* And, now, ladies and gentlemen, Saddam Hussein…

A new name has emerged in the U.S. Senate race between Mark Kirk and Alexi Giannoulias.

It’s Saddam Hussein, the former dictator of Iraq.

Kirk’s campaign first leveled the accusation in a press blast after Alexi Giannoulias released a new campaign ad Monday morning, and Kirk reiterated Alexi’s supposed tie to the “Butcher of Baghdad” during a campaign question and answer session at the Sofitel Hotel Monday while he addressed the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

If you want to read the Kirk campaign’s full explanation of this, click here. It’s a bit of a stretch, but they seem to think it’s a worthwhile charge.

*** UPDATE *** The Sun-Times has more…

On a day that Democrat Alexi Giannoulias released a new commercial slamming him as a liar, Republican Mark Kirk tried to shift the focus back onto Giannoulias’ family bank, saying the bank gave a loan to Nadhmi Auchi, who Kirk said sold arms to Saddam Hussein.

“According to the New York Times, he was a banker to Saddam Hussein,” Kirk said of Auchi. “And According to the Observer of London, he was a middleman in the billion-dollar naval arms deal between Hussein and the Italian Navy.”

Voters should care, Kirk said: “This is not political Kryptonite — this is Hemlock,” Kirk said.

Kirk delivered his remarks after giving a 40-minute speech on foreign policy — Iran, Afghanistan, etc. — to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. It was the first of a series of speeches Kirk planned to “elevate” the debate above mud-slinging in the senate race, Kirk said. Then he went back to trying to link his opponent to Saddam Hussein.

“This was a huge loan,” Kirk said of the $22.75 million loan the Sun-Times disclosed last week from Broadway Bank to Nadhmi Auchi and Tony Rezko to develop a 66-acre South Loop site. “The owners of the bank and its officers would have known that they were lending money to a convicted felon with a record of facilitating arms deals to Saddam Hussein and I’m not even talking about Tony Rezko.”

Giannoulias’ campaign said he left five months before the loan was approved and had nothing to do with it. But Kirk said today he had his doubts and he noted Giannoulias was at least still a part-owner of the bank.

“When you look at Treasurer Giannoulias’ statements, I can’t tell when he left the bank,” Kirk said. “The other day, he said he was at the at bank in March of 2006, which would have been a month after this loan was approved. They were running a federally insured institution and so you would think that dealing with a person barred from the United States, convicted of a felony, that a simple Google search would have revealed his business dealings.”

Actually, Giannouolias said in March of 2006 that he was still running things. Now he says he was on a paid leave by that time. But, whatever, you get the drift.

*** UPDATE 2 *** Video…

[ *** End Of Updates *** ]

* Meanwhile, Kirk says he will likely vote for a bill that will pump hundreds of millions of federal dollars into Illinois coffers…

Republican Senate candidate Mark Kirk says he’s inclined to vote for a $26 billion jobs bill that Democrats are pushing. […]

On Monday, Kirk called the measure deficit neutral and said it would keep teachers in the classroom.

He says he still needs to read the fine print but expects to support the bill.

* Giannoulias was on MSNBC’s Morning Joe today. You can watch the full thing here, or you can choose to view the short clip that the Kirk campaign wants you to see…

From a Kirk press release…

Scarborough: Did you guys give loans to organized crime?
Giannoulias: No.

Scarborough: Is that a no?
Giannoulias: Yes that’s correct.

Giannoulias Lies about Loans to Mobsters: This morning, in a flat-out lie, Alexi Giannoulias told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that Broadway Bank never made loans to organized crime figures.

Actually, he was not asked if he made loans to organized crime “figures.” He was asked if he made loans to organized crime. Parsing, yes, but if you’re gonna accuse somebody of lying, at least get the quote right.

* And the Adam Kinzinger campaign is touting a new poll by Public Opinion Strategies that has him leading Democratic US Rep. Debbie Halvorson by 11 points, 51-40. From the pollster…

* Among high interest voters (those who rank interest at 8-10 on a scale of 1-10), Kinzinger’s lead expands to 57-35, with seven percent undecided

* Twenty-six percent of respondents believe the country is headed in the right direction, while 68 percent believe it is on the wrong track

* Thirty-one percent of respondents support re-electing Halvorson, while 55 percent think it is time for new representation

Public Opinion Strategies is working with 50 House and Senate campaigns this year, so it’s a biggie. But the firm had real problems with this district two years ago, claiming in late September that Marty Ozinga was only trailing by two points. Ozinga got clobbered, scoring just 34.5 percent of the vote. The firm also rated almost at the bottom of 538’s June rankings - just below the now widely discredited R2K.

Also, I seriously doubt that Kinzinger has a name ID of 60 percent, as the pollster claims. It doesn’t make sense, especially since only 27 percent rated him favorably and 4 rated him unfavorably.

Even so, the Halvorson campaign isn’t releasing its own numbers, so you gotta figure that Kinzinger isn’t doing too badly.

…Adding… I’m not saying it, but if I was saying, this looks a whole lot like a high tech brick through your own campaign window. Just saying…

An independent candidate for governor believes someone is trying to sabotage his effort to get people employed.

Scott Lee Cohen calls it a despicable act. His office has received well over 100 phone calls from people seeking more information about a job fair he plans on holding Aug. 19 in Chicago . The problem: those people had been given the wrong date, and not by Cohen’s campaign or from fliers that he has disbursed to local churches and other outlets. He believes someone is intentionally mass texting people the wrong information.

“I don’t know who’s doing it. However, if it’s an attack on me, to try and hurt me, what they’re really doing is hurting the people of Illinois. I think it’s a despicable act…a cowardly act,” Cohen said.

Cohen believes it’s deliberate, although he isn’t pointing fingers because he doesn’t know who’s doing it. “I believe it is deliberate. … If this is a political ploy, then whoever is doing it is really a sick individual.”

…Adding More… A friend of mine just forwarded me the text message that he received…

From: 7736551309
Received: Aug 4, 2010 4:01 PM
Subject: Fwd: Fwd: “Job Fair” August 19th,

Fwd: Fwd: “Job Fair” August 19th, 2010 @ 566 W. Lake - Lower Level - Call Andrew @ (312) 441-0300 for more info.

I called the 773 number and it went straight to voicemail, which was full.