Free Republic

President Barack Obama flies to Chicago Thursday in a bid to keep his old Senate seat from falling into the hands of Republicans in what has become an ugly and bitterly-contested race. The seat should have been an easy win for Democrats, who have only lost one US Senate race in Illinois in the past four decades. But a series of scandals have undermined Democrats in the midwestern state, as has voter frustration embroiling the nation as a result of the deepest economic crisis a generation. Obama will appear at a Thursday evening fundraiser for one-time protege and basketball buddy...

As Democrats nationwide shun campaign help from the White House, Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias plans to buck the trend and stand boldly with President Obama during a presidential stop this week in Illinois. Despite the president's waning popularity, Mr. Giannoulias has hitched his campaign to Mr. Obama, running television advertisements touting his close relationship with the former senator from the Land of Lincoln. Such a move would be politically risky in many states where "tea party" fervor and anti-Obama sentiment runs high. But the president still holds some cachet in his home state, which Mr. Giannoulias hopes will help push...

Did Illinois US Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias lie to voters or to the IRS? Those would seem to be the only two possibilities considering the Democratic candidate for President Barack Obama's old seat took a $2.7 million tax deduction for working hundreds of hours at his family's failed Broadway Bank in 2006. But the candidate has been telling voters he left the bank by late 2005.

The president will be back in Chicago next month to stump for Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias, ChicagoBreakingNews.com reported. President Barack Obama will make an appearance at a Giannoulias fundraiser that will also raise money for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, a White House official told the Tribune. This will be Mr. Obama's sixth trip home since his inauguration. His last trip in August also included a fundraising stop for Giannoulias, who is locked in a tight race against Republican Mark Kirk for the Senate seat once held by the president.

... The so-called major party Senate candidates and their supporters are slinging the televised campaign mud. One of the latest negative ads compares voting for Giannoulias to driving drunk, at the end of the ad saying, "friends don't let friends vote Alexi". The group American Crossroads is responsible for that ad. American Crossroads was founded by Karl Rove, former President George W. Bush's political guru. The group is helping republican Congressman Mark Kirk against Giannoulias. "Of course, he's gonna put up characters and cartoons because he can't talk about his own record in Washington, D.C.," said Giannoulias. "He voted against...

In the high stakes game for his political future, the Democratic candidate for US Senate from Illinois is going all in with his strong ties to President Barack Obama. State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias' has released a new ad in which the president states, "Alexi's my friend. I know his character. You can trust him. You can count on him." But as Mr. Obama's popularity wanes even in his home state, the ad may do more harm than good in Mr. Giannoulias' neck-and-neck race against Congressman Mark Kirk (R-Illinois).

In Illinois, the Republican Senate nominee, Rep. Mark Kirk, is making a two-step connection between Saddam Hussein and Democratic candidate Alexi Giannoulias. Kirk accuses Broadway Bank (the shuttered institution run by Giannoulias' family) of giving a loan to an Iraqi businessman connected to Saddam Hussein, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. Kirk said that in 2006, Broadway Bank loaned $22.75 million to Nadhmi Auchi and Tony Rezko, the Chicago real estate developer convicted of fraud and money laundering in 2008. Giannoulias' campaign responded that he left the bank a few months before the loan was approved. "Come on, again, that's political smokescreens,...

Among the more appealing messages that Barack Obama campaigned on in 2008 was his promise to change the culture in Washington and usher in a new era of openness and honesty in government. It was the sort of message that still resonates with an increasingly cynical electorate that is, as Obama’s handlers recognized, fed up with the corruption, hidden agendas and back-room deals that characterize life within the beltway. Voters hoped that this fresh face, so full of earnest enthusiasm and idealistic vision, could be the one to usher in a new era.Almost two years after that historic election, more...

"And he is just who I need to run this country into the ground." (I added that part.) It seems Obama knows lots of characters: Reverend Wright, Tony Rezko, Bill Ayers, Anita Dorn, etc. From Politico: Barack Obama's home-field disadvantage At a fundraiser here for Giannoulias’s campaign, Obama offered an endorsement that doubled as a defense of the candidate’s moral fiber. As Giannoulias, the Illinois state treasurer, struggles to overcome questions about his tenure at his family’s failed bank, Obama declared: “Alexi is my friend. I know his character. I know how much he loves this country. I know how...

Here is video of a new ad that hammers Illinois Democrat U.S. Senate Candidate Alexi Giannoulias for shady financial dealings related to his family’s bank. The ad is narrated by a mobster-sounding voice, and contends that Giannoulias “has been a great banker for the Mob.” The ad also ties President Obama to Giannoulias, showing headlines about Obama speaking at a fundraiser for Giannoulias. The ad was produced by the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

Tomorrow, there will be a meeting between two guys who helped crooked developer Tony Rezko get his hands on millions of dollars. Democrats Barack Obama and Alexi Giannoulias probably won’t talk about their old pal, convicted and now in federal custody, when they meet for tomorrow’s fundraiser to support Giannoulias’ campaign for U.S. Senate. But people who know about Obama’s career in Illinois politics will probably make the connection for themselves. Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/rezkos-pals-reunite-tomorrow-at-fundraiser-99951869.html#ixzz0vjgk6PF7

President Obama has thrown his political weight behind Chicago mob banker and basketball buddy, Alexi Giannoulias, in a brazen attempt to help elect one of the sleaziest Democrat politicians around to his old Illinois Senate seat. Last week Obama man David Plouffe held a conference call with reporters to reinforce that Obama was “all in” with his support for Illinois State Treasurer Giannoulias over Republican challenger Rep. Mark Kirk. While Plouffe spent much of his time bashing Kirk, “Congressman Kirk has shown himself to be a fan of fiction’‘, there was no mention of Giannoulias’ approval of $20 million in...

President Obama was believed to be avoiding Alexi Giannoulias. Why? Well, Giannoulias, who is vying for Obama's old Illinois Senate seat and is a former basketball buddy of the president, has become something of a political toxin. It became public that the former banker serviced loans to mobsters and crooks, and Giannoulias's own family bank collapsed, creating yet another political embarrassment for the candidate who is currently Illinois's state treasurer. But Obama seems to have had a change of heart, and later this week he will host a political fundraiser for Giannoulias in Chicago. Will, perhaps, this latest news story...

By February 2006, businessman and political fixer Tony Rezko was already politically radioactive, caught up in a federal investigation that would see him criminally charged by the end of that year. News reports had linked Rezko, a key adviser and campaign fund-raiser for then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, to shady deals involving state pension funds -- among the crimes that ultimately would send him to prison. In 2006, Tony Rezko (inset) sought a loan to develop a 62-acre parcel of land at Roosevelt and Clark. (Rezko, Auchi) This was the Tony Rezko who, looking for millions of dollars for a massive South...

Democratic Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias on Tuesday proposed ethics reforms so sweeping as to appear dead-on-arrival in Washington, D.C. He wants a total ban on corporations and lobbyists donating to candidates and a lifetime ban on senators or congressmen ever becoming lobbyists. More modest laws passed by Congress have already been ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court, which has ruled that corporations have a First Amendment Right to free speech that includes donating to candidates. “I’m not going to pretend that as a freshman United States senator, in one day we’re going to change the world and move toward...

The Hill is reporting that Democrat Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias is having trouble raising money, which is amusing because as a failed banker he gave away millions to a pair of mobsters that never paid back the "loan" The Hill reports that Giannoulias "struggled to raise money in the aftermath of his family bank’s collapse in April." Giannoulias has raised only some $900,000 since March 31 -- the bulk of it in June. His Republican opponent, Mark Kirk, collected close to $1 million that same month. And Kirk was dealing with his own scandal -- the fallout from inaccuracies in...

Alexi Giannoulias, Illinois Democratic nominee for US Senator, [and member of the Greek Orthodox Church] supports homosexual marriage. Here’s the introduction from the Greek Star (a Chicago newspaper with Greek readership): Alexi Giannoulias, Democratic nominee for US Senator, shares why he supports the freedom to marry for all, including people of the same sex. This is something that many of his supporters, and especially Greek-Americans may be opposed to. ... He stated, “There may be many individuals that may not be happy with my particular stance”. The Greek Orthodox church does not allow, or support, same sex marriage. Giannoulias in...

Wednesday, June 09, 2010 Illinois’ hotly contested race for the U.S. Senate between Republican Congressman Mark Kirk and State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias is once again a virtual toss-up. The latest Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey of Likely Voters shows Kirk barely ahead of Giannoulias 42% to 39%. Seven percent (7%) would prefer another candidate, and 12% more are undecided at this point. In late April, Kirk earned a modest pick-up in support in the first survey conducted after the government's seizure of the failed Broadway Bank, the institution owned by Giannoulias' family. Since then, Kirk has been forced to apologize...

Illinois State Treasurer and candidate for U.S. Senate Alexi Giannoulias did not have to pay his state and federal taxes this year due to losses incurred from the failure of his Broadway Bank. Giannoulias' campaign released his financial information on Friday. Giannoulias is set to receive $30,000 in tax refunds because of his bank's failure. The Treasurer has said that all of that money is going to be donated to charity. The Broadway Bank had been largely forgotten in the race for U.S. Senator, but the release of Giannoulias' financial records seems to have dredged it up once more. Giannoulias...

W.H. quiet on Obama-Blago link By: Glenn Thrush and Jonathan Allen June 29, 2010 06:50 PM EDT The White House was mum Tuesday after a union leader testified that Barack Obama personally asked him to approach then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich about appointing confidant Valerie Jarrett to his Illinois Senate seat. In testimony at Blagojevich’s federal corruption trial, Tom Balanoff said Obama — speaking a day before his Nov. 8, 2008 triumph in the presidential election — said that Jarrett wanted the job and was qualified, although he wanted her to join him in the White House. Balanoff, a close Obama ally...