Progress Illinois

No sooner had I posted the previous item on the Esquire endorsement did I notice a much more relevant media outlet's decision to back Rep. Bill Foster: the Chicago Sun-Times.  From today's editorial:

Our earlier reservations about Foster concerned his style and substance. During a meeting back then with the Chicago Sun-Times Editorial Board, he struck us as unprepared on many issues, and he spoke softly and tentatively, hardly like an obvious leader. The staunchly conservative Oberweis, in contrast, argued his views forcefully, which we had to respect, even if we didn't always agree. We overlooked his contentious edge.

But much has changed in seven months. We have watched Foster in action and taken a better measure. He knows his stuff, though he remains soft-spoken, and has been effective in Washington.

As a sidenote, check out this passage from the endorsement (emphasis added):

That studious approach has served Foster well in his freshman year, especially in the last few weeks when, as member of the Financial Services Committee, he played a small but important roll in building support for the highly unpopular $700 billion bailout of Wall Street. Foster, an experienced small businessman, understood the bill; he knew his credit default swaps from his derivatives. He was able to explain the bill -- and its necessity -- to several other rookie legislators, softening their reservations.

Er ... credit default swaps are a type of derivative.