Instructions: In this task, you are given a text of many news articles seperated by special token "|||||". Your task is to summarize them.
Input: Sen. Mark Kirk's reference Thursday to an unmarried Senate colleague and presidential candidate as a "bro with no ho" is the latest in a string of controversial remarks that figure to make an already challenging 2016 re-election bid even more difficult. 
  
 While most of Kirk's verbal gaffes have been made in speeches or interviews, his remark Thursday about South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham was off-the-cuff and presumably meant to be private. Kirk was chatting during a Senate committee vote when his words were picked up by a live microphone. 
  
 "He's a bro with no ho," Kirk said, apparently talking to a colleague. "That's what we'd say on the South Side." 
  
 The audio was quickly circulated by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and Kirk found himself facing a barrage of criticism over a quip that insulted both women and African-Americans. Kirk's comment is even more politically troublesome because all of his potential Democratic opponents who have either announced or are considering bids are women, and two of them are African-American. 
  
 Politico reported that Kirk said he regretted the statement when asked about it. His press secretary, Danielle Varallo, said in an email that "Senator Kirk was joking with his colleague and immediately apologized to anyone offended by his remark." 
  
 "Sen. Kirk said he regrets the comments," Graham said in a statement. " I believe that is the appropriate response." 
  
 Two announced Democratic candidates for Kirk's Senate seat were less forgiving. 
  
 U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth seized on Kirk's comment as a fundraising opportunity in an email sent to supporters by Rep. Jan Schakowsky, who said under Duckworth's letterhead: "It's beyond inappropriate for a U.S. Senator to make a joke referring to women as 'Hos' — and it's also reflective of Mark Kirk's broader anti-woman legislative record." 
  
 Andrea Zopp, a former prosecutor with the Cook County State's Attorney's Office, said in a statement that, "No woman, let alone a woman like me, an African-American and mother of two daughters ... who has spent much of her career overcoming sexist and racist stereotypes would think his remark either appropriate or funny." 
  
 "Clueless or reckless?" Zopp asked. 
  
 A third potential opponent is Democratic Rep. Robin Kelly of Matteson, who also is African-American. 
  
 Kirk, 55, a North Shore Republican elected to the Senate in 2010, suffered a massive stroke in 2012 and spent almost a year in rehabilitation. 
  
 As he tries for a second six-year term in the Senate, Kirk has linked himself to Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner as a financial and political protector. But that relationship can only go so far. Kirk already faced strong head winds in Democratic-dominated Illinois, including the coattails that could be provided if home state favorite Hillary Clinton wins her party's presidential nomination. 
  
 Kirk's comment also belie his attempts to sell himself to voters as a socially moderate Republican. 
  
 Tim Schneider, Illinois Republican Party chairman, described Kirk's comments as "unfortunate," but said "you have to consider the context." 
  
 "It was meant as an off-the-cuff remark between two colleagues, but … it was a hot mic," Schneider said. "We know the senator is a great, hardworking advocate for the state of Illinois, and I think we all say something we regret. He regrets it and has apologized." 
  
 Schneider reaffirmed the state's Republican Party support of Kirk's re-election bid. 
  
 In making the "bro with no ho" remark, Kirk was playing off recent comments from the South Carolina Republican about how his White House might look. Graham, 59, recently said publicly that his sister could be his first lady, or that one of his many friends could fill in. "We'll have a rotating first lady," Graham said. 
  
 Kirk has been dogged by misstatements, exaggerations and controversial comments through much of his public life. Some of the questionable comments came after his 2012 stroke, but not all. 
  
 Kirk served in the House for nearly 10 years before beating Democrat Alexi Giannoulias in the contest for the Senate seat in 2010. Leading up to that victory, Kirk exaggerated his military record, his private-sector resume and his political accomplishments, claiming credit for the demise of the so-called Bridge to Nowhere planned for Alaska. 
  
 During the Senate campaign, Kirk apologized for inaccurate claims that he had come under enemy fire in Iraq, that he ran the Pentagon war room and that he was the Navy's intelligence officer of the year. It was Kirk's unit that won an award, not him individually. 
  
 Kirk retired from the Navy Reserve in May 2013. A 23-year veteran, he served as a naval intelligence officer and attained the rank of commander. 
  
 Kirk was criticized in 2013 for his call for the mass arrest of what he called the 18,000-strong Gangster Disciples. He later said he still supported mass arrests of gang members but that he used the 18,000 figure to shock Illinoisans into seeing the full extent of the state's gang issue. 
  
 Several months after his Gangster Disciples roundup idea, Kirk described a ride-along with Chicago police Superintendent Garry McCarthy in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood. Kirk said a "guy got popped" while they were on patrol. McCarthy later explained that it was a nonfatal, gang-related shooting in which the victim did not cooperate with police. 
  
 In another eyebrow-raising remark last December, Kirk reacted to a Senate committee report on harsh CIA interrogations by condemning Democratic committee staffers as "little zombies" reaching up from their "political graves." 
  
 In an interview this year with the Peoria Journal Star, Kirk said people drive faster through black neighborhoods. 
  
 "With this state and all of its resources, we could sponsor a whole new class of potential innovators like George Washington Carver and eventually have a class of African-American billionaires," he told the newspaper. "That would really adjust income differentials and make the diversity and outcome of the state much better so that the black community is not the one we drive faster through." 
  
 His office later defended his commitment to African-Americans and said he was combating gang violence, trying to keep assault weapons off the street and working within the black community to find aspiring entrepreneurs. 
  
 Kirk also had to clarify his view on climate change after complaining that "political correctness" had taken over climate science and misidentifying Leif Eriksson as the discoverer of Greenland. Eriksson's father, Erik Thorvaldsson, founded the first European settlement on Greenland. ||||| Sen. Lindsey Graham says he’s not “defective” because he’s single. While he’s “been close once” to marrying a woman, he’s unsure why he never did so. And he said that if voters want a John F. Kennedy-esque clan in the White House, they should look elsewhere. 
  
 “If you are looking for Camelot, I’m not your guy,” Graham said in an interview. “If you’re looking for glitz and glamour, I’m probably the worst choice in the bunch. If you are looking for a determined person to be president, I think I can fill that bill.” 
  
 Story Continued Below 
  
 Since entering the race for the GOP nomination last week, the 59-year-old Graham has received his share of media coverage over his status as a bachelor, a rarity for a president. His personal life also has been the cause of quips in the back-slapping Senate, with the likes of Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk caught on mic Thursday, referring to Graham as a “bro with no ho.” Graham himself generated a flood of headlines this week when he suggested he would have a “rotating first lady” to fill the spot if he became president. 
  
 “Well, I’ve got a sister. She could play that role if necessary,” Graham said in an interview with Daily Mail Online published earlier this week. “I’ve got a lot of friends. We’ll have a rotating first lady.” 
  
 “It was a joke,” Graham told POLITICO. 
  
 A single president would be rare but not unprecedented. James Buchanan was a lifelong bachelor and the only president who never married, while Grover Cleveland and Woodrow Wilson married while in office. 
  
 Graham’s single status has much to do with his complicated family life, his friends say. As a college student at the University of South Carolina, both of his parents died within 15 months when his sister, Darline, was barely a teenager. He returned home from school on the weekends to take care of her, later becoming his sister’s legal guardian as he entered the Air Force in 1982 so she could receive medical benefits. 
  
 “I’ve been close once early on, [as I was] taking care of my sister,” Graham said when asked why he never married. “It’s something I really don’t know the answer to, other than I think it’s OK. At the end of the day, there’s nothing wrong about not being married. Having a marriage and a good family and children is a blessing. But I don’t think I’m a defective person by any means.” 
  
 He added: “I don’t think there’s anything in the Constitution that says single people need not apply for president. And if it bothers some people, then they won’t vote for me. I offer what I offer.” 
  
 Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Graham’s best friend in the Senate, offered this assessment: “I know he’s dated some attractive women from time to time, but I’ve never seen him get real serious.” 
  
 McCain added with a big laugh: “I’ve often told Lindsey that he couldn’t find anybody that loves him as much as he does.” 
  
 Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) hugs is sister Darline Graham Nordone on stage as he announces his candidacy for United States President during an outdoor event for supporters on June 1, 2015 in Central, South Carolina. 
  
 How voters view a bachelor as a candidate is uncertain. Over the years, polls have shown that fewer U.S. adults are married, a trend that presidential historian Julian Zelizer said could mean “much less resistance” these days to a non-traditional candidate. 
  
 Not having a wife by his side could also rob Graham of a valuable surrogate on the campaign trail, as his rivals — like Rand Paul and Hillary Clinton — dispatch their spouses to rally supporters. But Graham said his sister, Darline Graham Nordone, who works in vocational rehabilitation in South Carolina and has two daughters, would fill that void. 
  
 “She’s played a big role in my life,” Graham said, growing emotional. “Yes, she’ll play a big role in the campaign. She’s my No. 1 fan. Of all the things I’m proud of, how she turned out I’m proud of the most.” 
  
 Even though he’s single and has no children, Graham says he has close family, including an aunt and uncle who took care of him and his sister after his parents died in the mid-1970s. 
  
 “You can be single and still have family,” Graham said. “I very much have family — my aunt and uncle, I try to take care of because they took care of me.” 
  
 “There are millions of people who are single. I don’t think they need to answer, ‘Why are you single?’” he added. “What they need to be able to prove is, ‘Can you do the job?’ … Again, I don’t think there’s anything disqualifying about being single. But that will be up to the American people.” ||||| WASHINGTON -- Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is a “bro with no ho,” according to his colleague, Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.). 
  
 The assessment of Graham’s love life was made during a Senate Appropriations Committee markup on Thursday and caught on a live microphone. 
  
 Listen to Kirk's comments, which come around 0:26 in the below audio clip: 
  
 “I’ve been joking with Lindsey,” Kirk can be heard saying. “Did you see that? He’s going to have a rotating first lady. He’s a bro with no ho." 
  
 Graham’s bachelorhood has been much-discussed since the launch of his presidential campaign. The senator is single with no children, which has raised questions about whether voters might find him unrelatable. Graham has laughed it off and even joked recently that he’ll have more than one first lady once he gets to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. 
  
 "I feel real comfortable with who I am and the life I've lived,” Graham recently told The Huffington Post. “The last time I checked, I didn't see a sign on the White House that said 'single people need not apply.’” 
  
 But while he may lack a “ho,” it’s unclear whether Graham would describe himself as a “bro.” 
  
 Moreover, Kirk’s comment raises a number of questions: Are congressional bros different from everyday bros? Do they pop the collar on their pinstripe suits as they stroll through Dirksen in boat shoes? Do they hit the Senate gym each morning and play beer pong at Chuck Schumer’s apartment at night? Do they bring red plastic cups onto the Senate floor to sip on vodka-Red Bulls while they wait on roll call votes? 
  
 In a comment to HuffPost, Kirk’s office would only say that the senator was “joking around with his colleagues.” 
  
 But even before the publication of this piece, critics were pouncing. 
  
 "I'm outraged," said HuffPost’s Laura Bassett, a self-described "ho with no bro." 
  
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Output:
The latest adventure in hot mics involves Sen. Mark Kirk, who got caught joking to a colleague that fellow Republican senator Lindsey Graham is a "bro with no ho," reports the Huffington Post. "That's what we'd say on the South Side," said the Illinois lawmaker of his friend. He was referring to the focus on Graham running for president as a bachelor. “Senator Kirk was joking with his colleague and immediately apologized to anyone offended by his remark," says his press secretary. Democrats were trying to make hay, with the campaign manager for Rep. Tammy Duckworth—who hopes to take Kirk's seat in 2016—calling the joke "as offensive as it is unfunny," reports the Chicago Tribune. In an interview with Politico, meanwhile, Graham sounds a little annoyed with all the fuss over his singlehood. "At the end of the day, there’s nothing wrong about not being married," he says. "Having a marriage and a good family and children is a blessing. But I don’t think I’m a defective person by any means." He tells the website that he was close to being married when he was much younger, in the days when he was the legal guardian of his younger sister after their parents died within 15 months of each other. “It’s something I really don’t know the answer to, other than I think it’s OK."