Can Mark Kirk Win the Illinois U.S. Senate Seat?
Republicans are looking hungrily at the Illinois U.S. Senate seat once held by Barak Obama. With Scott Brown’s success in Massachusetts, Illinois appears to be another winnable victory for the minority Republicans.
“The Illinois seat is going to be top of the Republican priority list, not for symbolic reasons that it’s Obama’s home state, but because it’s one of the most likely seats for them to win,” said political analyst Dick Simpson of the University of Illinois at Chicago.
What had once been considered a safe Senate seat for the Democrats, the vacant Illinois seat has become one of five “toss-up” races where Democrats are in danger of losing, according to the Cook Political Report.
“The Democratic candidates are second-tier. They’re not particularly exciting, not particularly experienced,” DePaul University political analyst Michael Mezey said.
The front runner in Tuesday’s Republican Party primary is five-term U.S. Representative Mark Kirk.
There is one major caveat: Kirk is definitely not a “Tea Party” candidate and may not be an attractive candidate to orthodox conservatives.
“Kirk is not the kind of candidate to get the Tea Partiers’ blood running,” Mezey said. “He’s a moderate, middle-of-the-road candidate. He’s been pro-choice, pro-gay rights, anti-gun.”
To many in Illinois, Kirk may get the establishment protest vote, but to others he is just another liberal in a Republican suit.
I always thought that the Party of Lincoln had room for a variety of opinions under the GOP tent. It seems to be short-sighted to refuse to support a candidate endorsed by the Republican party just because he may hold beliefs that do not coincide perfectly with mine. Does it make any sense to withhold our votes and allow the democrats to take the seat and continue espousing Obama political thought? Wake up, Republicans.