* I admit that I hadn’t really thought of the Jacob Meister “gay” angle, because I figured David Hoffman’s constant claim that he’s the “only parent” in the race is directed for various reasons at the bachelor Alexi Giannoulias…

Meister is offended that Hoffman, father of a 2-year-old, keeps calling himself the only parent in the Democratic Senate primary. Meister complained, “I can’t get married,” and accused Hoffman of making an insidious, anti-gay slur.

“I’ve had a number of people from the LGBT community come up to me and say, ‘Why are letting him do this?’” Meister said at the debate. “This is horrible. This is a terrible thing, and it’s indicative of the problem that we have. This is not an issue. It is not something that should be brought up in this way any more than Barack Obama’s race.”

But Hoffman said his comment had nothing to do with sexual orientation.

“I’m proud to be married and to have a 2-year-old. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with talking about that. I’m a strong supporter of gay marriage,” Hoffman said, “and what I said up there was I’m a parent. I’m the only parent in the race, because being a parent, regardless of your sexual orientation – raising children – changes your perspective. And that’s the point I’m making, and of course that’s the point I’m making, and for someone to claim something otherwise, I think, is not right.”

Also, this is one way to get the word out that you’re gay. Kinda like Bobby Rush’s ploy to fire up the black troops for Cheryle Jackson.

I’m curious, though, why Meister was even at the debate since he hasn’t broken 5 percent in any polls.

* NBC5 makes a bit of a stretch in its setup of a Hoffman jab at Giannoulias…

Hoffman then linked Giannoulias’ job performance to the suffering Bright Start College savings program.

“How can we trust him when he ran Bright Start and lost 185 million dollars?” he said. “It’s no longer one of the top programs. On his watch, one of his job performance issues was not managing the Bright Start program.” [Emphasis added]

Only one of the funds in the program is actually “suffering.” Consumer Reports even gave the program an “A” earlier this year - one of only five in the nation.

The Hoffman campaign sent this after the debate…

Truth matters in a campaign, and Alexi Giannoulias drove right past it today. He did a grave disservice to the voters by deceiving them that Bright Start is one of the best managed funds in the country today.

Alexi Giannoulias continues to misstate the performance of the Bright Start College Savings Plan, which lost Illinois families $85 million on his watch. Giannoulias cited two year old reports that Bright Start was among the best funds of its kind in the nation.

Bright Start has been dropped by Morningstar, a leading provider of investment research, from the top rankings, and has not appeared on their best performing list since the end of 2007, after which the fund lost 38% of its value.

This misrepresentation is exactly why voters are cynical; they are sick of being lied to. This is why character, job performance and experience are key issues in this race, and why again Mr. Giannoulias fails these crucial tests.

Morningstar July 28, 2008:

“Undoubtedly, the fund’s latest struggles demonstrate the risk of going against the grain during prolonged bouts of uncertainty.”

Morningstar October 27, 2008:
“In fact, the fund’s recent losses (20% for the year ended Oct. 24 2008) have been sizable enough to erase any gains that investors made here over the past five years.”

Morningstar December 17, 2008:

Since our last update in October, this fund has continued its dramatic slide. For the year ended Dec. 16, 2008, it has lost 37.6% which is 31 percentage points worse than its typical intermediate-term bond rival’s loss…”

However, one of the latest Morningstar reports isn’t all that bad. It begins…

Illinois’ Bright Start College Savings Program is on the road to recovery.

It ends…

In all, we still think this plan offers investors plenty of reasons to invest here.

But this Giannoulias press release is just silly…

U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias’ campaign today exposed the hypocrisy of opponent David Hoffman in a critique of Hoffman’s first campaign advertisement.

The “Reality Check” ad contrasts footage of Hoffman alleging that “the bankers, the lobbyists, the powerbrokers, they’ve owned Washington for too long” with the truth - that his investments are protected by the very TARP-funded banks that he rails against.

Hoffman has almost a quarter of a million dollars invested in stock at three big banks which were bailed out with taxpayer money: JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup and Bank of NY Mellon, according to his personal financial disclosure. The trio received almost $53 billion in TARP funds.

The ad critique poses this question to voters: “Will he work for us? Or the bailed out banks?”

“Taxpayer dollars protected Hoffman’s investments, and now he’s using his personal wealth to finance his campaign. It is hypocritical for David to rail against Wall Street banks when he is their beneficiary,” said campaign spokesperson Kati Phillips.

So, Hoffman has some money in bank stocks and that makes him a total pawn of the banking industry? Please.

Still, some of the most intense battling at the Statehouse is between community banks and “big banks.” I can see where the animosity comes from. I just don’t think it’s a valid hit.

Here’s the video…

From what I gather, Giannoulias started the argument over the banks today, probably so he could bring up his new video.

All of this aside, Giannoulias didn’t participate in the candidate media availability after the debate was over, and reporters were absolutely furious. That may do more to slant today’s coverage than any post-debate spin from either side.

…Adding… Apparently, Giannoulias answered media questions shortly afterwards at city hall.