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Alexi Giannoulias is up with a new TV ad

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Illinois
YouTube

* The campaign says this is a statewide TV buy. Rate it…

The AP also saw the spot…

In the 60-second spot, Giannoulias talks directly to voters about the bank where he was a loan officer before being elected in 2006.

“I was very proud to be a part of it, and when I left, over four years ago, it was in good shape. But no one could have foreseen these problems,” Giannoulias says as the ad flashes a headline highlighting the nation’s economic troubles. […]

In the ad, Giannoulias doesn’t miss the chance to take a swipe at Kirk, a five-term congressman from Chicago’s northern suburbs, for the nation’s economic troubles.

“Washington politician Mark Kirk doesn’t get it,” the announcer says.

* Related…

* Video: Kirk Won’t Talk To WSIL TV

* Kirk: No Time to Talk About Banking

* Giannoulias accuses Kirk of favoring Wall Street

* Alexi Answers Tough Questions After Bank Collapse

* Daley confident Giannoulias will overcome bad bank news: “So all these small banks are going under. Yes, they are. They’re going under all over the country,” said Daley. “It doesn’t matter if it’s Giannoulias’ bank or anyone else, they’re all going under. There’s going to be more.”… Asked if he has spoken to Giannoulias since the bank closed, Daley said, “Why should I? It’s not my problem. I enjoy my life. It’s my birthday today — give me a break!”

* NYT: F.D.I.C.’s Seizure of Senate Candidate’s Family Bank Further Complicates an Illinois Race

* WSJ: Bank Tied to Candidate Is Shuttered

* CNN: In a blow to Giannoulias, family bank fails

* Tribune: Bank failure a nail in Giannoulias’ campaign

* A Nail In A Campaign?: So are they likening his campaign to a coffin?

* Regulators Shut Seven Banks In Illinois

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Apr 26, 10 @ 2:55 am

Comments

Brazen but more than a little pathetic. Will Alexi also brag that the $150 million he lost in Bright Start makes him better able to understand not being able to afford college for your kids?

Comment by Hipster Monday, Apr 26, 10 @ 7:22 am
Giannoulias’ bank message continues to confuse. The bank collapsed due to poor regulations of big banks due to Bush and GOP policies? Now it is Kirk’s fault too this happened?

Is his message, “we weren’t regulated enough so that is why we failed?” Is his message “stronger regulations would have saved us from our own policies?” Blaming Kirk here as well? I don’t quite get all of this.

Giannoulias now is pushing how tough it is to be part of a failing family business, “due to Bush and GOP policies.” Yet at the same time he claims not to be part of the family business the past four years. Which is it?

Instead of going down the path of “I’m partially responsible for the collapse of my family business and I feel terrible about it” his repeated spins actually keep this story in the news, to his detriment. Accepting responsibility would have put the story behind him. Failing to accept any responsibility made the story grow and get bigger, as evidenced by last Friday night’s feeding frenzy by the media.

He got a tepid reaction at the Greek American parade yesterday including the dignitary reception. I was present for both. Some pretty big guns in the Greek American community were looking pretty glum about him. Quinn got a better reaction at both events. Not a good sign for Giannoulias.

Comment by Louis G. Atsaves Monday, Apr 26, 10 @ 7:25 am
Nice to see Alexi still has some fight in him. Friday afternoon there were some people worried that they did TOO good a job over the last few weeks bashing Alexi, given the news on the White House rebuffing Durbin and then the expected BB failure. But my Dem insider friends still are all saying this is winnable for Alexi… which is exactly what we want them to think. A badly-damaged Alexi is exactly what we need in November as the continued punching bag for Team Kirk.

Comment by Team America Monday, Apr 26, 10 @ 8:18 am
I give the spot an A for chutzpah. Alexi makes it sound like the family corner gyro stand went under, not a high-flying, all-or-nothing commercial real estate bank that just tapped over $300 million from the FDIC.

A victim of the times? Give me a break. I give it a D for honesty.

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Apr 26, 10 @ 8:20 am
I think this ad is going to resonate with voters, particularly those who still don’t understand why our economy fell off the cliff. But there’s no way I’m buying the, “…no one could have foreseen these problems” claim. That’s nonsense. Particularly from someone in finance.

Comment by Indeedy Monday, Apr 26, 10 @ 8:30 am
Let me see if I have this straight:

Alexi is criticizing Kirk for taking $21k in Goldman contributions, yet he is BEGGING Obama for help on his campaign but has no problem with Obama receiving AND KEEPING $1M in contributions from the same people. Hmmmm.

On another note, he claims he is fighting against the Wall St. interests and for the people of Illinois. I wonder if he has any comment on the recently passed bill in the IL senate which allows these very same Wall Street firms–banks–to charge businesses an extra 5 days of interest every year. Does he have a problem with that?

For all the gnashing of teeth about how Alexi is getting a raw deal from the Chicago papers, I sure would like to see someone in the media start to ask him the real tough questions. This guy is a walking, breathing conflict of interest.

Comment by Logical Thinker Monday, Apr 26, 10 @ 8:40 am
it accomplishes Alexi’s goals….get out that I when I was there
it was fine, they failed like all the rest of you little guys failed, Mark Kirk = Bush. for the uninformed, it works just fine.

for those in the know, it’s chutzpah on tv.

but, it sure makes for fun when Chuck Todd plays it on MSNBC and is cynical about it, AND it gives him an opening about Illinois politics to put the Speaker’s photo on tv in a discussion about SLCohen. I believe I heard him call the Speaker “our friend.”

Comment by Amalia Monday, Apr 26, 10 @ 8:48 am
Pitiful.
It sways viewers towards Giannoulais until it ends, then leaves one wondering what his part in all of it was.

With this ad, Giannoulias acknowledges that the Bank is a credible issue. When the Bank continues to pop up in the news, and in Kirk ads, it will no longer be seen as political speculation and spin, but as a fact of Giannoulais’ failure.

The boil has been lanced, but the wound won’t heal.

Comment by VanillaMan Monday, Apr 26, 10 @ 9:26 am
About as effective an as as one could make given the bad facts.

Comment by Niles Township Monday, Apr 26, 10 @ 9:35 am
Yea, someone who has been through tough times. How many million dollars does your family have. Not sure that is going to resonate with an unemployed coal miner. Oh, and I would take it easy on Bush Kirk pictures, considering about by November about unemployment will have climbed 5-7% in IL since Obama took over and claimed to be able to fix this.

Comment by the Patriot Monday, Apr 26, 10 @ 9:43 am
Effective, but this wasn’t the Pan Hellenic Grocery on Halsted burning down, it was almost $400 million out of the FDIC fund.

Comment by Sent from my iPhone Monday, Apr 26, 10 @ 10:11 am
Alexi’s hot money bank scheme cost the FDIC $394m

Comment by Harry Monday, Apr 26, 10 @ 10:17 am
I’ll bet right about now Alexi is soo wishing he’d run for any other “first” office than State Treasurer–and that in that earlier campaign as well as the current one he had emphasized his hand-eye coordination or some such, rather than his awesome banking prowess.

Alexi will get some votes from fervent straight party line voters such as those who re-elected Blago. But as far as the general public and thinking voters are concerned, that ad hurts much more than it helps because it reveals his character. It shows that Alexi himself still does not “get it”, and that he will twist the facts and say anything to get elected. Illinoisans across the board are hyper-sensitive to that stuff right now.

Comment by Responsa Monday, Apr 26, 10 @ 10:17 am
This tack is the only one available to Alexi.

He must try to shift the blame/attention to the GOP or he is absolute toast.

Rich, do you have any info on how big a buy he made with this 60-second spot? He could burn through a lot of his $$$ just to get through this scandal and it isn’t even May.

Comment by Adam Smith Monday, Apr 26, 10 @ 10:52 am
Seems to me that the grip is tightening on Alexi. The very thing that he ran on in 2006- his financial experience- is now a big liability and he is running from it… so he is blaming Kirk and Bush.

First of all, that is an old playbook that is likely to be less effective than in the past. Secondly, he is toast when the dots are connected via Kirk/ GOP paid media- that Alexi was financially irresponsible as Treasurer, namely the Bright Start funds. The BB collapse and the Bright Start funds just reinforce the opposition’s attacks on each count.

So, what is Alexi running on now? Why should we vote for him? He didn’t really do much at the Bank (his new version), he did a pretty poor job as Treasurer, and he is no longer Obama’s golden boy. Plus, he is now spending money after already being in a deficit to Kirk and his personal wealth can’t be the savior it once was.

Comment by Sub Monday, Apr 26, 10 @ 11:26 am
Good points, Sub. I wonder if Alexi will feel compelled to release an ad “explaining” Bright Start in the same way as he did with BB.

Also, great point by VM that by trying to confront the BB issue in such a visible way, Alexi has legitimized it and can’t claim it’s simply political spin applied by Kirk.

Having said all of this, I fervently hope Alexi stays in the race.

Comment by Team America Monday, Apr 26, 10 @ 11:35 am
Its a good spot. Good not great. They need to try something I suppose. My only hope (for Alexi) is that they are not spending too much money on this buy. They need to save their $$. I think he has survived the bank failure and will be the nominee for the Dems in November. He needs to pinch every penny if he hopes to have any chance on Election Day.

Comment by Cosmic Charlie Monday, Apr 26, 10 @ 1:41 pm
Reminds me of Blago. No shame.

Comment by Windy City Mama Monday, Apr 26, 10 @ 1:52 pm
I don’t know what Greek parade you were at yesterday Louis Atsaves, but you are going to get called out. The response to Alexi was anything but tepid and there is tape — including the one that aired on Fox last night — that proves it.

As for your comment on the Greek “big guns”, they were all at Alexi’s side at his press conference right before the dignitaries’ reception and as enthusiastic as ever. Of course, you wouldn’t know that, because you weren’t there; you and your 28 “Greeks for Mark Kirk” friends were hanging out all by yourselves.

Don’t pretend you speak for a community, especially when the Supreme President of the group you most enthusiastically claim a leadership role in (AHEPA) is backing Alexi.

And, as King Leonidas told the traitor in The 300 –

“You, Ephialtes, may you live forever.”

Comment by PDP Monday, Apr 26, 10 @ 3:41 pm
PDP -

I am part of that aforementioned Greek community and most of the Greeks I know in the suburbs absolutely hate Giannoulias. They are embarassed by him and talking about it regularly.

On top of that Mark Kirk has spent time with the Greek community and speaks some of the language.

Between Giannoulias’ failures and Kirk’s solid reputation with the community, it is not going to be a goald mine for A.G.

Comment by A.B, Monday, Apr 26, 10 @ 4:29 pm
Thanks for the backup A.B. And let me be the first to state that the Order of AHEPA (American Hellenic Educational Professional Association), which is now 87 years old, endorses no political candidates. It’s in our constitution. We who are members of AHEPA are free to back whomever we please as individuals, but I cannot endorse in my official capacity as District Governor of AHEPA any political candidate.

And by the way, I always get a huge laugh as District Governor of AHEPA in this region (Illinois-Wisconsin-N. Missouri) when I attend their national conventions and stand up and introduce myself with a straight face as “The Governor from Illinois.” Not a tepid one!

Comment by Louis G. Atsaves Monday, Apr 26, 10 @ 5:02 pm
AB —

Congratulations, now that we’ve identified you and Lou, we only have 26 more to go.

You are so bold on the blogs, but the TRUTH is that the Greek community is solidly behind Alexi — you only have to look at FEC reports, and travel the nation and see the reaction he gets from EVERY group.

If you and your 26 friends want to line up behind Kirk, have at it; some Greeks lined up with Darius against Alexander (that worked out huh?)

Vote for and support whomever you want, I don’t care. Just don’t come out on this forum and pretend you speak for somebody.

Comment by PDP Monday, Apr 26, 10 @ 5:06 pm
It’s getting confusing, now. So, let me see if I have this straight: PDP, you can speak for Greeks, but AB and Louis are not allowed to speak for Greeks–even if they are Greek? Are there other Greek rules we non-Greeks who are following this senate race need to be aware of?

Comment by Responsa Monday, Apr 26, 10 @ 5:34 pm
LOL, Responsa. No, it’s not “It’s a Greek thing, you wouldn’t understand.”

Mr. Atsaves and other republicans will try to undercut Alexi by suggesting vast segments of the Greek community aren’t enthusiastic supporters and, if those who know him best don’t support him, then…well you get it.

The problem is that it simply isn’t true. I wasn’t at the dignitaries’ event Mr. Atsaves referenced (I probably didn’t qualify!) but was marching with a float near the front of the parade and obviously Alexi’s reception was loud and warm, far mor enthusiastic than the reception for Quinn form my vantage point, contrary to what Mr. Atsaves heard.

Our community includes members supporting every candidate in every race, but they better speak up when Marky runs around the north shore slamming Alexi as a “gangster” and making other personal attacks which border on the racism the AHEPA was formed to combat.

I’m not supporting Alexi because he’s Greek (unlike many erstwhile and no doubt again future Hellenic American republicans), but I have to confess some pride in seeing the only viable progressive candidate in the race emerge from our community.

And you can bet the AHEPA brass will be showing up for the swearing in.

Comment by corvax Monday, Apr 26, 10 @ 5:49 pm
chutzpah. If there’s a more dishonest windbag expletive in Illinois, I don’t know who he/she is.
chutzpah. You loan money out to mobsters, you don’t ask questions as to the person’s background, you put all of the banks assets in one basket (real estate), and then you act surprised when the crap hits the fan.
chutzpah. Look, this is the same guy who lost 50 percent of Bright Start money AND then took credit for saving it the other half.
If he had to run over his dead father’s grave in order to win, he’d do it.

Lastly, call out Giannoulias and any other person who says “it’s the economy, all other small banks are hurting.”

False. Five (5) percent have been closed. I’m sure others are hurting but it’s 5 percent that’s been taken over. 5 percent. Five.

Comment by chutzpah Monday, Apr 26, 10 @ 6:13 pm
Yes it’s Kirks fault the bank gave millions of dollars in loans to felons..what a joke!

AND when has Alexi ever faced a tough challenge & been in difficult times?? (other then the Senate race)..he was born with a silver spoon…

Comment by scoot Monday, Apr 26, 10 @ 6:41 pm
Blaming your opponent because your family ran its bank out of business really takes the cake. The small banks where I live are doing just fine, thank you.

Comment by Excessively Rabid Monday, Apr 26, 10 @ 7:36 pm
I am not an Alexi fan by any stretch but you know if he had just talked about the bank, his father’s dream and all of that it would have worked.

But when he starts in with the Kirk stuff he just seems like he is not taking any responsibility…

Comment by OneMan Monday, Apr 26, 10 @ 8:27 pm
OneMan, you nailed it. I thought the first half of his statement was effective (albeit manipulative) on a human level. But then he launches into his current stump speech and he loses everyone. If there were dial monitors on people reading or hearing his statement, they all went south when he launched a conventional political attack.

Oh, and this is the same kind of chutzpah Alexi (and Eric Adelstein his media guy) showed during the primary when they launched the ad claiming what a huge success his Bright Start program was.

Shame seems to be an emotion outside Alexi’s capability.

Comment by Chicago Cynic Monday, Apr 26, 10 @ 10:30 pm
Oh, and I don’t know which Dems Team America talked with, because other than Alexi’s paid consultants, I don’t know any Democrat who believes he CAN still win.

Comment by Chicago Cynic Monday, Apr 26, 10 @ 10:34 pm
Lynn Sweet reports that Alexi was invited to the Quincy party.

Comment by Brennan Tuesday, Apr 27, 10 @ 7:34 am