KIRK GAINING IN ILLINOIS – AT 9:57 A.M. ET:  Perhaps the most symbolic race Tuesday will be the one for the Senate seat from Illinois previously held by Barack Obama.  For Republicans to take it would be whipped cream on the cake. 

And Republican Congressman Mark Kirk appears to be gaining.  The latest Rasmussen poll has him up four over Dem challenger Alexi Giannoulias.  A Chicago Tribune poll has Kirk up three.

The crocodile in the room, of course, is voter fraud.  Democrats want badly to hold this seat.  It would be an embarrassment to lose the Obama seat.  So, the faithful will go all out on election day to insure the proper outcome.  It is a rule of politics in Illinois that a Republican must win a clean, convincing victory to win at all.  A narrow victory of, say, two points, is easily overcome by the "finding" of ballots in hidden cabinets in Chicago.  Must not disenfranchise those voters, especially the ones who became deceased 20 years ago.

Also, reports from Chicago tell of an inordinate number of vote mishaps and the possible inability to count military ballots, which usually tilt Republican.

So, on election night, hope for a Kirk victory too large to neutralize by the Chicago school of arithmetic.  It looks like it may be happening.

October 28, 2010