Beydler boils it down

John Beydler is a truly skilled writer. His recent post on the Rumler/Jacobs contest is a fine example of it. He marshals facts and information and lays it out in a way that creates a larger picture, and he does it in a way that is easy to digest and read.

Volumes of dust has been kicked up in discussing this race, a lot of junk thrown around, and partisans have worked hard to inject distracting and often distorted and dirty smears.

But Beydler succeeds in looking past all the heat and smoke and lays out what is known and how it is. He casts things as "politics as usual" vs. an alternative choice, which of course is what this race largely represents.

There are things to recommend and condemn about both options, and unfortunately, both candidates require a certain leap of faith to support.

From what I've seen and heard, resentment about the fact that Jacobs was appointed to the post and the nepotism involved seems to have emerged as his biggest negative, as well as his perceived combination of arrogance and stepping on his tongue. In many respects, he seems to be our local equivalent of George W. Bush.

The frustrating fact that even at this late date, Rumler has been all but invisible leaves a lot of questions in voter's mind. Whether by design or due to his being outfunded by 10 to 1 compared to Jacobs, voters have nothing but a bare-bones sketch of Rumler's bio to work with, which makes judging how well he would function as senator nearly impossible. But Rumler has been wearing out the shoeleather and walking the blocks and how much that one on one outreach will succeed remains to be seen.

His youth can cut both ways, both inspiring respect for his admirable success and accomplishments by such a young age, including experience as a staffer in D.C. which could be expected to be valuable in office. But his youth also gives people pause as to whether it might be a handicap in office as well, in so far as he'd be starting at square one and need to learn how "business as usual" is conducted in the Illinois legislature. But then again, the fact that he might not play the game the old fashioned way might be seen as a plus.

Unfortunately, both candidates leave something to be desired, and carry a lot of question marks, Jacobs due to what is known about him, and Rumler due to what is unknown.

In that respect, it truly does come down essentially to the old vs. the new. I think Beydler has put forth about as good a summation of the choice presented to voters as is possible.

Read it here.