Time for Kirk to Come Clean on Military Record

By not setting the record straight on his misstatement of his military record -- immediately and with full disclosure -- Mark Kirk's campaign is allowing what should be a minor blunder balloon into a serious issue.

Mark Kirk's campaign team needs to learn from the mistakes of the Obama administration, and countless politicians before him. By not setting the record straight on his misstatement of his military record, all at once and with full disclosure, the Kirk team is allowing what should be a minor blunder linger as a story due to continued uncertainty about how and when Kirk's team first came to know of the mistake.

If there is one rule that every campaign knows -- but not all live by -- it is that if there is a negative story in the press that is true, the candidate should come out with all of the negative information at once, apologize, and then move on. That way, the story occupies a minimal amount of news cycles because there is no new information coming out to fuel another story. Thus, had the Obama administration simply been candid with the media about trying to get Joe Sestak a job so that he would not challenge Arlen Specter, it would have been a one day story. However by first denying it, and then letting the details slowly leak out over time, what should have been a non-story is now being used as hyperbolic political rhetoric by Congressional Republicans, some of whom are calling for an "investigation" into the Sestak "scandal."

There is just no way around it: Mark Kirk screwed up.  He misstated his military record. He admitted this and apologized for it in a blog post but in that same blog post, Kirk did not come totally clean, and now the story continues to linger in both the blogosphere and mainstream media.  Now his military record, which should be a strong point, is turning into a liability. Going into the Blagojevich trial, which should be huge positive for Kirk, the Kirk campaign must come all the way clean and stop the bleeding. This story is distracting and it should not be an issue. While some Republican strategists expressed reservations about Kirk's staffing, the reality is that Mark Kirk is a professional politician and he should know better. The Kirk campaign needs to come completely clean, all at once, and move on. It is time to stop the bleeding.