Rock Island, IL.—Phil Hare, the Democratic candidate for Congress in the 17^th District, received the endorsement of the Decatur Herald & Review newspaper. The paper's Editorial Staff identified Hare's intent to be a problem solver in Congress, to support policies to keep jobs in this country, and to seek common ground where possible.   

 
"Decatur is a very important part of the 17^th District, and I am honored to have the endorsement of the Herald & Review," said Hare.  "I've worked for years alongside Congressman Evans to serve the people of this area and, if I win, I will build on that record." 

 Hare has also received endorsements from Springfield's State Journal-Register, Galesburg's Register-Mail , and Rock Island's Argus-Dispatch.

The Herald and Review endorsement, in today's paper, is below:

Hare earns endorsement in the 17th district

By the H&REditorial Staff

In the state's 17th Congressional District, we have a rarity, an open seat.  The race pits Democrat Phil Hare against Republican Andrea Zinga. The gerrymandered 17th District stretches from the Rock Island-Moline area, down the Mississippi River and then cuts across a part of Springfield to take in part of the Decatur area. The district was designed to be heavily Democratic, and the race hasn't received a lot of attention in this area because it encompasses a relatively small part of Central Illinois.

The open seat was created by the retirement of Lane Evans, D-Ill., who was forced to step down for health reasons. Unfortunately, Evans did not reach his decision until after the Democratic primary. The result was an odd selection process that involved precinct committee chairmen. Many of the chairman jobs were not filled after the primary, and it took a court case to sort out who would select the candidate. Emerging from that mess was Hare, who served as Evans district director for 23 years.

Hare says that one of the many lessons he learned from Evans was that helping people was important. He said during his time with Evans he learned to listen to people's viewpoints and to appreciate them voicing their opinion, even if he didn't agree. Hare sees himself as a problem solver and says that is what he'll concentrate on in Congress. He wants to continue Evans' legacy of working on veteran's affairs.

Zinga is a former TV newscaster, both in the Quad-Cities and at CNN. She lost to Evans in the general election two years ago. Zinga's main campaign thrust is that more needs to be done to create jobs in the 17th District. She says that one way to create jobs in the future is to invest in the district's infrastructure, and if she's elected she would work to bring more dollars to the district for roads and other projects. She'd like to be placed on the House Agricultural Committee and would work to expand the ethanol and biodiesel industries. She also believes that there should be one federal standard for gasoline, not the current system of 16 regional standards.

The two candidates don't appear to differ a great deal on district issues - both are pushing a plan that would give companies tax incentives to keep production in the United States.  They do differ on some of the national issues. Zinga is pro-life and supports the Second Amendment. She claims that Hare says he is personally pro-life and in support of the Second Amendment, but that he would vote the other way. "It's not how a person thinks, it's how they vote that counts," she said.  Neither candidate has been in a political office before, so it's difficult to judge how they will perform in office.

Hare, however, seems to have a common touch. It appears his approach will be to seek a common ground and not get caught up in partisan politics.  Both are good candidates and would likely represent the district well in Washington. Hare gets the nod by a narrow margin.