Rep. Mark Steven Kirk, the Illinois Republican who is hoping to win Barack Obama's former seat in the U.S. Senate, has told supporters he intends to 'lead the effort' to repeal Obama's health care legislation if it passes. A pledge to repeal Obama's top domestic priority by the person who takes his seat is akin to the recent political reversal in Massachusetts, where Scott Brown, the new Republican senator, opposes the health care overhaul long sought by the person he replaced, Edward M. Kennedy. Kirk and his Democratic opponent, Alexi Giannoulias, the state treasurer, are roughly even in the polls. Their race has taken on outsize importance because it is for Obama's old seat. Kirk was speaking to supporters on Friday in Winnetka, where he said the Republicans were 'on the way to making this guy a one-termer,' a reference to Obama. He also said, 'As your senator, I would lead the effort to repeal' a health care bill. A tape of the comments was made available to the Giannoulias campaign by someone who attended the event, which was closed to the news media. Giannoulias has demanded an apology from Kirk for his remarks about the president and is trying to leverage them to raise money. In a statement, Giannoulias said he was disappointed in Kirk's 'disrespectful remarks referring to our commander in chief as 'this guy' and gleefully admitting he is working with Republicans to obstruct meaningful reform.' The Kirk campaign did not apologize and instead tried to shift the focus to Giannoulias and the troubled family bank for which he once worked, saying he needed to answer questions regarding a $1.2 million loan he had made to a campaign supporter who was arrested last week on bank fraud charges. As for Kirk's comments about leading a repeal of health care, Eric Elk, a spokesman for Kirk, said those comments 'reflect the concerns of many Americans that the current health care bill would chart an unsustainable fiscal course for our country resulting in higher debt, more taxes and fewer jobs.' 