The text of the Argus-Dispatch endorsement, as printed online for today's edition, follows:

 

 

When an army of area leaders began vying to be the Democrat candidate to replace retiring Congressman Lane Evans on the ballot, we said that the most important issue in the 17th Congressional District was: "Jobs, jobs, jobs." At that time, we suggested Rock Island Mayor Mark Schwiebert was the best person to help create them and keep them and urged the district's state central committeemen to select him to run against Republican Andrea Zinga Nov. 7.

The committeemen had other ideas and endorsed Evans' captain, Phil Hare. One of the faces has changed, but the issue remains: Jobs.

To be sure there are a number of other very important things for voters to consider – the war in Iraq, homeland security, the national economy, Social Security, Medicare – but we remain convinced that when Quad-Citians go to the polls a week from Tuesday, their gaze should be fixed most firmly at home in choosing new congressional leadership for the first time in 26 years.

Mr. Hare's critics charge that electing him is ensuring a continuation of the policies which have kept the area from growing. We, too, had worried that voters who tabbed Hare would get Lane II. But as we've gotten to know candidate Hare better, we've seen a refreshing focus on what's going on here at home and a pragmatic side that brings a welcome balance to the altruism he shares with one of the most liberal congressmen in Washington.

When it comes to their stated views on economic development, candidates Zinga and Hare are a study in contrasts. Both, for example, back the Western Illinois University Quad-Cities riverfront campus, but only Mr. Hare offered concrete examples of how Congress can help to do that. Indeed he's already acted, he said, calling Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who secured road funds for the campus' back door.

Both say they care what happens here, but Mr. Hare demonstrates an active, even avid interest. For example, when told about troubling trends that show money and people flowing across the river, Mr. Hare sought the details. When told about the ambitious Blueprint 2010 plan commissioned by the Illinois Quad-City Chamber to keep young people here, he went to those who developed it to find out more.

Both say that the Rock Island Arsenal is critical to the district, and the nation's future, and would oppose further cuts. Mr. Hare, however, says he would do it one better. He'd attack cuts already made and try to reverse past decisions that decimated this critical facility. Congress created the BRAC process, he reasons, why can't Congress change it? Ms. Zinga says that Mr. Hare has had ample time to prove he can help, and failed. But that effort has not been his. And Hare says that without the work of Evans' office, losses would have been staggering.

Mr. Hare maintains that the strangely shaped district requires a full-time economic development coordinator. Ms. Zinga sees that as the lawmaker's job. When asked by our editorial board what Congressman Zinga's economic development role would be, she said, "facilitator." We'd prefer an advocate with ideas of his or her own, who also knows who to see to get them done. Though Ms. Zinga has spent four years campaigning for the job, she offered no specific plans of her own. She says the way to grow the economy is to support fiscal policies that create a climate conducive to business growth.

Ms. Zinga points to Peoria, a once-stagnant rust belt city that is now growing and cleaning up its act as an example of what should be done. But she offers no roadmap on how to get there.

To be sure, Mr. Hare stands far to the left of us on a number of issues, including for example, universal health care and other social programs; our issues in this race are purely parochial. On the essential issue of jobs, he leaves us believing he "gets it."

Like voters, we wish we had a crystal ball that tell who is the perfect choice in a district that is clearly in need of a new direction. We don't. Based on what we know of both candidates and what they've told us in this issues-oriented, if abbreviated campaign, we recommend Mr. Hare.