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Duckworth Calls Kirk ‘Unhinged’

August 24, 2016 at 7:20 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) called Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) “unhinged” after the senator referred to President Obama as the “drug dealer in chief,” Politico reports.

Said Duckworth: “If you look at all of the things that he said, I think that he lacks the ability to control what he’s saying. If you look at the numerous gaffes he’s had over the years,” Duckworth said Tuesday after she addressed the City Club of Chicago. “I do think he is unhinged.”

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign Tagged With: IL-Sen, Mark Kirk, Tammy Duckworth

Kirk Will Vote for Colin Powell Instead

August 10, 2016 at 3:55 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) plans to write in Colin Powell’s name for president on his general election ballot this November, Politico reports.

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign Tagged With: Colin Powell, Mark Kirk

Kirk Distances Himself from His Own Party

June 23, 2016 at 1:12 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 26 Comments

Sen. Mark Kirk’s (R-IL) new ad could easily be mistaken for one run by a Democrat.

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign Tagged With: IL-Sen, Mark Kirk


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Kirk Withdraws Support for Trump

June 7, 2016 at 3:58 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 108 Comments

Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) issued a statement saying he would not back his party’s nominee for president:

I have spent my life building bridges and tearing down barriers–not building walls. That’s why I find Donald Trump’s belief that an American-born judge of Mexican descent is incapable of fairly presiding over his case is not only dead wrong, it is un-American…

It is absolutely essential that we are guided by a commander-in-chief with a responsible and proper temperament, discretion and judgment. Our President must be fit to command the most powerful military the world has ever seen, including an arsenal of thousands of nuclear weapons. After much consideration, I have concluded that Donald Trump has not demonstrated the temperament necessary to assume the greatest office in the world.

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign Tagged With: Mark Kirk

GOP Groups Not Spending on Kirk

June 3, 2016 at 7:01 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 13 Comments

RealClearPolitics: “Republican outside groups have spent tens of millions of dollars in competitive Senate races this year, eager to protect GOP incumbents in a difficult cycle with the chamber’s majority up for grabs. But as that spending has ramped up in recent weeks, next to none has gone to bolster Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk, widely viewed as the most vulnerable of them all.”

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign Tagged With: IL-Sen, Mark Kirk

Kirk Says Menendez Was Indicted for Opposing Iran Deal

May 13, 2016 at 5:30 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 17 Comments

Sen. Mark Kirk is on audio defending indicted Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) while accusing President Obama of targeting Menendez because of his stance on Iran, Politico reports.

Said Kirk: “And let me say something about Bob Menendez. I believe that Bob Menendez was indicted solely on the crime of opposing the President on Iran.”

Filed Under: Foreign Affairs Tagged With: Bob Menendez, Iran, Mark Kirk

Kirk Gets Heat Over Use of Schock Decorator

September 18, 2015 at 12:07 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 16 Comments

Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) “is the target of an ethics complaint over supposedly having his office redecorated for free by the same designer who worked on” disgraced former Rep. Aaron Schock’s  (R-IL) “Downton Abbey”-themed office, WBGZ reports.

Filed Under: Senate Tagged With: Aaron Schock, Mark Kirk

Kirk Put Caregiver on Campaign Payroll

August 13, 2015 at 5:30 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 15 Comments

Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL), “who has needed help with some everyday tasks such as preparing meals and physically getting around since suffering a debilitating stroke in 2012, put his live-in caregiver onto his campaign payroll,” the Chicago Tribune reports.

“Kirk’s placement of his caregiver — who had no prior campaign experience — onto his campaign staff raises questions about whether Kirk used political donations to pay for personal expenses. Campaign finance records show that Kirk for Senate had paid his caregiver a salary totaling more than $43,000 from August 2013 through the end of 2014.”

“Federal law says campaign funds cannot be used for expenses that would occur regardless of whether the person were running for or holding office.”

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign Tagged With: IL-Sen, Mark Kirk

Top GOP Fundraiser Urges Kirk to Abandon Race

July 29, 2015 at 12:45 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 40 Comments

“One of the Illinois GOP’s premiere fundraisers has called on U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., to abandon his re-election race, saying it likely is unwinnable. The statement is spurring a flurry of phone calls and activity among worried Republicans,” according to Crain’s Chicago Business.

Said Ron Gidwidz: “His misstatements put him and the Illinois Republican Party in too much of a defensive position. I do not believe he will be a U.S. senator in 2017 and, as top of the ticket, he could cause collateral damage (to other Republican candidates). I call on him to step aside and allow other Republicans to seek his seat.”

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign Tagged With: IL-Sen, Mark Kirk

Editorial Calls Mark Kirk Unhinged

July 20, 2015 at 6:37 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 9 Comments

The Southern Illinoisan eviscerates Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) in an editorial:

“Mark Kirk suddenly has more in common with your unhinged uncle than a deliberative member of the U.S. Senate… Illinoisans thought they elected a center-right fiscal conservative. They instead got the love child of Michele Bachmann and Ted Cruz, a man more concerned with making a name within his party’s fringe than representing his constituents.”

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign Tagged With: IL-Sen, Mark Kirk

Quote of the Day

July 15, 2015 at 12:16 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 131 Comments

“This agreement condemns the next generation to cleaning up a nuclear war in the Persian Gulf… This is the greatest appeasement since Chamberlain gave Czechoslovakia to Hitler.”

— Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL), quoted by BuzzFeed, on the nuclear deal reached with Iran.

Filed Under: Foreign Affairs Tagged With: Iran, Mark Kirk

Kirk Finally Apologizes for Comment

June 15, 2015 at 9:22 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 9 Comments

Four days after touching off a firestorm of criticism by describing a fellow senator as a “bro with no ho,” Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) apologized in a brief statement issued by his office, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Said Kirk: “I apologize to the people of Illinois for my inappropriate remarks last week.”

Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), who is challenging Kirk for Senate, told the Chicago Sun Times: “I think every woman in Illinois needs to hear an apology from Senator Kirk personally.”

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign Tagged With: IL-Sen, Mark Kirk, Tammy Duckworth

Kirk Calls Graham a ‘Bro With No Ho’

June 11, 2015 at 3:08 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 74 Comments

Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) was caught on a live microphone saying Republican presidential hopeful Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who is unmarried, is a “bro with no ho,” the Chicago Tribune reports.

Said Kirk: “I’ve been joking with Lindsey. He’s a bro with no ho. That’s what we’d say on the South Side.”

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign Tagged With: Lindsey Graham, Mark Kirk

Kirk Already Running Ads

May 14, 2015 at 8:00 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 6 Comments

Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) is already running cable advertisements for his re-election campaign, according to Capitol Fax.

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign Tagged With: Mark Kirk

Kirk Won’t Talk About Race

April 16, 2015 at 9:29 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 15 Comments

After some unfortunate remarks earlier this week, Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) told the Chicago Sun-Times he won’t be talking about race or ethnicity in the future.

Said Kirk: “I would say that whenever a targeted member talks about race or ethnicity, it is impossible for him to get it right. So I’ll leave it at that.”

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign, Race Tagged With: IL-Sen, Mark Kirk

Kirk Says People Drive Faster Thru Black Neighborhoods

April 13, 2015 at 3:59 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 54 Comments

Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IK) told the Peoria Journal Star that his constituents try to avoid African-American neighborhoods.

Said Kirk: “I want to make sure we have elected people constantly looking at helping the African-American community. With this state and all of its resources, we could sponsor a whole new class of potential innovators like George Washington Carver and eventually have a class of African-American billionaires. That would really adjust income differentials and make the diversity and outcome of the state much better so that the black community is not the one we drive faster through.”

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign Tagged With: IL-Sen, Mark Kirk

Duckworth Will Run for U.S. Senate

March 28, 2015 at 11:41 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 13 Comments

Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) will announce a 2016 Senate bid likely on Monday, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

“She is aiming to win the Democratic nomination to run against Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill.

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign Tagged With: IL-Sen, Mark Kirk, Tammy Duckworth

Kirk Predicts Doom for Chicago If Emanuel Loses Runoff

March 2, 2015 at 4:07 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 27 Comments

Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) suggested that Chicago could go the way of financially strapped Detroit if voters fail to reelect Rahm Emanuel (D), USA Today reports.

Said Kirk: “The people who are running against Rahm don’t have the gravitas with the bond market. I would worry about the value of the Chicago debt if Rahm was not re-elected.”

Filed Under: 2015 Campaign, City Hall Tagged With: Mark Kirk, Rahm Emanuel

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About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

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