Illinois Senate Race: Mark Kirk And Alexi Giannoulias At Their Best, And Worst

The balance of power in the United States Senate will be determined on Tuesday by a few pockets of voters around the country: in the mountains of western West Virginia, and the snowbanks of Alaska, the Colorado desert and the bustling streets of Chicago and its tree-lined suburbs.

If Alexi Giannoulias, the Democrat running for Illinois's Senate seat, can turn out Democratic votes in the city and run strongly in the surrounding counties, the seat is his. But if city Democrats avoid the polls, and Republican Mark Kirk can take a win in the suburbs, he has a clear shot at the typically Democratic seat.

With both parties desperate to win the seat, there's been an overwhelming amount of news stories, political advertisements, attacks and defenses, claims and counter-claims since the February primary.

HuffPost Chicago wants to help you cut through the fog. Here are profiles of the two major-party candidates, and their two small-party counterparts -- at their best and at their worst, attacking their opponents and defending their records. The decision, readers, is yours.

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The Candidates

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Clockwise from the top-left: Republican Mark Kirk, Democrat Alexi Giannoulias, Green Party candidate LeAlan Jones, and Libertarian Mike Labno, the four candidates for Illinois's U.S. Senate seat.

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Clockwise from the top-left: Republican Mark Kirk, Democrat Alexi Giannoulias, Green Party candidate LeAlan Jones, and Libertarian Mike Labno, the four candidates for Illinois's U.S. Senate seat.

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Comments

[Vern58]

10:34 AM on 11/03/2010

Congrats Illinois!
Now you look just like Indiana.
Satisfied?

[jayevans20]

10:09 AM on 11/03/2010

What it all came down to is that some dem didn't like AG. If you look at Lisa Madigans totals and Pat Quinn totals, they had more votes than AG. If the same amount of dems vote for Madigan or even Quinn, AG wins. IL dems has to produce a better candidate than AG in the next election. Period. It's a shame because Madigan had 2 million plus votes. If she decides to run for Senator, she easily wins. Illinois is still a blue state for those who think otherwise!

[poomplet]

01:40 AM on 11/03/2010

Before I go, I gotta say that Alexi's concession speech was OUTSTANDING!

Classy, natural, heartfelt, emotional but not sappy, totally off-the-cuff. It made me think that I might be able to wrap my head around supporting him in some state election down the road.

[poomplet]

01:27 AM on 11/03/2010

WOW...the silence here is deafening. I'm too tired to gloat...let me get some rest & I'll charm y'all tomorrow

Voter had the stones to chime in but where are all the web-warriors I've battled over the last 18 months...particularly the other members of the Triumvirate of Propaganda (besides Voter); mamala & Tizzy?

Voter...you were the most civil & best opponent...I wish you well. Mamala...you started out OK, but it got to be fun (and easy fun, at that!) to push your buttons the last few months.

But Tizzy....shrill little Tizzy. Your lack of civility...of common decency, was so atrocious that I find myself grinning ear 2 ear at the mental image of your shrieking tantrum, destroyed flatscreen & river of tears.

Aloha

[histoftomorrow]

01:04 AM on 11/03/2010

This is how the Midterms will be remembered 1,000 years from now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlffdZtWOKc

[DrFunkenstein22]

12:33 AM on 11/03/2010

Here's a lil diddy dedicated to Alexi:

Cry baby cry
Make your mother sigh
She's old enough to know better
So cry baby cry

[VOTER]

01:05 AM on 11/03/2010

Here's one for Kirknocchio.

Liar, Liar, your pants are on fire,
A little one here and a ton of whoppers there.
Voters will rescue you, little man, so fear not.
Come January, you will be out of this new senatorial slot.

[poomplet]

01:38 AM on 11/03/2010

Ummm....HUH?

Did you forget to say "2016", or are you really trying to taunt him as a one 'n don'er SIX YEARS before the next election"

His term starts like TOMORROW...or is it a week or two. I didn't realize until I read something today how HUGE Kirk's immediate-ensconcement is. The GOP can now prevent any of the kooky, uber-left lame-duck maneuvering that's been discussed/proposed of late.

[mratcheson]

02:28 AM on 11/03/2010

The recall amendment only applies to governors, not senators, or anyone else. And only if enough state legislators think we should do the deed. I expect we will have Senator Kirk for the next six years.

[VOTER]

12:17 AM on 11/03/2010

Liar Kirk won.
It appears Rove's Dirty Money pulled him through ....... just barely.
Sad Day for Illinoisans.

[BluebirdofUnhappiness]

01:05 AM on 11/03/2010

I knew the nest of baggers here would vote in Rs. Quinn is still barely holding on. Probably need to wait for the absentee before they call it.

[poomplet]

11:57 PM on 11/02/2010

The fact that Crook County voted for that CROOKED THIEF Barrios instead of the honest reformer Claypool...by a huge margin...is just plain disgusting.

But that kinda makes knowing that those millions of braindead, zombie crony-voters weren't able to put The Don in office all the more sweet.

I hope you all enjoy your sick little cesspool as it's national influence continues to shrink over the years!!

[Aldyth]

08:27 AM on 11/03/2010

I'll agree with you on Barrios.

I wouldn't count on Chicago's national influence or the power of the machine diminishing if Rahm ends up as governor. It's a long way till spring, but with Dart out of the race, Rahm's chances increased dramatically.

[TheAlchemist]

10:49 PM on 11/02/2010

Claypool on NPR. He's great!

[mratcheson]

02:30 AM on 11/03/2010

He really is great. How disappointing that he lost.

[TheAlchemist]

10:39 PM on 11/02/2010

Liked Claypool's brief elegant concession

[TheAlchemist]

10:20 PM on 11/02/2010

Bummer about Claypool

[BluebirdofUnhappiness]

11:23 PM on 11/02/2010

Yeah I even wrote him in against Toddler. First time I ever did a write in. Sort of thought he had a shot.

[BluebirdofUnhappiness]

09:59 PM on 11/02/2010

48% in-- lets hope it holds
Giannoulias (D) 828,143 51.1%
Kirk (R) 710,305 43.8%
Jones (G) 48,495 3.0%
Labno (L) 34,931 2.2%

[Kaye08]

04:16 PM on 11/02/2010

Who writes the political news for HP? Chicago Tribune or Republican Party? I have watched the articles and photos on the Chicago page and have kept my mouth shut until now. Kirk a moderate is an absolute falsehood. And, anytime the media wants to denegrate a person just look at the photo they use. So...look at the difference between the Mark Kirk photo and the Alexi photo above this article. Some articles about Alexi Giannoulias have had Mark Kirk photos on them. The article about Rep. Timothy Johnson was obviously written by a Republican. Mark Kirk has done things that had a democrat done them they would be accused of treason. And, today Mark Kirk is calling for voter fraud in certain minority area in Chicago and Rockford using birther selected poll watchers. Democrats get out and vote! Our entire Democracy is at stake this election!

[mahercrit]

03:07 PM on 11/02/2010

and the race is almost over for the Roland Burris seat

[Lakeview Greg]

01:49 PM on 11/02/2010

Alexi got my vote. Twice!
:-)