You know you've been following politics too long when you no longer have to look up how to spell "Giannoulias."

Anyway, it is sort of a good-news-bad-news poll for Republicans from Scott Rasmussen.  Tenth District Congressman Mark Kirk is tied 41%-41% with State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias in the race for Obama's Senate seat in Illinois (technically its to replace Roland Burris, but everyone from the White House down sees this as Obama's seat).  He leads Urban League President Cheryle Robinson Jackson 43%-39%, and he leads former Chicago Inspector General David Hoffman 43%-33%.

On the one hand, its a good thing for Republicans that Kirk is very much in the race.  But the question is:  How does he get to 50% + 1 vote?  He's never run a statewide race before, so he presumably has room for growth, but it isn't like he's running away with things, and many of the undecideds probably prefer Democrats, all other things being equal (given the makeup of the state).  While Kirk should be competitive, the race probably does lean toward the Democrats somewhat.