Accusations fly in campaign for Obama’s old senate seat

A race for President Barack Obama’s old Illinois U.S. Senate seat features enough negative attacks to keep an army of fact-checkers busy.

We decided to dip a toe into the turgid water and sort through some of the most high-profile attacks.

• From a Giannoulias campaign ad, we checked the latest in a string of claims about Kirk’s military record, that “He (Kirk) did violate Pentagon rules, twice actually, for improperly mingling politics with his military service.”

• From a Kirk campaign ad, we looked into the claim that “At his father’s bank, Alexi made tens of millions in risky loans to convicted mobsters. Then, the bank collapsed.”

• And finally, we checked another Kirk campaign ad that alleged, “Alexi Giannoulias’ top aide was a longtime BP lobbyist.”