Cook moves Illinois Senate race to "leans Republican"

Three days after the failure of the Giannoulias family's Broadway Bank, the Cook Political Report has moved the Illinois US Senate race from "toss-up" to "leans Republican."

Even before Friday's collapse, Republican Mark Kirk was out-fundraising Democrat Alexi Giannoulias. And the bad news won't be going away now that the bank is gone--the FDIC will certainly investigate why Broadway failed, and with such shady characters such as Tony Rezko, Michael "Jaws" Giorongo, and Boris Stratievsky doing business with the bank, more bombshells may be coming.

Giannoulias has been complaining that the Kirk's campaign has been "Broadway Bank...Broadway Bank...Broadway Bank." But as Cook reports, outside of a rebuttal of an Alexi ad explaining--somewhat--the collapse of the bank, the GOP has been quiet the last few days in regards to this story.

Writing from an Illinois perspective, there is one issue that keeps getting overlooked. Giannoulias, who successfully ran for state treasurer on his now-discredited banking credentials, mismanaged a college savings fund known as Bright Start. It lost $70 million, almost half of its value. Not a big story inside the beltway, but one that will play well in Illinois. And of course that is who will be voting in November.

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