Kirk's Secret Weapon: Blago

A new poll shows Mark Kirk trailing his Democratic opponent by seven points in the Illinois Senate race. Kirk though just needs to stay steady in the polls until former Governor Rod Blagojevich's embarrassing trial begins this summer.

Mark Kirk trails opponent Alexi Giannoulias by a margin of seven points (43-36), a new Daily Kos/ Research 2000 poll finds, with 19% of voters still undecided. The key number in this race will be independents, which the poll shows are leaning 36-35% in favor of Giannoulias, with 26% remaining undecided. Kirk will likely need to win independents by double digits to win the race. If Kirk does a reasonably decent job banging home Giannoulias' ties to Rod Blagojevich and Chicago politics in general, independents and undecided voters will likely begin to move Kirk’s way. If Kirk can get himself five points ahead of Giannoulias among independents by the beginning of the former governor's corruption trial without seriously dipping into the war chest, the headlines -- combined with a serious ad buy during the trial -- should put Kirk in the driver’s seat. Kirk's strategy between now and June 3^rd, when Blagojevich's trial commences should be to make sure that every single potential voter knows who Mark Kirk is and hears the words Giannoulias, Rezko, and Blago mentioned in the same sentence as many times as the campaign can afford without jeopardizing its trial time ad buy. The Governor should do the rest for him.