Mark Kirk's Yo Yo Campaign (Plus Did He Ask for Palin's Support or Not?)

- By Warner Todd Huston

Only a few months ago, Representative Mark Kirk voted for Cap and Tax… er, I mean Cap and Trade. Conservatives and Republicans in general lit into Kirk with a vengeance. Then he started running for the Senate and at a subsequent September 5 campaign stop he reversed himself and decided he wouldn't support Cap and Trade.

Kirk is not a strong pro-life supporter, he is bad on the Second Amendment, Kirk is only middling on free trade, and he has drifted back and forth,  sometimes supporting Obama's left-wing, big spending agenda in Washington... though he is sometimes good on national defense. In all, Kirk is not quite as bad as N.Y. 23's Dede Scozzafava, but he is no Illinois Doug Hoffman, if you want a current analogy.

Now comes a November 4 report by the Washington Post's Chris Cillizza that Kirk sent a memo to Fred Malek attempting to get Governor Sarah Palin's endorsement for his (Kirk's) Senate run. Cillizza claims that this Kirk request shows Palin's power and Kirk's worries for his campaign.

Kirk's memo is tangible evidence of the power of Palin's endorsement in a Republican primary. Kirk, a moderate by voting record in the House, is clearly very concerned about the negative impact a Palin endorsement of one of his primary opponents could have on his chances at being the party's nominee for the seat being vacated by appointed Sen. Roland Burris (D).

However, it is obvious by actually reading the memo that Cillizza is taking liberties with his claim that Kirk pleaded for Palin's support. The truth is that Kirk was far more cagey with his memo.

Memorandum

November 3, 2009

To: Fred Malek

From: Mark Kirk

Re: Gov. Palin Visit to Chicago November 16th

Governor Palin is scheduled to appear on Oprah November 16th in Chicago. The Chicago media will focus on one key issue: does Gov. Palin oppose Congressman Mark Kirk’s bid to take the Obama Senate seat for the Republicans?

We would hope Gov. Palin could say something quick and decisive:

Voters in Illinois have a key opportunity to take Barack Obama’s senate seat. Congressman Kirk is the lead candidate to do that. Kirk, the first member of Congress to deploy into combat since 1942, voted against the Stimulus, Omnibus and Pelosi health care bills. He announced he will oppose Cap & Trade and is the key House national security hawk on Iran. Kirk is a unique Republican candidate who has become the number one pro-Israel fundraiser in America, Republican or Democrat.

As Rich Miller notes, the memo concludes with some talking points on Kirk's record.

Kirk's memo is a bit more cagey than an outright request for an endorsement. It is a bit more like a "challenge" to Palin to support Kirk as opposed to a n outright request. Still, it does, indeed, show that Kirk was angling for Palin's endorsement despite that Miller thinks it isn't. But I agree with Miller's conclusion that Kirk cannot seem to decide what he "is." I've noted Kirk's flip flopping in the past myself, but if you look at his record you see him often splitting his vote between left and right, so his yo yoing has been evident in his record since day one. We are only now seeing it in the glaring lights of the campaign trail.

In the end, I am not sure if you can say that Kirk has a consistently one sided philosophy. He seems to just drift wildly from one side to the other -- granted his course seems steered on the center left more often than his spikes to the right or far left. The guy is just all over the map. That's all there is to it.

Below, Kirk's Cap and Trade flip flop (about three minutes into the video):

- WTH