Illinois voters seemed to split almost evenly between the scandal-scarred candidates for President Barack Obama’s former Senate seat Tuesday, and both sides said the winner might not be known until late into the night.
CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois voters seemed to split almost evenly between the scandal-scarred candidates for President Barack Obama’s former Senate seat Tuesday, and both sides said the winner might not be known until late into the night.
With 71 percent of precincts reporting, Democrat Alexi Giannoulias had 48 percent of the vote, and Republican Mark Kirk had 46 percent.
"This has been a long, hard fight over the future of the state of Illinois and what direction we need to head. What’s a few more hours to find out who the next senator of the state of Illinois is going to be?" Giannoulias aide Kathleen Strand said.
A defeat for Giannoulias would be an embarrassing repudiation for the president in his home state. Obama, his wife and top aides have campaigned for Giannoulias in a bid to keep the seat in Democratic hands.
A loss also would weaken Democrats’ hold on the Senate by depriving them of a seat in what is supposed to be a Democratic state.
The campaign turned into a bitter exchange of charges and countercharges.
Giannoulias, an Obama protege and Illinois treasurer, was weighed down by the failure of his family’s bank. Kirk, a congressman and Navy Reservist, made false claims about his military record.
Exit polling found that more than a third of Illinois voters considered neither Kirk nor Giannoulias to be honest and trustworthy.
Trust may be especially important in this race because of its links to former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. The Democratic governor was removed from office in disgrace after federal prosecutors alleged he tried to sell the appointment as Obama’s temporary Senate replacement.
Giannoulias played professional basketball in Greece and became a friend and basketball buddy of Obama’s. Encouraged by the future president, he ran for Illinois treasurer and won on the strength of his experience as an executive at his family’s Broadway Bank.
Four years later, he set his sights on winning Obama’s former Senate seat. But his banking experience worked against him when the bank failed and was taken over by federal regulators. Giannoulias also had to explain — again and again — his role in the bank’s loans to two people with ties to organized crime and to corrupt political insider Antoin "Tony" Rezko.
He faced Kirk, who looked like the clear favorite with his mix of moderate social views and military experience. Then came the revelation that after long saying he was the Navy’s "intelligence officer of the year," Kirk never actually won that award.
It turned out that at various times Kirk also had falsely said he served in the Gulf War and the 2003 invasion of Iraq, claimed to run the Pentagon war room and said he came under enemy fire on flights over Kosovo and Iraq.
Such misrepresentations weakened Kirk and made the Illinois Senate race one of the nation’s closest and most-watched contests.
Winnetka voter Barbara Mitchel, 53, said she supports Obama but voted for Kirk.
"My vote for Republicans sends a message to Obama: You’re doing a good job, but you’ve got to do better," she said.
But in Decatur, 48-year-old Carolyn Lowery said Obama needs more help in Washington, not more political opponents.
"I want to make sure we fill Congress with Democrats so they can overrule the Republicans. We need to make sure we have people to back Obama up. Obama’s not doing a bad job," Lowery said.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.
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