THE SCOTT BROWN OF ILLINOIS – AT 8:20 A.M. ET:  Republicans dream of taking Barack Obama's former Senate seat in the blue state of Illinois this November.  It appears they have a solid shot.  From The Washington Times:

It worked in Massachusetts, so Illinois Republicans are looking for a repeat.

"This is not Obama's seat, it's the people's seat," Rep. Mark Steven Kirk, the Republican candidate running for Illinois' Senate seat vacated by the president, declares at campaign stops.

Eager to tap the voter angst and stump lines that propelled Sen. Scott Brown to unexpected victory in another Democrat-dominated state, Massachusetts, Mr. Kirk has made it clear that even though the president remains popular in his home state, his policies aren't.

And with just 38 percent of all Illinois voters giving Mr. Obama good or excellent ratings for his handling of health care reform, the five-term lawmaker is actually putting the Democratic stronghold in play.

"For the first time in a long time, the Republicans have a good chance of winning this Senate seat," said Paul Green, a professor of policy studies at Roosevelt University in Chicago.

And...

A Rasmussen poll last week showed the race statistically tied, with Mr. Kirk trailing Democrat Alexi Giannoulias, the treasurer of Illinois and a basketball-playing friend of Mr. Obama's, by just three points, well within the survey's margin of error.

The Democrats in Illinois have some image problems, extending to Mr. Giannoulias:

He has been under scrutiny as state treasurer for his handling as of a college savings program that lost $150 million. His family's bank, Broadway Bank, where he worked as a lending officer before entering politics, is on the verge of takeover by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The bank made hundreds of millions of dollars in bad loans and shortly before the mortgage crisis, the Giannoulias family withdrew $70 million from the bank in 2007 and 2008, according to news reports.

Mr. Giannoulias also made millions of dollars in loans to Tony Rezko, a political fundraiser for Mr. Blagojevich who is awaiting sentencing on convictions of fraud and money laundering. He also made loans to Michael "Jaws" Giorango, a convicted prostitution-ring operator.

The sad fact is, though, that these things have been known for quite some time, and Giannoulias still got the Democratic nomination and still leads in the polls.  Corruption tends to be accepted in Illinois.

Mark Kirk is an excellent candidate, but this will be a very tough fight.  The Democratic Party does not want to be humiliated by losing Obama's seat.  You will see how rough Chicago politics can be.  The cemeteries will empty on election day as the faithful go to the polls, and return for a second visit.

March 18, 2010