HANDSOME SMART BLACK GUY VS. HANDSOME SMART WHITE GUY: So yes, I'm back. Sort of. And one of the things I want to focus on in the weeks to come is the Illinois Senate race. My dear friend and provocateur Bart issued an opening salvo below in my mysterious and lame comment box. I'm reposting it here, to kick us off:

...as of right now it's looking pretty clear that Barack Obama is going to be the Dem nominee going against Jack Ryan on the GOP side. I have to admit that the Dem campaign wasn't exactly riveting political drama but it really seemed to me from pretty early on that Obama had a hell of a resume to run on, if maybe a little bit short in actual government experience. When Blair Hull ran into his personal iceberg (and let's face it, the guy was pretty damn creepy to begin with and throwing his kids all over the back page of the Trib didn't help) it just seemed like Obama was ready to grab the torch. His take on the positions are pretty relevant: pro use of force, anti Iraq (primarily the unilateralism, not necessarily the cause), pro-Israel, commited to a multi-lateral approach in regards to the war on terror, and committed to free trade (albeit while kowtowing to the Dem base in terms of promoting "minimum rigths for workers around the world"). He's also solidly on the gay rights side of the fence in a state that despite it's downstate advocates is pretty clearly in the live and let live camp. Jack Ryan could be a formidable candidate but he has several pretty distinct disadvantages going into the race: his name is Ryan in a state that hasn't been friendly to it lately (thanks George!), he will be forced to take a fairly hard right stand on issues (gay rights, PATRIOT act, Iraq, abortion) that don't play so well, all the while fighting what really appears to be a fairly strong groundswell against the policies of GWB. It should be a good contest with distinct choices; in the end I think that's good for Illinois. I recognize this hs nothing to do with the post, I just wanted to see if I couldn't get a little discusson going...

Bart, I'm looking forward to exploring and discussing with you. Let's see what we can learn.