With six days remaining in the race, Congressman Kirk has pulled his one positive television ad and has gone completely negative, with more than $2 million in false, misleading attack ads.

In stark contrast, Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Alexi Giannoulias has gone completely positive for the final week with an ad that features President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, his mother and workers from Hartmarx, with each of them noting his compassion and character.

“Just as Alexi has gone with a purely positive television ad in the final week of the campaign, we learned today that Congressman Kirk pulled his positive commercial and is spending more than $2 million on false, negative ads that have been denounced as smears by independent fact check organizations,” said campaign spokesman Scott Burnham. ”Instead of focusing on the issues, Congressman Kirk has a record he can’t defend. That’s why Congressman Kirk, the Republican party, Karl Rove and the Chamber of Commerce are spending nearly $5 million on negative and misleading attack ads this week.”

Learn more about Alexi Giannoulias.

Giannoulias Pulls All Negative Ads for Final Week of Campaign is a post from Illinois Tenth Congressional District Democrats

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Short answer: Yes, for considerable, though muted, results in the face of extreme obstructionism and outlandish lies and “Democrats” who have sold out.  But that’s not really the point.

Do Governor Quinn, Treasurer Giannoulias, Dan Seals, and Reps. Bill Foster, Melissa Bean, Jan Schakowsky and the other Democrats ?

Yes, Quinn inherited a terrible mess, worse fiscally than President Obama’s because the Governor has to balance the budget.  Alexi has done a good job with the state funds, truth be told.  And the others have done their job.  But again, that’s not really the point.

Do WE deserve to vote for a better America for ourselves and our kids?

Yes!  The Republicans had 8 years to get us into this mess.  Bill Clinton had 8 years to fix Reagan and HW’s mess.  By the end, President Clinton had peace, prosperity, democracy in new places, and a BUDGET SURPLUS.

All these Republican ads are blaming the Democrats who were in office BECAUSE of the mishandling of the economy and the financial sector by Republicans and their owners, the banks, insurance and oil companies!  It was not the Democrats’ fault!   Things would be worse had we left the Republicans in charge!

The Democrats are there to fix it and they will if we give them more time.

W and the Republicans brought us 9/11, two recessions, two wars whose costs they hid from the books, the currency panic of 2007-08, and the Deepwater Horizon oil leak!  McCain would have brought us a war in Iran for which we have not enough troops, not enough money.  He would have bankrupted the country with more tax cuts and more war!

Why would we go BACK to the W policies of tying the hands of regulators in the financial sector and the oilfield?  Why would we go back to tax cuts that resulted in an overheated economy, and the resultant loss of houses, savings, and jobs?

Furthermore, why in the world did America let the guys who let us get attacked in 2001 back into government all those 8 years?  Simple answer the news media is owned, literally, by Republican families and stockholders.   And I guess the people are just that gullible.

Now that the Chinese are funding the Republican Party’s campaigns, God only knows what they’re going to do, but I’d advise you to have your kids learn to speak Mandarin Chinese.

Do They Deserve Our Votes? is a post from Illinois Tenth Congressional District Democrats

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She quoted this proverb:

For Want of a Nail

For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

We can’t let this race go to Mark Kirk “for want of a nail” – or of money, calls, signs, etc.  It’s just too important.  Alexi mentioned several key issues, including Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, on which Kirk has yet to take a stand.  This is not leadership.  We are all familiar with Kirk’s ongoing and nearly infinite exaggerations and lies.  This is not honesty.  We’ve seen him cast countless votes for the powerful and against the middle class, against our military (yes, he’s voted against supplying our troops w/needed equipment as well as key veterans’ benefits.), against separation of church and state, and against choice.  This is not character.

You may not think Alexi is your perfect candidate.  You may not know about his strong record as treasurer or about his early and moral stands for gay rights and for the rights of muslims to build a community center in lower manhattan.  But most of you know how Kirk has lied, at least a bit about how he has voted, and how he conveniently changed his mind on many issues as soon as he needed the votes of a more conservative, statewide constituency.

I urge you to support Alexi Giannoulias.  Put up a sign, make some calls, send a check (or go online and donate), or just tell 10 friends about how important it is for Alexi to win this seat.

Thanks for paying attention.

Nancy Pred

For Want of a Nail is a post from Illinois Tenth Congressional District Democrats

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For Immediate Release
September 23, 2010

STATEMENT FROM DOCTORS FOR AMERICA ON THE 6 MONTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

Washington, D.C. – Dr. Vivek Murthy, president of Doctors for America, released the following statement honoring the six month anniversary of the signing of the Affordable Care Act:

“Today is a milestone day for health care in America. Starting today children can no longer be denied insurance because of a pre-existing condition such as asthma, millions of young adults will have coverage through their parent’s plans until age 26, cancer patients no longer have to worry about their coverage rescinded or hitting their policies annual or lifetime limits. These changes will transform lives and give doctors the tools necessary to help our patients get the care they need.”

Provisions that take effect today include:

* No more getting dropped after you get sick – Insurance companies can no longer rescind coverage after the fact.
* Full access to coverage – Children under 19 can no longer be rejected from health care plans due to pre-existing conditions.
* No more annual or lifetime limits – Insurers can no longer limit the amount of coverage someone can receive over the year or their lifetime.
* Free preventive care – New health insurance plans must provide preventive services such as mammograms and immunizations.
* Expanded coverage to young adults – Young adults can stay on their parents’ health plan until age 26.

Doctors for America is a national organization of 15,000 physicians and medical students fighting for a system in which every American has equal access to quality healthcare. We envision a fair, effective and affordable healthcare system — one fundamentally transformed and guided by the core values of doctors and their patients.

###

For more information about Doctors for America, please go to our Web site at:
www.drsforamerica.com

Doctors Applaude Affordable Care Act is a post from Illinois Tenth Congressional District Democrats

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“When you hear Congressman Kirk talk about job creation, he’s talking about jobs he created in China,” said Giannoulias while visiting Earth, Wind and Solar Energy, LLC, a small business specializing in renewable energy training, education and installation. “Congressman Kirk has bowed to the corporate special interests that fund his campaigns, voting again and again to help companies ship jobs overseas to China while small businesses here are struggling to access capital and create jobs right at home.”

Just this week, the United Steelworkers filed a case with the U.S. Trade Representative detailing China’s illegal subsidization of clean energy equipment. The WTO has ruled against China on these issues in the past, and Giannoulias strongly supports the renewed effort to hold China accountable and restore some fairness to international trade.

“My opponent has spent two decades in Washington DC, and his feelings toward China’s practices couldn’t be more clear — he voted against legislation to crack down on China’s anti-competitive trade policies, and he voted against requiring an investigation of China’s currency manipulation,” said Giannoulias.  “That’s not the kind of leadership we need.”

Giannoulias believes that as the United States emerges from the recession, policies enacted today must set a solid foundation for the economic growth of tomorrow. In his Future Works plan, which can be read in full at www.alexiforillinois.com, he details his comprehensive plan to turn Illinois’ economy around in part by investing now in the clean energy jobs of tomorrow. These are good-paying positions that can’t be outsourced and that modernize the country’s energy policy and creates jobs.

In Illinois alone, there are more than 2,500 companies that have created more than 28,000 clean energy jobs.  Businesses that build solar panels, wind turbines, weatherize homes, build a more efficient electricity grid that reaches every corner of Illinois, and produce energy from waste.  Earth, Wind and Solar, Inc installed the first solar home ever in Joliet, IL on Saturday. It is a stop on the Illinois Solar Energy Association’s Solar Tour in October that features 175 green businesses and homes throughout the Chicagoland area.

MARK KIRK VOTED TO SHIP JOBS OVERSEAS:

Kirk voted six times to protect loopholes that reward corporations that ship American jobs overseas:

•Kirk voted to give benefits to corporations that locate offshore to dodge U.S. taxes.  [HR4520, Vote 258, 6/17/04]

•Kirk voted against prohibiting corporate inversion.  [HR4931, Vote 247, 6/21/02]

•In May 2010, Kirk voted against HR4213-the American Jobs, Closing Tax Loopholes and Preventing Outsourcing Act, which would extend unemployment benefits and Recovery Act provisions and close loopholes for companies that ship jobs overseas.  [HR4213, Vote 324, 5/28/10]

•Kirk voted against penalizing companies that lay off a greater percentage of their U.S. workers than workers overseas.  [HR2871, Vote 120, 5/1/02]

•Kirk voted to give billions in tax breaks to financial corporations that have overseas operations.  [HR3529, Vote 509, 12/19/01]

•Kirk voted against providing extra assistance to individuals who have lost their jobs to outsourcing.  [HR27, Vote 47, 3/2/05]

Kirk voted against legislation to crack down on China’s unfair trade practices and currency manipulation.  Kirk defended his vote, calling the legislation “gratuitous.” [HR3283, Vote 437, 7/27/05; National Journal's Congress Daily, 7/27/05]

Kirk voted against requiring an investigation of China’s currency practices.  [HR3283, Vote 436, 7/27/05]

Kirk Creates Jobs…in China is a post from Illinois Tenth Congressional District Democrats

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Last month, the Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters announced that they are endorsing Alexi Giannoulias over Mark Kirk in the general election. Both groups have previously backed Kirk.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/elections/2366804,CST-NWSkirk08.article

Highlights from a Sun-Times article explain why environmental groups have abandoned Kirk in favor of Giannoulias:

“Mark Kirk stood up to Big Oil when he stopped BP from polluting Lake Michigan,” Kirk boasts on his website. But the environmentalists say Kirk may be exaggerating a bit when he says “he stopped” BP. “Virtually every politician in the state said they were spear-heading the effort to keep BP from dumping in Lake Michigan,” said Jack Darin, Director of the Sierra Club of Illinois. In contrast to Sen. Dick Durbin, Mayor Daley and former Rep. Rahm Emanuel, who kept up sustained pressure against BP, “Kirk held a press conference and took a boat trip, but since that issue has faded from the headlines, we have not seen Kirk speaking out about BP’s choice to move to dirtier gas at the Indiana refinery or for Illinois cars,” Darin said…“One thing that has long troubled us about Mark Kirk is his long support for big oil companies,” Darin said. “He sided with Dick Cheney and President Bush in renewing tax subsidies for big oil.” “He was one of the people down on the floor of the House chanting ‘Drill,Baby,Drill!’ in August, 2008,” [Tony] Massaro [of the League of Conservation Voters] said. In contrast, Giannoulias was a rare state treasurer who went out of his way to find ways to help the environment, such as creating “a thousand-dollar incentive for Illinois drivers to purchase a hybrid, which helped make sure that the movement toward cleaner cars didn’t lose steam during the recession,”Darin said.

Many of us previously voted for Kirk (I voted for him in 2002 and 2004). No matter when or how many times you voted for him in the past, you don’t have to vote for him again. We now know he’s not who we thought he was.

While Kirk fiddles with his resumé, Alexi continues to rack up endorsements from organizations that share our values. First, it was Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America, then the Human Rights Campaign, and now the Sierra Club and League of Conservation Voters.

If you care about the issues as well as about character, Alexi is the clear choice. Both candidates are strong on Israel—one of their few areas of agreement —but on the other issues we care about, only Alexi is with us.

Let’s send a Senator to Washington who will fight for us, not Big Oil. Let’s send Alexi Giannoulias.

Alexi will Fight for our Environment is a post from Illinois Tenth Congressional District Democrats

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Giannoulias supports enhanced safety features for offshore oil rigs, a six month moratorium on new offshore drilling permits, and a plan to split the now-infamous Minerals Management Service into two separate agencies to prevent the conflicts of interest which led – to say the least – to some shoddy regulation.

Giannoulias’ proposed drilling reforms are largely uncontroversial, and Mark Kirk pretty much agrees. On the surface, one might even tempted to think that Kirk deserves his billing as the greenest Republican in Congress. Dig a little deeper, though, and Kirk’s environmental credentials start to fall apart.

Kirk jumped on the “drill baby drill” bandwagon in 2008, prompting the Sierra Club to withdraw their endorsement for his Senate campaign. The greenest Republican in Congress has offered some rather bizarre justifications for his pro-drilling enthusiasm. In 2008 Kirk falsely claimed that the Chinese were drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, and in early June he argued that U.S. imports of Iranian oil totaled 80 billion barrels despite the existence of well-known sanctions which make all such imports illegal. Factor in the inscrutability of the 80 billion barrel figure – the U.S. only imports about four billion barrels of oil a year – and it appears the Congressman has confused his energy policy with a game of energy independence Mad Libs. (China! Iran! Literally gazillions of barrels!) Kirk’s record of standing up to Big Oil is similarly suspect; Kirk paid lip service to stopping BP from dumping in Lake Michigan in 2007 but failed to follow through.

On cap and trade, Kirk has jumped the ship entirely. Kirk supported a market-based cap on carbon emissions in the House, but as a Senate candidate he claims the legislation is no longer in the interest of his constituents. While it’s possible that Kirk genuinely believes global warming to be a Kenilworth-specific issue, it seems more likely that he no longer finds it in his political interests to play moderate Republican, which is rather convenient now that his position on the issue actually matters. There is at least some recent evidence which suggests this is the case; in 2008 Kirk broke a long-standing trend by voting against tax credits for renewable energy. Given that such tax credits appear to constitute the entirety of Kirk’s plan to fight global warming, it is unclear what the Congressman intends to do about this issue.

The Giannoulias white paper prominently states the Democrat’s support for “a comprehensive, market-based system that puts a price on global warming pollution,” and Giannoulias has been consistent in his advocacy for cap and trade. It is important to note that even if Kirk is serious about government subsidies for renewable energy, it is unlikely that such measures will put a dent in climate change absent a cap on carbon emissions. One common misconception about cap and trade is that it is designed to eliminate global warming entirely; in fact the legislation is only designed to limit warming to two degrees Celsius by 2050. Most scientists agree this is the threshold at which climate change will become catastrophic, and tax credits alone will almost certainly be insufficient to keep us below the magic number. Putting a price on carbon is critical both in terms of limiting U.S. emissions and spurring international action on climate change.

We’ve heard enough myths in this Senate campaign, so let’s put this one to rest: Mark Kirk is not moderate on the environment. He loves drilling, opposes cap and trade, and voted against alternative energy legislation. Alexi Giannoulias has a better energy plan, and it’s not even close.

Kirk is a post from Illinois Tenth Congressional District Democrats

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