Chicago Tribune Endorses Congressman Mark Kirk

"...one of the most thoughtful, independent and effective members of the House. Kirk is a leader on environmental issues, including the protection of Lake Michigan. He is a strong advocate for embryonic stem-cell research. He's a workhorse on local concerns, known for having a diligent staff. Voters should look beyond partisanship and embrace their pragmatic, get-it-done congressman. Kirk is endorsed."

Read it all here.

Kirk beats Seals 59% to 41% in Pioneer Press Live Web Chat Poll

Maybe the outside lefty-loos prematurely claiming a Seals victory should take a look at yesterday's live web-chat hosted by the Pioneer Press  which asked participants the following question: 

Who did/are you voting for in the 10th Congressional District?

and the answer:

Mark Kirk 59%

Dan Seals 41%

I know it is not scientific but then neither is most of the drivel coming from the anti-mark, 1oth cd-voters-are-stupid-and-uninvolved-seals camp. 

Kirk folks are more energized than I have seen them in years and while I think the 18 point lead demonstrated in this informal poll is certainly too high - the ground-swell of support for Kirk spurred on by the relentless lying negative Seals ads should result in a clear Kirk win - make it happen - volunteer now at Kirk for Congress.com and be sure to get out and vote!

Early Voters Strongly Supporting Mark Kirk

The Northbrook Star has a nice piece about people early voting at the Northbrook Village hall. I was with about 125 other Kirk volunteers working the phones at Kirk Campaign HQ over the weekend urging folks to get out and early vote. We made a lot of calls in Northbrook and it looks like the calls are paying off. Congressman Kirk was outside the polling place and according to the article:

"Kirk was accompanied by two campaign workers, and two from Seals' campaign were there passing out literature, too.

Few voters talked much to the Seals workers, but many recognized Kirk. They included Marsha Pearlman, the American Cancer Association volunteer from Northbrook who thanked Kirk profusely for his support.

"He walks on water," she gushed."

To paraphrase another favorite Illinois politician "Contrary to popular opinion Kirk might not walk on water but I hear he flew from Krypton to save the earth"

Ahh who are we kidding - we know Kirk really does walk on water!

Dan Seals Thinks You're Lazy and Stupid UPDATE: Daily Herald Sets Record Straight - Seals Ad FALSE

The Daily Herald Website had this to say about the latest Seals' lie:

"Just for the record, the ad quotes the Daily Herald as if it is an endorsement of Seals. The Daily Herald endorsed Kirk "

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In the latest attack ad from the Seals camp – comments from local papers were taken completely out of context in a lame attempt to make it seem that Mark Kirk was not supported by these papers. Seals is counting on 10th CD voters being too stupid or lazy to look up the quotes and see that the stories cited were in fact ringing endorsements of Mark Kirk. As a reminder, Mark Kirk has been endorsed by every MSM news outlet in the area – TA has a great roundup here.

Seals had to go back to 2006 to grab a couple of words from the Daily Herald. I searched the papers archive and paid $2.95 to view the entire article which reads in part:

Kirk in 10th House District, Schakowsky in 9th

“In the eight years since he was first elected to represent the 10th District, Republican Mark Kirk has gone from being a freshman in a House dominated by his party to an experienced legislator in a Democratic House. As his district trended from solid Republican to leaning Democratic, Kirk has represented his constituents well and should be re-elected. "

I don’t want to violate fair use and re-print the whole thing, but if you would like to read it all you can buy it here.

The Pioneer Press article quoted in the ad is from this year’s Pioneer Press endorsement of Mark Kirk. Which includes the following more lengthy comments than the attack dogs at team seals see fit to quote:

“Kirk's greatest contributions come in his district service. He helped secure funding for the double tracking of Metra's North Central Line, preserved open space at Fort Sheridan and pushed to save the North Chicago veterans' hospital”

and

“the 10th has a solid, energetic representative in Kirk who was raised here and remains attentive to local needs.”

As if the outright dishonesty of this ad is not enough - the comments that Seals pulls from the Pioneer Press endorsement refer to Mark’s commitment not to raise taxes! Good God Dan if you agree with the Pioneer Press on this one and are planning to raise our taxes why don’t you just admit it?

Maybe it’s because in addition to thinking we are stupid and lazy Dan Seals thinks we are also millionaires and wants to redistribute our hard-earned money.

Kirk is Top Centrist to Keep in Politico Picks

Politico asks the question:

"So who are the centrist candidates out there deserving of your vote and support?"

And answers with the first on the list:

"Mark Kirk of Illinois: A military man and leader of the Republican Main Street Partnership, this congressman from the suburbs of Chicago has the unenviable task this year of running against a charismatic African-American challenger. But Kirk has shown the mettle to stand up to Bush and Tom DeLay and the vision to set out a “suburban agenda” that is “pro-defense, pro-personal responsibility, pro-environment and pro-science.”

Tribune recognizes Kirk as "a workhorse on local concerns, known for having a diligent staff."

Mark Kirk and his staff are some hard-working public servants. And they are working for us. Not ideology, not a national party agenda - but us. They listen and they respond and they deserve to be sent back to Washington to continue their good work. The Chicago Tribune recognized that in today's endorsement. I hope that the voters of the tenth take the Trib's advice and "look beyond partisanship and embrace their pragmatic, get-it-done congressman."

Kirk wins debate hands down.

Just a quick post for now with more details to follow. Kirk nailed this debate looking poised, knowledgeable and at times justifiably angry. Dan could not score a point and spent most of the afternoon looking dopey, smug or befuddled. Kirk had a wider range of facts, broader outlook on the issues and a deeper understanding of what it is going to take to fix the problems facing our country - expecially when it came to the economy. As usual Dan could only say what he is not in favor of or list pie-in-the sky programs that he can only pay for by raising taxes.