The White House is weighing in on Sen. Mark Kirk’s comment that President Barack Obama was “acting like the drug dealer in chief” when the administration made a $400 million cash payment to Iran. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Wednesday the Illinois Republican’s rhetoric is inconsistent with how most people in Illinois view Obama’s efforts to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. Earnest says there’s a temptation for candidates “to say outrageous things to try to get attention.”

Both Kirk and his Democratic opponent in the Senate race – Tammy Duckworth – spoke to the Illinois Farm Bureau yesterday, but there was an extended break between their speeches. Farm Bureau leaders said they had to schedule things so that the two opponents did not run into each other in the building.