Could Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL), the Republican nominee for President Obama’s former Senate seat in Illinois, be on the verge of suffering the same kind of downfall as Sue Lowden did in Nevada — political death-by-punchline?
Two months ago, things were going great for Kirk. The family bank of his Democratic opponent, state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, was going bust — heavily damaging Giannoulias’s own reputation. Poll after poll showed Kirk, who was pitching himself as a moderate and independent-minded Republican, leading in this Democratic-leaning state, which has endured its fair share of scandals in the last few years.
Then came Kirk’s problems, and lots of them. Whereas Lowden got in trouble by pining for the days when her grandparents bartered chickens for health care, Kirk has been stepping in it as a result of his résumé — or rather, the things that are on his résumé that he didn’t actually do. And the Illinois media won’t stop asking questions.
First came news that he had embellished his military record. Kirk was forced to publicly admit that his previous claim of receiving the Navy’s Intelligence Officer of the Year award was false. Instead, his unit had received the Navy’s Rufus L. Taylor Intelligence Award, rather the Kirk himself receiving the Officer of the Year award as an individual.
That turned out to be only the first instance. Kirk also claimed that he was “the only member of Congress to serve in Operation Iraqi Freedom.” Instead, Kirk had served in the Navy during Operation Iraqi Freedom, but not in Iraq itself. The case was especially notable for the similarities to Democratic Attorney General Richard Blumenthal in Connecticut, who Republicans had just recently been raking over the coals for misstatements about serving in Vietnam.
Three weeks ago, Kirk apologized. “I simply misremembered it wrong,” he said in an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times. “I want to be very contrite and say that there was a casualness with which I sometimes describe military details and if it gave the impression that my military record was larger than it was, I apologize.”
It was also revealed that the Pentagon twice “counseled” Kirk about having mixed politics with military service — once by giving interviews to the media about the arrest of Rod Blagojevich while he was on duty, and once while Tweeting about his Pentagon work.
Then came yet another case of exaggeration — which didn’t even involve his military service. The New York Times reported that a nursery school where Kirk claimed to have been a teacher said he wasn’t actually a teacher — he was considered a part-time assistant to a full-time primary teacher.
All of this has worn Kirk down, at least for now. A survey last week from Public Policy Polling (D) showed Giannoulias taking a one-point edge, after months of polls that all showed Kirk ahead.
With the situation getting worse, Kirk found himself this week in a situation that no politician wants to be seen in — apparently avoiding reporters, after he quickly left an appearance in Chicago by going out of the back door of the hotel, with reporters chasing after him.
As the NBC station in Chicago reported: “A pack of about 20 reporters at the event, expecting Kirk to stay for questions (as his opponent, Alexi Giannoulias did), ran after him through the crowded lunch tables, shouting his name. Kirk ran through the kitchen and into the back loading area, where he jumped into an SUV which was idling with its engine on. Despite the calls of reporters, the SUV then sped away.”
And here’s the local ABC station’s report:
The TPM Poll Average currently still shows Kirk ahead by 43.0%-38.0%, but it remains to be seen what effect additional factors — such as continuing bad publicity, or the effect of protest votes for a Green candidate, could have.
