Senate Hopeful’s Bank Forced to Close

The fight for Barack Obama’s former Senate seat just got more interesting: A bank owned by the family of Alexi Giannoulias, the Illinois state treasurer and Democratic candidate for the Senate, was closed by federal regulators on Friday. Broadway Bank was one of four banks in the state that was determined to have failed after losing millions in real-estate loans, and Giannoulias’ Republican opponent U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk has repeatedly referred to his rival’s “reckless decision-making” as the cause of the bank’s problems. The announcement is expected to cause significant difficulties for Giannoulias’ Senate bid, but Democrats are hopeful that the state’s left-leaning tendencies will overshadow the unfortunate publicity for their candidate.