President Obama is featured in a new spot for Illinois Democratic Senate nominee Alexi Giannoulias--vouching for him on ethics, using tape from a fund-raiser Obama headlined for Giannoulias this summer in Chicago. Rival Mark Kirk is hitting Giannoulias heavily as a "mob banker." The ad starts in markets around Illinois on Thursday.

React from National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Press Secretary Amber Marchand:

"Is this the 'change' that President Obama believes in? After telling Americans that our country doesn't need another banker in Washington, he wants Illinois voters to elect a failed mob banker who loaned millions of dollars to known criminals? How are Illinois voters supposed to 'trust' Giannoulias with their pocketbooks after he squandered millions of taxpayer dollars set aside for the state's college fund? How does the President propose that Illinois voters 'count on' Giannoulias after he drove his own family's business into the ground, forcing the government to pay for his risky loans and reckless behavior? Shooting hoops and calling his buddy from Chicago a 'friend' is one thing, but President Obama should know that Illinois voters deserve more than a reckless mob banker with a thin resume of experience in the U.S. Senate."