Marathon Pundit: Ill. GOP: Four key questions for Alexi Giannoulias

The Illinois Republican Party has an inquiring mind today.

Four Key Questions for Alexi Giannoulias

1) Alexi, were you briefed by the National Security Council on the Thomson/Gitmo plan or did you exaggerate?

Background: On Friday, Democratic Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias told WLS 890’s Don Wade and Roma Show he "had a chance to talk to the National Security Council folks" about the Thomson plan.

Later in the day, Congressman Peter Roskam released a statement saying the “situation has been tainted by the appearance of political favoritism given that a Democrat U.S. Senate candidate received a NSC briefing while elected Members of Congress have not.”

Yesterday, Democratic Senate candidate David Hoffman told Don Wade and Roma that he has not received a similar briefing and questioned whether Giannoulias was being dishonest. “Someone should be asking him what that means,” Hoffman said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s a significant exaggeration.”

2) If you were briefed, can you tell us the name of the briefer? Was this a classified or unclassified briefing? Do you think it’s wrong that you were briefed by the NSC while most members of the Congressional delegation still have not been briefed?

3) Geoff Garin, a highly-respected Democratic pollster, said last week that if you become the Democratic nominee, it would put Barack Obama’s former Senate seat “in extreme jeopardy for the Democrats.” How do you feel about that?

Background: Republican Congressman and Navy veteran Mark Kirk leads Democrat Alexi Giannoulias by three points, 40-37, according to a poll conducted by leading Democrat pollster Geoff Garin and reported by Politico.

On the uniformed ballot, Kirk leads Giannoulias 40% to 37%. But on an informed ballot – testing positive and negative messages about both candidates – Kirk leads Giannoulias by 17 points.

According to a memo obtained by Politico, Garin’s poll “shows that mentions of Giannoulias’ family bank’s connections with jailed lobbyist Tony Rezko are considered “very concerning” by 62 percent of Illinois voters, while 57 percent said that they were very concerned about allegations his family bank issued bad housing loans.”

Garin concludes that a Kirk-Giannoulias matchup “would put Barack Obama’s former Senate seat in extreme jeopardy for the Democrats.”

4) Over the weekend, David Axelrod admitted to the New York Times that he and President Obama tried very hard to recruit Lisa Madigan into the Senate race – despite your candidacy – and remain very worried that Mark Kirk could win. How do you feel about that?

Background: In an interview this weekend with the New York Times, White House senior adviser David Axelrod openly worries about keeping President Obama's Senate seat in Democratic hands.

He also acknowledges the he and Obama failed to recruit state Attorney General Lisa Madigan to run over the state Treasurer Giannoulias, and he suggests that the Blagojevich trial could hamper the Democratic frontrunner.

“White House qualms about the Democratic frontrunner, Alexi Giannoulias, the Illinois treasurer, are self-evident, with worry that the Republican challenger, Representative Mark Kirk, will be needlessly formidable,” the article reads.