Poll: Democrat Bounces Back in IL-Sen Race

The Republican response to Alexi Giannoulias, the Democrats’ nominee for President Obama’s old Senate seat in Illinois, has been one of outright derision. As soon as he locked up his nomination last month, the NRSC blasted out a video tying Giannoulias to the scandals surrounding his family’s Broadway Bank; when Giannoulias visited the White House yesterday, the NRSC mocked Giannoulias when Obama called him a “potential” (as opposed to “the next”) senator from Illinois.

Now Giannoulias is getting a boost from, of all things, a Rasmussen Poll — it shows him jumping into a lead over Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) since last month. (Scott Rasmussen has confirmed to me that the leaked results are accurate.)

Mark Kirk (R) – 41 (-5)

That’s after an air-clearing interview that, many Democrats thought, didn’t do much for Giannoulias.