Sauerberg best of weak choices for Senate

You walk into movie with great anticipation. But when it's over, you come away feeling pretty disappointed. It was awful.

So you think maybe the sequel will be better. But that one isn't very good, either.

That pretty much describes "Illinois GOP Senate race: 2004" and "Illinois GOP Senate race II: 2008."

In 2004, of course, it was Republican Alan Keyes against Barack Obama. That's the best the GOP in Illinois could do -- Alan Keyes. It was an embarrassing campaign from beginning to end, culminating in a predictable landslide victory for Obama. He's now running for president. Does anyone know -- or care -- what Keyes is doing?

But you have to ask, what are Illinois Republicans doing in once again presenting their voters with more unappealing choices as the nominee to run against Sen. Dick Durbin? GOP voters don't exactly have abrasions on their palms from doing furious cartwheels of joy at the prospect of a dynamic November contender emerging from the field of Andy Martin, Mike Psak and Steve Sauerberg, their candidates for the U.S. Senate.

In making an endorsement in this dismal campaign, we can immediately rule out Martin, the Internet commentator and perennial candidate who in the past has made ugly, anti-Semitic remarks.

Truck driver Psak didn't follow up on a request from the Daily Herald to meet with our editorial board. What we know of him isn't all that impressive.

Which leaves us with Sauerberg, a family physician from Willowbrook who is the strongest candidate among the three, though that isn't saying much.

Sauerberg's never run for political office before.

But he considers that a strength, as it means he is not among the career politicians who are out of touch with the public and in the grasp of lobbyists. Goodness knows, we have enough of those in Washington.

And Sauerberg scores points in his criticism of Durbin as being too far to the left for Illinois' tastes. Durbin can be too liberal.

As a physician, Sauerberg would bring a working knowledge of medical care that would be helpful in fashioning health-care reform legislation.

And he would push for tax reform and tax relief that would give individuals and businesses more dollars to put in their savings accounts instead of the U.S. Treasury.

We do like Sauerberg's support for bringing more transparency into the congressional decision-making process.

Sauerberg is endorsed, unenthusiastically so, on the basis of his sincere desire to want to make things better for Americans as a reform candidate. Best we can do.