* Tribune…

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Tammy Duckworth labeled U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk “unhinged” over the Republican’s comparison of President Barack Obama to “drug dealer in chief” for a $400 million payment made to Iran as U.S. hostages were released.

While Kirk has been under fire for a series of verbal gaffes, it was Duckworth’s harsh choice of words that came under question Tuesday. The two-term congresswoman assigned to Kirk a term defined as “mentally deranged.” The first-term senator suffered a major stroke in 2012 and spent a year in rehabilitation.

Asked by reporters if voters should take into consideration any possible aftereffects of her opponent’s stroke, Duckworth backed off.

“That is the furthest thing that people should look at. People should look at the fact that he’s been ineffective as a senator,” she said after a speech to a largely supportive audience of about 300 at the City Club of Chicago.

Kirk’s campaign called Duckworth’s remarks “desperate.”

If you watch the video of the press conference, reporters asked Duckworth again and again about whether she believed Kirk’s stroke had anything to do with his remarks.

* More…

The criticism, Duckworth said, was not a reference to Kirk’s capabilities following a debilitating stroke. […]

“If you look at all of the things that he said, I think that he lacks the ability to control what he’s saying. If you look at the numerous gaffes he’s had over the years,” Duckworth said Tuesday after she addressed the City Club of Chicago. “I do think he is unhinged. To call the commander in chief, basically comparing him to a drug dealer? I think that is a significant thing for a state Senator to say. This is a man who called one of his colleagues ‘a bro with no ho.’ It’s not befitting of a United States Senator.”

Duckworth said she wasn’t telling voters they should judge Kirk based on the ill effects of a 2012 stroke, but consider him on his record.

“I think that is the furthest thing that people should look at. People should look at that he’s been ineffective as a senator,” she said. “I’m traveling the state. He’s not even traveling the state.”

* Mark Brown…

I don’t think anyone needs to raise the issue of Kirk’s health or whether he lacks an “ability to control” what he says to question whether that’s what they want from their U.S. senator.

Judge the man by his performance, one important aspect of which is the outlandish stuff that he says.

* The Democratic Party of Illinois, however, focused on the racial angle, releasing statements from several elected officials, including these three legislators…

State Senator Toi Hutchinson: “Mark Kirk may be running away from his party to save his seat, but his characterization of Barack Obama as the ‘drug dealer’ demonstrates that he is embracing Trumps racial strategies to delegitimize an African American president. Here’s my message to Kirk: Stop using racial code words, because you know African Americans can hear you, right? And to us it sounds just like when Newt Gingrich called Obama the ‘Food Stamp President.’ You are coming through loud and clear.”

State Representative Christian Mitchell: “Senator Mark Kirk needs to apologize immediately for his inappropriate and racially-charged comments about President Obama, which offend not only African-Americans, but all Illinoisans. This is, sadly, not the first time Senator Kirk has delivered a racially motivated remark beneath the dignity of his office, including when he said people ‘drive faster through’ black neighborhoods. For those of us - of all races - who live in those neighborhoods, we need a Senator who fights for our community, rather than insulting it.”

State Representative Marcus C. Evans Jr: “Republican Mark Kirk should apologize immediately for his degrading and racially-charged remarks calling President Obama ‘the drug dealer in chief.’ It’s disgusting that a United States Senator would stoop this low but given Kirk’s history of making offensive comments about women and communities of color, I’m hardly surprised.”

* Sen. Kirk was in Quincy today and he was asked about his comments…

Kirk stated that he does not feel a need to apologize for his statement towards President Obama and feels his recent actions are “distasteful”.

*** UPDATE *** The White House press secretary was asked about this today…

Chicago Tribune’s Katherine Skiba: Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois recently said that President Obama was acting like the drug dealer in chief with the respect of the payment of $400 million to Iran. Is the President aware of that statement and does the White House have a response?

WH Press Secretary Josh Earnest: “Well listen, this is not the first time that we’ve heard that kind of rhetoric from Senator Kirk, and I don’t think that kind of rhetoric is consistent with the views of most people in Illinois about the efforts of President Obama to advance our interests around the world and prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

“And so, I know there’s a temptation, particularly for those politicians that are on the ballot to say outrageous things to try to get attention, but that’s certainly no way to run a country and it’s certainly no way to confront issues that are as important as preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, securing the safe return of U.S. Americans that are detained unjustly overseas and settling a 35-year-old financial dispute with an adversary of the United States in a way that saves taxpayers potentially billions of dollars.”

Video is here.