Free Republic

HONOLULU (AP) -- Republicans believe they've seen this movie before: Campaign ads blanketing the airwaves. Money from national political parties flowing in. And polls showing their candidate virtually tied with the competition.

Broadway Bank, the family-owned lender that helped launch U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias' political career, was seized by government regulators Friday night, one of seven Illinois institutions taken over and sold to healthier companies. The failure of Chicago-based Broadway, which was unable to raise the $85 million it needed to remain independent, was anticipated, and its worsening health has weighed on Giannoulias' Democratic bid for President Barack Obama's old Senate seat. The bank had been struggling in recent years with real estate loans gone bad, losing $75 million last year. Giannoulias worked for his father at Broadway before entering politics,...

He has been equivocal on the subject in the past, but tonight White House chief of staff and native Chicagoan Rahm Emanuel made no bones about it. He wants to be the mayor of Chicago. "I hope Mayor Daley seeks reelection. I will work and support him if he seeks reelection," Emanuel told Charlie Rose on the host's PBS talk show, in an interview to be broadcast at 11 p.m. "But if Mayor Daley doesn't, one day I would like to run for mayor of the city of Chicago," Emanuel continued. "That's always been an aspiration of mine even when...

Rahm Emanuel admitted he wants to return home and run for mayor of Chicago some time in the near future. "I hope Mayor Daley seeks reelection. I will work and support him if he seeks reelection," the White House chief of staff told PBS's Charlie Rose in an interview. "But if Mayor Daley doesn't, one day I would like to run for mayor of the city of Chicago." He added, "That's always been an aspiration of mine even when I was in the House of Representatives." There were conflicting reports over the last few months about whether he actually wanted...

Democrat Illinois Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias's polling numbers have taken a hard hit since he won his party's Senate nomination two months ago. Giannoulias now trails GOP Rep. Mark Kirk by 4 points, lagging 33% to 37% according to a survey released Tuesday by Public Policy Polling. That's a 16-point reversal of fortune since the days before his state's February primary, when PPP showed Giannoulias leading Kirk, 42% to 34%. Excerpt.....more at site.

Barack Obama's old Senate seat in danger of turning Republican President Barack Obama's old Senate seat is increasing danger of being taken by a Republican after it was reported that the family bank of the Democratic candidate had lent $20 million (£13 million) to Chicago criminals. By Toby Harnden in Washington Published: 10:00PM BST 05 Apr 2010 President Barack Obama's old Senate seat is increasing danger of being taken by a Republican after it was reported that the family bank of the Democratic candidate had lent $20 million (£13 million) to Chicago criminals. The loss of the Illinois seat would...

The only Illinois Democrat in Congress to vote against Obamacare was on the phone. U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski — one of the few pro-life Democrats who didn't cave in to White House pressure — was explaining how it felt to be very much alone. "It was rather lonely, yes," Lipinski said of voting against President Barack Obama's federalized health care agenda. "But I could not vote for a bill that would change the status quo on funding for abortion." By voting "no," Lipinski has put a target on his back for smears from the White House staffed by the guys...

WASHINGTON, March 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Yesterday, Illinois became the 40th state where legislators have introduced, or will introduce, legislation modeled after the American Legislative Exchange Council's (ALEC) Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act. Illinois House Bill 6842 prohibits a requirement to purchase health insurance and would provide the state with protection in a constitutional challenge of the federal health reform bill.

House incumbents rarely run behind challengers in polls. The reason is that the incumbent is at least somewhat well known, having appeared on the ballot and having won an election at least once, while the challenger in most cases is not well known at all. So it’s noteworthy when incumbents trail challengers in polls, as several House Democrats have this year.Tom Bevan of realclearpolitics.com highlights some Illinois polls by a hitherto unknown firm, We Ask America; Bevan interviewed the head of the firm and says he’s convinced the firm knows what it’s doing. The results are devastating. I’ve put the...

Small business owner and free market conservative Bobby Schilling (R) is gaining momentum against far left ObamaCare supporter Phil Hare (D) as outrage against the left's Constitution-trampling agenda continues to mount.

Broadway Bank, owned by U.S. Senate nominee Alexi Giannoulias' family, was defrauded in an alleged check-kiting scheme by the owners of a popular Chicago restaurant, Boston Blackies. Nick Giannis and his son, Chris, are charged with stealing nearly $2 million. Chris posted bond and was released Friday from Cook County Jail. His father Nick remains jailed in Detroit. Alexi Giannoulias said Friday in a statement he was "shocked and appalled" at the arrests Thursday of principals in the Boston Blackies restaurant chain. Thirty-eight year-old suspects Chris Giannis and Andy Bakopoulos were picked up in Chicago while Blackies founder 62-year-old Nick...

A father and son who operated the Boston Blackie's burger restaurants were charged Thursday with ripping off nearly $1.9 million from two banks in a check-cashing scheme, and authorities said they arrested the father on the U.S. border as he was trying to enter Canada. The allegations caused a new round of political embarrassment for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate and state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, whose family owns Broadway Bank and has long known the father and son. The Blackie's operators are accused of writing bad checks from their accounts at Broadway to other banks as part of their alleged scheme....

Politics: Another bank failure is nothing new these days — except if the bank is run by the family of a U.S. Senate candidate who profited handsomely and lent millions to a convicted felon. But then, that's the Chicago way. 'I did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of fat-cat bankers on Wall Street," President Obama said in a recent interview with "60 Minutes." Speaking to those bankers, he said: "You guys are drawing down 10, 20 million dollar bonuses after America went through the worst economic year that it's gone through in — in decades,...

A taste of the RNC logic: National Republican Party fundraisers aren't putting much stock in Joe Walsh's campaign to unseat incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Melissa Bean in the suburban 8th District [Illinois], a spokesman said Thursday. ..."We're really focused on the seats where we see the clearest paths to victory," [National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Tom] Erickson said. "It's no secret these are the most competitive (races)." The RNC will find a reason at every turn to favor their candidate over a Tea-Party candidate. To whom should they be listening - their entrenched bureaucracy or the voters? We know what...

CHICAGO - More than a month after the election and all the votes in the republican primary for Illinois governor have finally been counted. The State Board of Elections has released the official results from the race, and the winner is Bill Brady. The board has certified that the state senator from Bloomington beat fellow senator Kirk Dillard of Hinsdale by 193 votes. Dillard has said he would only seek a recount if Brady won by 100 votes or less. Brady now faces Governor Quinn in November.

Campaign for Dillard issues the following News Release: (Chicago) – State Senator Kirk Dillard today threw his support behind State Senator Bill Brady in the race for Governor, saying it was “close,” but that Brady had won the Illinois Republican Primary. “I will help Senator Brady in any way I can to ensure the Republican Party wins back the Governor’s office in November,” Dillard said. Dillard had waited until the Illinois State Board of Elections had reported the final totals in the February 2 Primary election had been counted before conceding because of the narrow margin of Brady’s lead. “It...

In 2004, the Republican nominee for the open Illinois Senate seat, Jack Ryan, had to withdraw after having his divorce records exposed over the summer, revealing some rather exotic lifestyle choices. That left the Illinois GOP with only Alan Keyes in a carpetbagging bid to beat a junior state Senator making his second run at Capitol Hill for the Democrats … and we all know how that turned out for Illinois, and the nation. Now the shoe may be on the other foot, as the Democratic nominee admits that the feds may have to seize his family bank due to...

Relentlessly undermining the conservative movement in this state at every turn are a small handful of bought-and-paid-for liberal impostors at the very top of the GOP who openly work for the other side. These are the people who just illegally sabotaged conservative reformers across the state with an outrageous last-minute assault on the party election process (as I noted here). The very worst among them is Angelo Saviano (also, click here for Jack Dorgan).

The Republican State Central Committee in Illinois is instructing its County Chairmen to illegally stack the deck against Tea Party reformers in the March 3rd elections...

Will Sarah Palin play in Peoria? Except for a brief stop in Chicago to tape an Oprah Winfrey show last November, Palin's first public appearance in Illinois will be April 17 in Washington, a town of about 14,000 near Peoria. The local community center -- called Five Points Washington -- booked Palin for a speech and a dinner to raise money for a parking lot, youth scholarships and other projects. The 1,000 tickets sold out in a day. With VIP receptions thrown in, the center's gross -- according to my calculations -- should be about $235,000, minus Palin's fee, which...