Giannoulias takes responsibility for bad loans

Democrat Alexi Giannoulias says he takes responsibility for the small number of bad loans made when he was an executive at his family's struggling bank.

Giannoulias spoke Monday to a Chicago civic club, where he said his GOP opponent Congressman Mark Kirk is "obsessed" with the Giannoulias family's bank troubles.

Giannoulias says he takes responsibility for the less than 9 percent of nonperforming assets that were put on the books when he worked at Broadway Bank before becoming Illinois state treasurer four years ago.

Giannoulias and Kirk are locked in a tight race. Kirk has pounded Giannoulias for his role in his family's struggling bank. Giannoulias' family has until later this month to raise about $85 million.