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Chicago TribuneU.S. Rep. Mark Kirk fashions himself in the congressional vanguard of the battle against special interest spending, time and again boasting of how he led the successful charge to stop Alaska's infamous "bridge to nowhere.""It was the Kirk amendment in the House Appropriations Committee that killed the bridge to nowhere, which thankfully will never be built and your tax dollars were not wasted on that," the Highland Park Republican told the City Club of Chicago in May.
Not exactly.Kirk exaggerated his role in the bridge's demise, illustrating a proclivity for embellishment that appears to go beyond run-of-the-mill political puffery. The U.S. Senate contest with Democrat Alexi Giannoulias is the first statewide campaign for the five-term congressman, and the increased exposure and scrutiny have introduced Illinois voters to two Mark Kirks.
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