ILLINOIS TIGHT - AT 4:21 P.M. ET:  This will be a very tough race - for the Senate seat formerly held by Barack Obama - but winnable.  From The Politico:

Illinois Republican congressman Mark Kirk holds a narrow lead over Democratic state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias in an early poll of the state’s Senate race by Rasmussen Reports.

The poll shows Kirk leading Giannoulias by 3 points, 41 to 38 percent, in a head-to-head matchup. Both candidates, however, hold high approval ratings — and the numbers undoubtedly will change once the campaigns start gearing up for the race in full force.

COMMENT:  I'd hoped that Kirk would be further ahead, but any lead is acceptable in that heavily Democratic state, still dominated by a Chicago machine that counts the departed among its most reliable voters. 

But polls now are meaningless.  The entire political landscape can be different in November, 2010, 15 months from now, when the election will be held.

August 17, 2009