’s some Kirk campaign oppo on Duckworth for your perusal…

In 2012, Tammy Duckworth Attended A Caterpillar Worker’s Strike Rally. “Tammy Duckworth and Bill Foster also joined the strikers, Democrats running for US Congress in two of the national battleground congressional races to regain a Democratic majority.” (John Bachtell, “Strikers blast Caterpillar greed, reject concessions,” People’s World, 5/14/12)

· “Among the guests and speakers at the rally were Tom Buffenbarger, International President; Robert Roach, Jr., General Secretary-Treasurer; Phil Gruber, Midwest Territory GVP; Tom Giarrante, Mayor, Joliet Illinois; Pat McGuire, Illinois State Senator 43rd Legislative District; Larry Walsh, Will County Executive; Tammy Duckworth, Candidate for Illinois’ 8th U.S. Congressional District; Bill Foster, Candidate for Illinois’ 11th U.S. Congressional District and Tim Drea, Secretary Treasurer, Illinois AFL-CIO.” (“Solidarity Rally for Machinists at Caterpillar,” International Association Of Machinists And Aerospace Workers, 5/15/12)

Duckworth Used The Rally To “Voice Her Disdain For Caterpillar the Company.” Back at the stage, Congressional candidate Tammy Duckworth used the opportunity to voice her disdain for Caterpillar the company. (Pat Barcas, “Fighting Machinists,” IAM Leadership, 5/11/12)

At The Rally Duckworth Admitted She Was A Stockholder But That She Did Not Like What The Company Was Doing At The Time Of The Rally. “She explained how she and her husband had invested in Caterpillar stock years ago when she received a payment from the government over her military injuries. ‘I’m a stockholder. We believed in the company back then and what it stood for. Now, this is not OK. I don’t like this,’ she said.” (Pat Barcas, “Fighting Machinists,” IAM Leadership, 5/11/12)

A Couple Months After The Rally On July 26th 2012, Tammy Duckworth Purchased Between $1,001-$15,000 In Caterpillar Stock According To Her Personal Financial Disclosure. (Rep. Tammy Duckworth Financial Disclosure Report, Accessed 1/25/16)

Tammy Duckworth Still Owns 2 Sets Of Stocks In Caterpillar Inc. Both Worth Between $1,001 And $15,000 That Each Earned Her Dividends Worth Between $1 And $200 In 2013. (Rep. Tammy Duckworth Financial Disclosure Report, Accessed 7/22/15)

For a bit more context, click here.