CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago Tribune has endorsed Democratic U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth for the U.S. Senate, arguing that incumbent Republican Mark Kirk is unable to fully do the job after recovering from a stroke.
The newspaper said Friday (http://trib.in/2e2Bg7d ) that “due to forces beyond his control, Kirk no longer can perform to the fullest the job of a U.S. senator.”
Kirk spokesman Kevin Artl called it “a low-blow and cheap shot” that’s “not based on fact or reality.”
The newspaper endorsed Duckworth despite noting that Kirk’s socially moderate and fiscally conservative positions mirror those of its editorial page.
Kirk suffered a stroke in 2012 and returned to the Senate in 2013. The newspaper said Kirk is not “as influential an advocate in Washington as he was for more than a decade.”
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Uhmm, wow, I’m team Kirk for this. There are plenty of reasons to endorse Tammy Duckworth, but basing it on her opponent’s stroke from four years ago? And this was the same newspaper that endorsed Gary Johnson because they couldn’t bring themselves to back Hillary Clinton.
Seems like the real health problem here is the Chicago Tribune editorial board’s spinelessness.
Quick, someone go grease up ‘Colonel’ McCormick’s casket before it burns out a bearing.
Agreed. The stroke is a horrible excuse. Good endorsement but the reasoning is spectacularly poor. I wonder if this is the Tribunes way of saying they want their Presidential pick to be anyone but Hillary.
Most likely. They were supremely pleased with themselves for endorsing President Obama in "08 noting that it was their first Democratic endorsement in 160 years. It’s a cop out though. Tammy Duckworth’s qualifications are more than suitable to make her the preferred candidate. Also, they endorsed Gary Johnson back in September.
Nobody in the Senate has been influential in any way since McConnell dedicated the Senate to the task of preventing Obama from winning another term – a goal McConnell continued to pursue even after Obama won his second and last term.