Scott Brown Headlines Mark Kirk Fundraiser Thursday (VIDEO)

Since he began his quest for the U.S. Senate seat formerly held by President Obama, five-term congressman Mark Kirk has been told that he could be the "next Scott Brown."

The comparison, which has mostly been made by Republicans, is likely do to the possibility of a Republican winning in what they consider to be "a pretty deep blue state." Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said as much on his recent trip to Illinois, where he stumped for Kirk.

"You've got a great chance in what has been thought of as a pretty deep blue state to elect Mark Kirk to President Obama's Senate seat," McConnell said. "That is, indeed, as big as Scott Brown in Massachusetts."

On Thursday, Scott Brown headed to Illinois to energize the Kirk campaign, headlining a Chicago and DuPage county fundraiser. The events were expected to raise at least $200,000, Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

"The campaign also likes the Brown story line," Sweet writes. "...a Republican winning in a Democratic state."

Pat Brady, state chairman of the Illinois GOP, said in January that the situation in Illinois is quite different from the Massachusetts election of Brown:

"Massachusetts was more of a referendum on Obama," Brady said. "In Illinois, it's going to be a referendum on Democratic incompetence."

So far, however, Kirk's Democratic opponent Alexi Giannoulias is maintaining a narrow lead. In a Rasmussen poll released Wednesday, Giannoulias had 42 percent of voter support and Kirk had 40 percent. Green Party candidate LeAlan Jones could also be a concern. While his numbers were not a factor in the Rasmussen poll, Public Policy Polling reports that Jones had 9 percent of the vote as of August 17--with 19 percent of Illinois voters undecided.

Whether a Scott Brown visit to Illinois can get Kirk over the 40 percent mark remains to be seen, but Republicans are confident--and Kirk was sounding a lot like Brown at the Illinois State Fair last week:

"When we win this race, ... You will then send the 42nd Republican senator immediately to this session of Congress to stop the over-reach of the lame duck session of Congress," Kirk told a crowd of Republican supporters. "That single vote that you cast may have more to do with the future prospects of this economy than any other."

WATCH Brown discuss the Kirk campaign here:

Comments

[Mutande]

11:48 AM on 08/31/2010

Has anybody seen that hilarious animated video called, "Kirknocchio". It's been floating around the internet for a few days. Crooks and Liars and a number of sites picked it up. Devastatingly funny. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHkMCXKmt6w

If voters in Illinois see it, this alone might defeat Kirk.

[zest]

10:42 AM on 08/30/2010

Oh, now I get it; DADT is selective.

[LeaderofMen]

09:09 AM on 08/28/2010

I want all Republican voters to be very very very very clear about this FACT.

Mark Kirk is a closeted gay man in the military.

Closeted. Gay. In the military.

He has LIED about everything in his past and he is LYING to his military superiors about his well-known gayness. He should be thrown out of the military under DADT so he can see just what it's like to be pushed onto the street for simply being gay.

Mark Kirk deserves a boot in his a$$ onto the curb for that alone.

I say all that as a gay former US Marine. Mark Kirk deserves a taste of his own medicine.

[bgofca]

04:13 PM on 08/28/2010

while i'd like him to get kicked out, i'd prefer if they got rid of don't ask and don't tell and have no sexual orientation discrimination against anyone who wants to serve in the military. those who were kicked out should be able to go back to their old positions and get back pay.

[VOTER]

06:59 AM on 08/28/2010

Introducing, KIRKNOCCHIO!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHkMCXKmt6w&feature=player_embedded

[Bude]

06:22 PM on 08/27/2010

What does he hopes to be the next Scott Brown mean exactly?

[VOTER]

08:08 AM on 08/28/2010

Driving a truck?
Posing for a nude centerfold?

Can't think of anything else .......................................

[halloweenjack]

04:02 PM on 08/27/2010

It's worth remembering that the one and only reason that Scott Brown is anything but a footnote in national politics is that Martha Coakley, the Massachusetts AG, ran one of the worst Senate campaigns this side of Alvin Greene; she assumed that she'd take the race in a walk. (The explanation that I've heard from MA residents is that Mike Capuano was much better positioned for the Senate race, but Coakley happened to have amassed a war chest to run for governor, and decided to jump into the Senate race at the last minute after Ted Kennedy died; she thus had way more money than Capuano, but nowhere near the organization.) Whatever Alexi's liabilities are, he seems to be a lot cannier than Coakley. Also, Kirk has neither Brown's looks (really all he has going for him) or, AFAIK, a pickup.

[osage]

12:07 PM on 08/27/2010

HYPOCRISY IS TODAY’S ONLY REPUBLICAN VALUE

IF, after EIGHT YEARS of an incompetent, ineffective and systemically negligent and purposefully destructive REPUBLICAN presidency, ANYONE sincerely believes that a different REPUBLICAN should be trusted to do things DIFFERENTLY and or BETTER, especially the caliber of REPUBLICAN capable of garnering the backing of TEABAGGERS, he/she should seek psychiatric help and or assume he/she is brain damaged.

President Sarah Palin? President Rand Paul? President Newt Gingrich? President Michael Steele? President Mitt Romney? President Haley Barbour? President Michelle Bachmann? President Saxby Chambliss? President Steve King? President Jeff Sessions? President Sharron Angle?

So Teabaggers believe it is "intelligent" to elect someone to a “big government” office whose political party, the REPUBLICAN PARTY, believes that "big government" should be IMPOTENT GOVERNMENT and or DEREGULATED and or PRIVATIZED? What COMMON GOOD will it do the Americans who believe in a responsive representative government to elect REPUBLICANS who WANT TO DISMANTLE IT?

Whatever my disagreements with Obama are, and I have more than a few, he is light years SUPERIOR and certainly MUCH LESS DESTRUCTIVE than George W. Bush and the REPUBLICANS in congress who enabled, supported and protected him while he was destroying our economy, crippling government oversight and enforcement and generally disgracing the values that made American society the envy of the free world.

Today’s hypocritical deviant breed of intellectually dumbed-down and pathologically dishonest Republican misanthropes are irrefutably our people’s and our government’s ENEMY WITHIN.

[VOTER]

07:02 AM on 08/28/2010

Well said.
Please send your Reply to the Chicago Tribune, "Letters to the Editor."

[LeaderofMen]

09:05 AM on 08/28/2010

My hat is off to you. Fanned.

[bluejean1951]

10:24 AM on 08/27/2010

Scott Brown is wasting his time. Mark Kirk can't win here...he's a moron and a liar and everyone knows it!

[Mahi Joe]

09:30 AM on 08/27/2010

Wow a nobody endorsing a nobody.

[DuPageDem]

09:24 AM on 08/27/2010

Too late. Kirk already was a pandering empty suit for years before anyone had heard of Brown.

[VOTER]

09:32 AM on 08/27/2010

BINGO!

[mamala4]

09:47 AM on 08/27/2010

Fanned....faved....they deserve each other Kirk and Brown....2 clowns looking for their tents.

[VOTER]

08:53 AM on 08/27/2010

The Massachusetts Mistake Supports the Illinois Liar. And the QuidPro Quo is .......................... Hmmmm

[mamala4]

09:47 AM on 08/27/2010

Awesome comment....good morning!

[VOTER]

09:53 AM on 08/27/2010

Good Morning to you, too!

[savroD]

08:25 AM on 08/27/2010

Mark kirk is such a troglodite... I'd vote for the crooked entertainer-in-chief Blago before Kirk!

[VOTER]

08:54 AM on 08/27/2010

#50

[traveling1]

12:02 PM on 08/27/2010

I don't know if I'd go that far but am voting against Kirk.

[LeaderofMen]

07:29 AM on 08/27/2010

Indeed. When Kirk wins, his very first act will be to join the Party of No and Obstruction.

And that will be his sole legacy as our new IL senator.

[henrypapillon]

02:04 AM on 08/27/2010

This guy should put an ice bag about the size of Texas on his head to keep the swelling down.

[Ponderus]

01:57 AM on 08/27/2010

I'm sure the boys will have plenty to dish about over late night cocktails and dinner for two.