Why Kirk, Giannoulias show no sign of letting up negative campaigning

The sluggish economy. Iraq and Afghanistan. Gun control. Gay rights. Abortion.

There's no shortage of hot issues this election season, as Democrats and Republicans battle for control of both houses of Congress.

But suburban voters are hearing primarily about two things from Mark Kirk and Alexi Giannoulias, the major party candidates vying for President Barack Obama's old Senate seat in the Nov. 2 election.

Giannoulias, a Chicago Democrat, frequently issues statements calling his opponent a "serial embellisher" or something similar, tying the Highland Park Republican's exaggerated military and teaching record to recent votes on jobs legislation and positions on economic policy - and even to former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's conviction for lying to the FBI.

Kirk's camp similarly churns out news releases portraying Giannoulias as a "mob banker" or the like, trying to link the Chicago Democrat to organized crime through loans his now-shuttered family bank made through the years.

The early and repetitive negative campaigning is making an already difficult choice even more confusing for coveted swing voters, and frustrating the organizers of local political debates.

With mudslinging overpowering debate on the issues, come November, "voters are going to have a very hard time cutting through the rhetoric," said Sharon Alter, professor emerita of political science at Harper College in Palatine.

"Informally, I've talked to a lot of people. They're saying, 'I'm just not going to vote.'"

Mark Williams is one of the voters looking for more about actual issues.

"I follow some of the stories," the Highland Park resident said of the negative campaigning, while attending a Kirk event last month. "But I've become very disillusioned with these career politicians. What I want is to hear them talk about the issues. When they digress to mudslinging, it shows me that they're avoiding tackling the issues."

A third, lesser known candidate in the race - Green Party candidate LeAlan Jones of Chicago - says he is trying to talk about the issues and sees the sparring between Kirk and Giannoulias as an opportunity to capture votes.

"I'm not here to talk about the failure of a bank, I'm not here talking about my record, I'm talking about the issues that matter to people," he said in a recent TV appearance.

But experts say the two major party candidates are caught in a cycle, and with flaws exposed so early in the race, neither campaign is likely to let up.

And that appears to have led to a reluctance to talk about major issues for fear of providing the opponent more ammunition, Alter says.

"Neither of these guys wants to give each other the edge by revealing what their issue positions are. They want to wait until after Labor Day," she said.

Negative or not, the attacks on both sides target two characteristics that voters look for in any candidate: honesty and credibility, says Bruce Newman, a DePaul University marketing professor and expert on voter behavior, candidate image and political marketing.

And that's what voters will continue to hear unless some major event overpowers them and sparks discussion of other issues, he said.

"If we don't find one of those issues coming, you'll still see the mudslinging on this level. It's going to be an endless ping-pong match of who can put each other on the defensive," Newman said.

The race pits five-term Congressman Kirk against Giannoulias, first-term Illinois treasurer and basketball buddy of President Barack Obama's. Illinois has a long history of leaning Democratic, but Kirk repeatedly won over independent votes in the Northwest suburban 10th District with his pro-science, pro-abortion rights and pro-Israel stances.

Polls have shown the candidates as neck-and-neck for months.

The high-profile race has been nasty from the start, but kicked into high gear in April, when news broke of the collapse of Giannoulias' family bank, where he served as a vice president before being elected as Illinois treasurer.

Kirk's campaign seized on the news, branding Giannoulias as a failed banker.

When news broke in June about Kirk embellishing his military record, Giannoulias immediately branded Kirk a liar.

Since then, neither campaign has stopped the attacks.

As recently as last week, Kirk made public remarks that sought to link Giannoulias - via a loan from his family's bank - to former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

Giannoulias then tried to tie Kirk's Aug. 10 vote against federal jobs legislation to his resume embellishments.

"After today's vote it is clear that Congressman Kirk didn't just lie about being a teacher, he lied about supporting them," Giannoulias said.

Underestimating the weight of an opponent's attacks has proved costly in recent political history, Newman points out.

In 1988, Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis underestimated the fallout from the infamous Willie Horton ad, portraying Dukakis as being soft on crime.

In 2004, Democrat John Kerry's presidential campaign was irreparably damaged by a television ad by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which sought to undermine his military record.

Kirk's campaign cited Giannoulias' lack of experience as reason to return to the bank's problems again and again.

Both campaigns defend their strategies so far, and insist they are finding plenty of time to talk about the issues at hand.

Kirk campaign spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski called the race one of "contrasts" and said Kirk "will continue to present his plan to tax less, spend less and borrow less to help employers create jobs and turn our economy around side by side with Alexi Giannoulias' plan to tax more, spend more and borrow more, threatening our economic security."

Giannoulias campaign manager David Spielfogel said "Alexi has been out there talking about the issues that matter to Illinois voters since day one and he'll continue to talk about these issues for the next ten weeks."

As the candidates head into the traditional Labor Day election season kickoff, Newman says both Kirk and Giannoulias need to be mindful of their delivery of jabs.

Mudslinging has a boomerang effect," he said. "If it's done too harshly, it does come back to haunt. How they sling the mud, how they respond, that's the art. What's the image that you manufacture."

Who's doing better at that, "it's really hard to say right now," he said. "We'll see it in the first debate."

When that happens.

News broke last week that Giannoulias would not be attending a forum about Israel on Sunday in Northbrook, sponsored by To Protect Our Heritage PAC and more than a dozen local synagogues. Organizers said he'd committed to the event in March. Giannoulias called the PAC, which has donated to past Kirk campaigns, along with other candidates, partisan.

As of Friday, the next scheduled debate for the candidates wasn't until Oct. 19, just two weeks before the Nov. 2 election.

"Candidates are losing sight of what's important. They can't just assume respect, they have to earn it. This is not a child's game to quibble over," said Peggy Shapiro, forum organizer and To Protect Our Heritage PAC co-chair.

Like clockwork, both campaigns don't seem to miss a chance to toss the two sore points at one another.

Kirk's campaign, upon hearing the news that Giannoulias was not attending the Israel forum, issued a release titled "Why is Tony Rezko's banker ducking debates?", citing a $22.75 million loan the candidate's family bank made to a development company in 2006, of which Antoin "Tony" Rezko, a convicted Blagojevich fundraiser and aide, was a part owner.

And on the same day, after former Gov. Rod Blagojevich was convicted of lying to the FBI, Giannoulias issued a statement linking the charge to Kirk's embellishments. "Today, the jury found Rod Blagojevich guilty for lying, and on November 2nd, the voters of Illinois will reject Mark Kirk for lying," it read.

• Daily Herald news services contributed to this report.