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* The DSCC is spending about $250K on this ad blasting Mark Kirk. Rate it…
The NRSC has committed $3.4M in coordinated campaign funds for Kirk. It shouldn’t be too long before we start seeing that cash. We’re running out of time.
Script…
We’ve heard a lot about Mark Kirk’s problems lately…
But Kirk doesn’t know much about ours.
On unemployment, Kirk said, “I’ve heard very little…I have a very high-income district.”
And voted six times against extending benefits for laid-off workers. And five times to block increasing the minimum wage.
While voting to raise his own pay six times.
Congressman Mark Kirk. The problem is him.
From the Kirk campaign…
The DSCC ad does not mention the quote they reference was from over two years ago - June 2008 - when unemployment stood at 5.5 % according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (GOP Rallies on Unemployment, Roll Call, June 16, 2008)
Mark Kirk has voted to extend unemployment benefits eight times… Mark Kirk has said he would vote to extend unemployment benefits again if the legislation did not add to the debt or raise taxes.
Mark Kirk broke with his party to support raising the minimum wage to its current level.
[Pay raise claim] This is a tired and misleading attack that uses procedural votes that have nothing to do with Congressional pay increases. According to the Congressional Research Service: “There are no provisions for funding the salaries of Member in the Treasury and General Government Appropriations bill. Member salaries are funded in a permanent appropriations account of the legislative branch in the Federal Budget.”
On up or down votes specifically dealing with congressional pay, Mark Kirk voted for a congressional pay freeze all four times.
The DSCC ad makes no mention of the fact that Alexi Giannoulias’ pay increased over $20,000 from 2007 to 2009 - even though he pledged not to accept any pay increase when he ran for Treasurer in 2006.
As I’ve been telling subscribers, pay raises have become a gigantic issue in this campaign season for both sides.
*** UPDATE *** Speaking of pay raises, Giannoulias responds…
In response to an ad that highlights how completely out of touch he is with the effects of his disastrous economic agenda, Congressman Kirk responded the only way he knows how — with a lie.
“Alexi pledged not to take a pay raise, and he did just that,” said Alexi for Illinois campaign spokesman Scott Burnham. “Annual salaries of constitutional officers are determined by the State Legislature. Alexi has reimbursed his pay raise back to the State of Illinois for every year he has been in office.”
Giannoulias has returned $19,280.03.
* Related…
* Donor Names Remain Secret as Rules Shift: Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies would certainly seem to the casual observer to be a political organization: Karl Rove, a political adviser to President George W. Bush, helped raise money for it; the group is run by a cadre of experienced political hands; it has spent millions of dollars on television commercials attacking Democrats in key Senate races across the country. Yet the Republican operatives who created the group earlier this year set it up as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit corporation, so its primary purpose, by law, is not supposed to be political.
* Kirk: Voters Don’t Know Why Senate Race Is Key
* Former Illinois GOP leaders: 2010 is the new 1994
* Brown: Senate could give immigrant chance to serve
* Illegal Immigrant Students Rally For DREAM Act
* In B-N, Kirk says 60-day Senate term vital
* Illinois U.S. Senate Candidates Debate TARP Funds
* Kirk advocates early end to federal TARP
* Kirk: Ex-Gov. Ryan doesn’t deserve to be released from prison early
* National attention to focus on Illinois Senate race, Kirk thinks
* Sen. Burris denied bid to serve out remainder of term
* Sen. Burris denied final months of term
* Court denies Burris request to stop election
* Supreme Court: Sen Roland Burris Doesn’t Get to be in Senate Special Election
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Sep 21, 10 @ 10:33 am
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It’s NRSC Rich.
Comment by Tom B. Tuesday, Sep 21, 10 @ 10:37 am
I saw the ad this morning on WGN. I’d give it a solid B. Definitely makes Kirk look like the bad guy. I can’t see the date on the Roll Call paper, but I’m guessing that was prior to September of ‘08.
Comment by Davey Boy Smithe Tuesday, Sep 21, 10 @ 10:39 am
Pretty formulaic stuff. OK. Voting record spots are pretty forgettable. I give it a B-minus.
Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Sep 21, 10 @ 10:51 am
I give the ad a B, its definately better than anything Alexi’s camp has put forward.
Comment by Rahm's Parking Meter Tuesday, Sep 21, 10 @ 10:52 am
I saw the ad last night, and I would give it a B+. It makes people realize what a hypocrite Kirk really is.
Comment by fedup dem Tuesday, Sep 21, 10 @ 10:52 am
“Sen. Burris denied bid to serve out remainder of term”
Sounds like someone needs a hug.
Comment by Ghost of John Brown Tuesday, Sep 21, 10 @ 10:53 am
A-…Good message, reasonable presentation, and sounds plausible. “The problem is HIM” is the message democrats need to deliver if they have any hope of electing a weak and flawed candidate like Alexi. In fact, it’s their only hope.
Comment by Louis Howe Tuesday, Sep 21, 10 @ 10:54 am
Personal quote indicating lack of concern with state, multiple votes hurting voters crossed with multiple votes helping Kirk. Excellent ad on content.
Comment by Dirt Digger Tuesday, Sep 21, 10 @ 11:02 am
well, i’d say personal quote that shows an utter lack of political judgment (he’s got a wealthy district, but he doesn’t think anybody there is effected by unemployment?) — which, of course, is what everybody who knows kirk in d.c. has been saying for, like, forever…
Comment by bored now Tuesday, Sep 21, 10 @ 11:07 am
Very powerful ad. Definitely an A.
Comment by just sayin' Tuesday, Sep 21, 10 @ 11:07 am
Good ad. B-
Not great. Only partisans like bored now are going to regurgitate it until Election Day. Non partisans are going to think twice, however.
Comment by VanillaMan Tuesday, Sep 21, 10 @ 11:13 am
Fair Ad C+, Paints Kirk in a negative light, but as it comes from the DSCC, it can’t give a positive to Alexi at the same time so it loses some effectiveness.
Comment by downstate hack Tuesday, Sep 21, 10 @ 11:33 am
Kirk ad is A+…..if PQ is responsible for national economy in IL then the same goes for CommandoMakeItUp.
If pay raises are bad then pay raises are bad, if lost jobs are bad then….. foreclosures….. So NoTaxBill is ripping the CommandoMakeIt too.
Tsk, Tsk
BTW besides the “end to career Pols” line from NoTaxBill we are told Daddy’s Little Deduction reportedly made a special speech at Fright Fest Sat. nite before being whisked away…..anybody got some video.
Comment by CircularFiringSquad Tuesday, Sep 21, 10 @ 11:58 am
B-
I agree with the comment above about the ad being pretty formulaic. It isn’t very memorable with the exception of the quote about his district… which was a stupid, stupid thing to say.
Comment by Obamarama Tuesday, Sep 21, 10 @ 11:59 am
Kirk campaign: “The DSCC ad does not mention the quote they reference was from over two years ago”
And that Mark changes his positions on important issues two or three times a month. So, whether it’s his military record or his political positions, it’s always unfair to hold Mark Kirk accountable for anything he said.
– MrJM
Comment by MrJM Tuesday, Sep 21, 10 @ 12:25 pm
Figures that AG doesn’t understand how pay for Members of Congress is decided.
Comment by A.B. Tuesday, Sep 21, 10 @ 12:31 pm
Kirk is the better canidate, but he cant resist steping in his own mess. With all the ammo out there like his little tax increase clip, he has to fall back on exagertaing the truth to run an ad?
As for the Gov race, instead of the quality of ad’s Quinn and his supporters need some quantity. The quality of the ad pales in comparion to its small buy which probably means no one downstate will see it.
At this point Quinn is camapaigning like he is running for mayor not for gov.
Comment by Ghost Tuesday, Sep 21, 10 @ 12:38 pm
I don’t even want to rate this type of ad as it’s the kind I hate. They cherry-pick irrelevancies to put into a cookie-cutter negative ad that, after seeing seemingly hundreds of these, they bore me. But the beginning “misremembered” and the end “the problem is him” are good. everything in between is just traditional garbage.
Comment by D.P. Gumby Tuesday, Sep 21, 10 @ 12:46 pm
MrJM: good point. scary point.
A.B.: figures that you don’t know who the DSCC is. you can be certain that they understand how pay raises for members of congress are decided (they are, after all, members of congress). what is really pathetic is that you try to lay this off as a giannoulias ad…
Comment by bored now Tuesday, Sep 21, 10 @ 1:05 pm
B-
This, like most of Alexi’s ads, seems to be written through the lens of his own base. Is he still exclusively in the shoring up mode with them this close to Nov.? I don’t see how this one helps with independents much at all.
Yeah, Kirk’s old quotes look weird in the context of this ad. So Kirk’s just going to have to find a way to deal with the fact that the “selected” quotes do reflect aspects of his representation of voters’ interests, concerns and the ever changing issues in the 10th over a decade. But, after all, Kirk was not elected, then, to represent Danny Davis’ district, or Phil Hare’s district, or a downstate district. He was elected specifically to represent the constituents in the 10th, and many feel that over all he did a pretty good job of it.
Comment by Responsa Tuesday, Sep 21, 10 @ 1:51 pm
It’s a fine ad, except at :16 we see the following text. Note anything, um, off?
EXTENDING BENEFITS FOR FOR LAID-OFF WORKERS.
There are some really dumb people out there.
Comment by Concerned Observer Tuesday, Sep 21, 10 @ 1:58 pm
Why has the ocean pulled so far away from the beach? Look! You can walk way out from the piers like it is some kind of low tide, only lower.
Look at all the clams and sea shells normally under water! There are a few fish flopping around on the wet sand.
Uh - what’s that huge mountain range over where the ocean is? It looks like blue mountains, really high and kinda shiny! The tops are white like they have snow on them.
What’s that? Tsunami warning?
Nah, don’t worry. Look here is a “Kirk is a liar” campaign brochure someone dropped when they ran away from us.
Comment by VanillaMan Tuesday, Sep 21, 10 @ 3:30 pm
Kirk doesn’t like being blamed for “procedural votes” that aren’t directly on the issue of pay raises. Yet this it SOP for Republicans in the General Assembly who appeal the ruling of the chair and then attack Democrats who vote to uphold the chair for voting against the original issue. If procedural votes don’t count for Kirk, then they shouldn’t count for Dem legislators either. Republicans can’t have it both ways.
Comment by Reformer Tuesday, Sep 21, 10 @ 5:19 pm
=everything in between is just traditional garbage.=
You missed the visuals. 656–it’ll xlate into one away from 666. Sounds weird, I know, but people will pick up on it (even though the math is wrong. Clever.
Good ad.
Comment by The REAL Anonymous fka Anonymous Tuesday, Sep 21, 10 @ 9:54 pm
And the photos they selected–unlike the OBVIOUSLY “unflattering ones” in the new Kirk ad–are perfect. These guys, like Rove’s team–know what they’re doing.
Comment by The REAL Anonymous fka Anonymous Tuesday, Sep 21, 10 @ 10:04 pm