Take a moment to meet Mark Kirk, candidate for U.S. Senate in Illinois.
Mark Kirk…
- Voted for Nancy Pelosi’s radical Cap & Tax Bill
- Voted against new oil drilling in ANWR for energy independence
- Has earned an “F” from the NRA for being “a true enemy of gun owners’ rights…and a consistent anti-gun candidate who always opposes gun owners’ rights.”
- Voted against the final surge in Iraq.
- Being a supporter of partial birth abortion, he gets a 100% rating from NARAL.
For this stellar performance as a liberal RINO, Representative Mark Kirk has earned a score of 48 (out of 100) from the American Conservative Union. Looking at it from another angle, Kirk is 52% liberal.
In a state where conservatives outnumber liberals by 12 percentage points, I struggle to understand why establishment Republicans like John McCain have chosen to put their thumbs on the scale for Mark Kirk’s candidacy before the GOP primary.
Have they learned nothing from the fine example set by Arlen Specter? Have they learned nothing from the Dede Scozzafava debacle?
Cap’n Trade Kirk must be stopped…but we only have seven days! The GOP senate primary is on February 2nd. Fortunately there’s a solid conservative for whom we can rally: Patrick Hughes.
Hughes is the most serious conservative candidate running against Mark Kirk:
If conservatives come out early next week in an organized fashion, throw a pile of targeted money into Illinois, and rapidly drive up Pat Hughes’ name identification, the polling in Illinois suggests Hughes will win.
He is not polling well against Kirk right now, but then he has significantly lower name identification. All the polling suggests Kirk’s support is very weak and once people find out about Hughes, they break overwhelmingly for Hughes.
[emphasis added]
Learn more about Patrick Hughes.
Daniel Horowitz
Neil Stevens
Moe Lane
Steve Maley
Jake Walker
Latest polling
SteveLA (Diary) Tuesday, January 26th at 7:54PM EST (link)Latest polling from the Chicago Tribune, January 25th “Clout Street”
On the Republican side, Kirk, a five-term North Shore congressman, holds a commanding advantage over Hinsdale businessman Patrick Hughes, 47 percent to 8 percent.
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Competency over ideological purity and litmus tests
Polls
rightklik (Diary) Tuesday, January 26th at 8:51PM EST (link)Not sure I trust Chicago Tribune or PPP for that matter.
Hard to believe that a huge percentage of Republicans who are motivated to show up for a February primary are going to pull the lever for a Cap & Tax RINO.
We will see!
Kirk v. Hughes is not a question of competency vs. purity. It’s a question of a candidate with name recognition who’s in the wrong party vs. a candidate who stands on principle.
Given the choice, I’ll take a principled candidate who’s fighting for name recognition over a candidate who might as well switch parties.
The whole picture
SteveLA (Diary) Tuesday, January 26th at 9:22PM EST (link)rightklik
I don’t know Illinois from nothing, so no real comment from me on how Kirks’ votes do or don’t reflect the folks who live in Ill, but a site I do read a lot is OntheIssues.com. I’m not sure if there is a bias in their data, but it’s a pretty good resource for figuring out what a politician’s full voting record tells you about them.
Here’s a link to Mark Kirks’ voting record on most of the issues you have highlighted.
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Competency over ideological purity and litmus tests
555. Great post. I made my donation to Hughes
ColdWarrior (Diary) Tuesday, January 26th at 11:06PM EST (link)n/t
In 2012, will YOU become a “voting member” of the Republican Party in your precinct?
Where it all started. Twitter @kaltkrieger
Unified Patriots.
Learn how to GOTV at The Concord Project and at Procinct and
Trib endorsed Kirk
anacreon (Diary) Tuesday, January 26th at 11:10PM EST (link)so I’m not surprised by the poll numbers.
www.downstateiladvocate.com
Voting Record
rightklik (Diary) Wednesday, January 27th at 12:44AM EST (link)I think OntheIssues.com is a good resource even if there’s a slight tilt left.
ColdWarrior
rightklik (Diary) Wednesday, January 27th at 12:57AM EST (link)Thank you