* I don’t doubt this Bloomberg lede at all…

Fridays are getting tense in the Chicago campaign office of Alexi Giannoulias, the Democrat seeking the U.S. Senate seat once held by President Barack Obama. That’s the day regulators announce which troubled banks they’ll close.

Broadway Bank in Chicago, owned by Giannoulias’s family, must attract at least $75 million in capital by late April to meet terms of a consent order with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. prompted by losses on commercial real-estate loans. Even if successful, the family could lose control before November’s election, dealing a blow to Democrats and an Obama friend.

“The last thing that Alexi Giannoulias needs right now is another round of bad news stories and stories raising questions about the family’s business,” said Stu Rothenberg, editor of the non-partisan Rothenberg Political Report. “The one thing you don’t want to spend in a campaign is a lot of time defending yourself.”

The Tribune explains why it will be so difficult for the bank to get itself out of this mess…

Demetris Giannoulias, a Yale University economics and sociology graduate, said one of the few options for Broadway Bank to raise money is through private-equity firms.

But that won’t be easy. For one thing, many private-equity firms won’t bother doing deals of less than $100 million, he said. For another, banking regulations make it unappealing for private-equity firms to take more than, say, a 25 percent ownership stake. Exceeding that threshold would force such firms to register as bank holding companies. That would open up a typically secretive industry to more scrutiny in the highly regulated banking world.

A purchase of Broadway by another bank is virtually off the table, Demetris Giannoulias said. That’s because many healthy banks believe it makes more sense to wait until a lender fails before swooping in for the deposits, assets and branches. That way, the acquiring bank can usually strike a deal with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. that limits its losses.

Also, with only four branches, including its 5960 N. Broadway headquarters, Broadway has scant franchise value, providing little incentive for another institution to fashion a deal before its collapse.

Sen. Durbin said over the weekend that he believes Giannouolias will address all these issues soon…

“There are a lot of people who want to attribute all sorts of things to him, but most people in fairness will say, you know ‘he’s been away from this for four years, and banks are failing’ he needs to answer these questions, he’s prepared to answer these questions and it will happen soon.”

And this factoid from the Bloomberg piece can be expected to be part of that explanation…

[Giannoulias’] campaign presented figures showing 9 percent of about $240 million in non-performing assets now on the bank’s books originated while he was there.

Watch Giannoulias being asked about the bank by the Sun-Times…

* You may have noticed the new polling app in the center column for the US Senate race. I’m gonna keep it for a while unless it slows down the site (as these sorts of apps often do). I’ll also be adding the gubernatorial trendlines as soon as some more polls are taken so we can have some trendlines.

* Related…

* Kirk: Waive $1M penalty against district

* Giannoulias works Kane audience to build momentum in Senate race