Let's hope trial offers some truth plus excitement

Somehow it doesn't seem like it's been so long waiting for the start of the Rod Blagojevich corruption trial.

Maybe it's because the former governor never really went away after his arrest, indictment and impeachment. Maybe we've become so inured to the delays of high-profile trials that a year and a half just doesn't seem so long anymore.

Maybe it's because this trial, for which jury selection begins today, seems almost equally a thing to dread as an exciting political news event.

Even if it could prove to be the latter, it's going to take its sweet time getting there - estimates are that the case could last 17 weeks or more - and along the way, the Blagojevich case seems sure to bring plenty of "car wreck" theater - that is, the type of political imagery you can't seem to turn away from no matter how badly you want to.

It would be a small comfort if we could say that the payoff for readers of this scandal will be a deeper look inside the political process in Illinois. Sadly, Illinoisans have had no shortage of such opportunities over the years, including the trial, conviction and imprisonment of Blagojevich's predecessor, which itself seems to have happened only yesterday even though George Ryan is already more than a third of the way through his six-and-a-half-year sentence.

It would be nice to think that we're in for some fascinating legal maneuvering or a couple of months of surprising witness testimony. But, again, it seems more likely we'll be watching and hearing a script play out that we've already been following for 18 months - the state introducing witness after witness and wiretap after wiretap to show that Rod Blagojevich was greedily setting himself up for a plum Washington appointment and the defense producing response after response that the former governor did nothing illegal and was thwarted by the political machinery he sought to dismantle.

Considering the national profile Blagojevich has nurtured and produced, his case is sure to attract a lot of attention among political experts around the country and no doubt will offer some highly entertaining moments.

But there's a reason better than any of these for following the Blagojevich case. That is, that it may help you find out the truth.

A case could be made that trials never are about finding out the truth. Defendants don't necessarily want a jury to know the whole truth and nothing but the truth, because even if they're innocent, some parts of the truth can hurt their case. Likewise, prosecutors have no interest in letting jurors see the defendant in any light beyond that of the selfish, malevolent reprobate they worked so hard to portray.

You, however, have the opportunity to merge the facts presented by both sides into something that may approach actual reality. Over the next four months, we aim for coverage that will help you do that. Realistically, the events of the trial are not going to be front-page news every day. Some days, they may be very brief indeed. But whether in print or on the Web, you'll be able to follow the important developments thoroughly and promptly in the Daily Herald and, we hope, within 17 weeks or so, have a complete picture in your mind of what Rod Blagojevich did and whether that was right or wrong.

And, who knows?, maybe when the verdict is finally read, you'll still have the feeling that it all just happened so fast.

Jim Slusher, jslusher@dailyherald.com, is an assistant managing editor at the Daily Herald.