Those are good proposals that we've heard from a lot of the candidates. It's not groundbreaking.

The governor has been good for business.

It really just seems like (Kelly and Howard) need to disentangle a bit so that the good work can go on without any murky questions. There is far too much commingling of what is personal and what is political in this state.

It's kind of like a low-grade fever. It's not like people are running around saying, 'Oh, my goodness, the former governor is on trial.' We all know that. We've been living with this scandal for seven years now.

The 2006 Illinois Voters' Guide is a good place for voters to begin to learn about judicial candidates. It includes a primer on the state's court system, a map to help voters identify which candidates will be on their ballot, and several links to web sites where voters can find more information about the candidates, various bar associations, Illinois courts and elections. Most importantly, it contains the information most relevant to voters when they think about what sort of person they want to see on the bench.

We have allowed judicial elections in this state to become rough-and-tumble political battlegrounds.