Kirk ad rips Duckworth’s Syrian refugee position
WASHINGTON — The Illinois Senate race heated up Tuesday as Republican Sen. Mark Kirk attacked rival Democrat Rep. Tammy Duckworth in a hard-hitting campaign ad over her support for the U.S. taking in even more Syrian refugees than President Barack Obama proposed.
What’s interesting is that the Kirk campaign bought time on Fox News in all the Illinois media markets to run the attack on Duckworth. Fox’s viewers trend Republican.
So I see this ad as a bid to bolster Kirk’s standing with Republicans as much as an attempted takedown of Duckworth. Kirk brandishing his national-security hawk credentials could also be helpful in fundraising among Republicans who are not jazzed on his positions on other items, such as some hot-button social issues.
Kirk’s political team is focusing on the refugee issue in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks last month as a way to draw “a clear contrast on the major nationalsecurity issue of the day,” Kirk campaign manager Kevin Artl told me.
Artl said the refugee issue is so potent, Duckworth’s support for more Syrian refugees could be a major “mistake” and yield a “turning point” to Kirk’s favor in the race.
The Fox buy will end up about $185,000, a relatively modest amount — for now.
More will be spent on radio and digital ads, Artl said. The Kirk campaign is also doing fundraising off of Kirk’s call for the U.S. to stop accepting Syrian refugees unless there is that guarantee no ISIS terrorists are among them.
The spot is Kirk’s first major ad, following an upbeat bio spot launching his bid for a second term last May.
Kirk wants a “100 percent” assurance a terrorist masquerading as a refugee does not get in the U.S., obviously a standard that could all but shut down the flow of Syrian refugees to the U.S. It’s a position Kirk’s campaign believes is popular with the public.
It certainly appeals to the Republican base, and with filing closing on Monday, Kirk does have a primary on his hands against two political unknowns, James Marter, an Oswego software consultant, and Elizabeth Pahlke of Arlington Heights.
On Sept. 11, before anyone could have foreseen Paris and as civil war raged in Syria, Duckworth was one of 72 Democrats signing a letter to Obama urging him to resettle 200,000 refugees in the U.S. by the end of 2016, including 100,000 Syrian refugees.
Obama has set a quota of 10,000 Syrian refugees coming to the U.S. in fiscal 2016, and even that number has ignited a controversy.
The Kirk spot states “ISIS disguised as Syrian refugees attack Paris,” Duckworth “still wants to bring 200,000 Syrian refugees to America” even though the FBI “says they cannot be safely screened.”
News outlets have identified most of the ISIS terrorists as from Europe — not Syrian refugees. Duckworth’s letter, which the Kirk team knows about, makes clear she is talking about 100,000 Syrians, not 200,000.
Duckworth campaign spokesman Matt McGrath said Kirk was “like Donald Trump . . . appealing to base xenophobia, sowing fear of refugees in the midst of one of the largest humanitarian crises of our time.” Said Artl, “The response from the Duckworth campaign is hyperbolic, inconsistent and unfortunate.”
Duckworth is the frontrunner in the three-way Democratic Illinois Senate primary in March with attorney Andrea Zopp and state Sen. Napoleon Harris, D-Harvey. They all are sympathetic to the U.S. taking in the Syrians fleeing a civil war, but Kirk is ignoring Zopp and Harris while concentrating on Duckworth.
Duckworth left her flank exposed when she was not precise enough in discussing her position regarding Syrian refugees during a Nov. 15 press conference in Chicago, just after the Paris attacks. She said, “I signed on for 200,000 refugees” and that ended up in the Kirk ad. But the number, even at 100,000, is still a heck of a lot more than Obama is proposing, as the refugee issue continues to fester.
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