BY ABDON M. PALLASCH Political Reporter




Former City Inspector General David Hoffman says Tuesday's Democratic loss in Massachusetts proves Illinois needs to nominate an "outsider" who can't be tied to the state's political class for Democrats to hold on to Barack Obama's old U.S. Senate seat.

Referring to front-runner and State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, Hoffman said, "Giannoulias could be a very weak candidate for the Democrats in the fall, when we see what happened with Massachusetts last night. ... If Mr. Giannoulias is the candidate, that will allow Mr. [convicted influence peddler and former Giannoulias client Tony] Rezko to be brought into the campaign."

The comments came after a WTTW forum of the three leading Democrats hoping to win the Feb. 2 primary election.

Giannoulias said Illinois' Senate race is different in many ways from the one in Massachusetts, in which Republican state legislator Scott Brown upset Democratic Attorney General Martha Coakley. For one thing, the GOP front-runner here, Mark Kirk, has been a congressman for 10 years and can be painted as a Washington insider -- so he -- not the Democrat, will be the target of anti-Washington anger.

"It just shows voters are angry with insider politics and for the last 10 years, Mark Kirk has been part of that," Giannoulias said. "Mark Kirk has been steeped in Washington,"

Giannoulias said he would provide a better contrast with Kirk than Hoffman would because Hoffman supports free trade and keeping in place -- at least for now -- the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.

More . . .

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This is really interesting..  LOL

I just checked Mark Kirk's profile. He seems like a bit more moderate than what conservatives like on the ticket.. He just may win against the Dems.