Why are Dems in D.C. Unsure about Obama's Hoops Pal?

Thursday, 22 October 2009 10:43

In the News

Edward McClelland

Chicago Magazine

November 2009

When Alexi Giannoulias was running for state treasurer in 2006, Barack Obama called him “one of the most outstanding young men that I could ever hope to meet” in a TV ad. But now that Giannoulias is aiming for Obama’s old U.S. Senate seat, the president’s political team is trying to tie his old hoops buddy’s shoelaces together.

Obama’s inner circle and top Beltway Dems spent the summer searching for someone to run against Giannoulias in February’s Democratic primary. First, Obama invited the Illinois attorney general, Lisa Madigan, to the White House to discuss a Senate run. When Madigan said no, Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, tried his persuasive tactics on the Cook County sheriff, Tom Dart, who opted instead to run for another term as sheriff. Emanuel and other prominent  Dems reportedly also made overtures to the Merchandise Mart’s president, Chris Kennedy, who passed. Finally, David Hoffman, Chicago’s inspector general, quit his job to enter the race, signing on as a client of AKPD Message and Media, the firm founded by David Axelrod.

Why do top Democrats seem so queasy about Giannoulias? It’s not personal, say party insiders. Just politics.

Because the election will take place at the same time as the former governor Rod Blagojevich’s corruption trial, some Dems in D.C. are also concerned that Giannoulias may not fare well against a Republican attack on ethics. Ginanoulias’s family fortune comes from Broadway Bank, where he was chief loan officer; he is still dogged by the bank’s questionable loans to convicted felons, including bookmakers and unsavory characters with alleged prostitution and mob ties.

The lack of enthusiasm for Giannoulias by Washington Democrats is being viewed by some as a vote of no confidence. But Pete Giangreco, a consultant to Giannoulias’s campaign, suggests that one key reason Madigan and Dart passed on the race is because Gannoulias has raised $1.8 million in the first two quarters of 2009. “This is a guy who Democratic primary voters are lining up behind,” says Giangreco.