Illinois

Now that we've got a budget deal, who's up for a debt ceiling fight?

China to U.S.: Quit playing human rights cop.

Robert Samuelson on big government on the brink.

On Sunday, Mary Bell, president of the Wisconsin Educational Association Council, instructed the teachers in her union to return to the classroom after many of them skipped school for three days last week. The unexpected move energized Republicans in Wisconsin, who took it as a sign that negative public reaction to the “sick-out” is making a difference.

Or perhaps they don’t need the numbers because the unions are bringing in additional reinforcements. Madison, one of the most liberal cities in the United States, is a town always in search of a cause.

Republican New Jersey governor Chris Christie is in Illinois today to try to convince businesses to leave that state for his. Christie’s argument is simple: Come to New Jersey for lower tax rates; stay in Illinois for higher taxes. 

Steve Hayes, with Nia-Malika Henderson and Charles Krauthammer, last night on Fox News:

The New York Times reports:

With only hours left before new state lawmakers were to take over, Illinois’s State Legislature narrowly approved early on Wednesday an increase of about 66 percent in the state’s income tax rate.

Media outlets are now predicting that Congressman Mark Kirk will be the next senator from Illinois. As it stands, the New York Times reports that Kirk has 48.4 percent of the vote, while Democrat Alexi Giannoulias has 46 percent, with 97 percent of precincts reporting. This might be the greatest gain for Republicans tonight: The last person to win this Senate seat was Barack Obama.

Iraq veteran and Republican Adam Kinzinger has defeated Democratic congresswoman Debbie Halvorson in Illinois's Eleventh District, and Republican Bobby Schilling, the owner of a pizza place in Moline, has defeated Democratic Rep. Phil Hare in Illinois's Seventeenth District.

With recent polling consistently showing the GOP nominee, Mark Kirk, leading mob banker Alexi Giannoulias in the Illinois Senate race, the Democrats are pulling out all the stops to try and steal any Republican advantage. 

In September, Big Government first reported that Illinois Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias may have dodged the Greek military service requirement when he lived and worked in Greece in the late 1990s:

This past spring, a conservative blogger asked Democratic congressman Phil Hare at a townhall meeting in Quincy, Illinois about the constitutionality of the controversial health care legislation. “I don’t worry about the Constitution on this, to be honest,” Hare said.

On Tuesday, THE WEEKLY STANDARD first reported that an activist in Illinois tied to Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias was working to recruit veterans to film a television ad attacking Senate candidate and 21-year Navy Reserve veteran Mark Kirk.

Just in case you didn’t think the Illinois Senate race could sink any lower, THE WEEKLY STANDARD has learned that Democrat Alexi Giannoulias is planning to launch a final ad campaign featuring a “veteran” to attack Mark Kirk’s service record.