CAN'T THEY BOTH LOSE? The Illinois gubernatorial race offers voters a choice of bad or worse. (No, it really doesn't matter who you call "bad.")

The poll reveals widespread voter disillusionment even before the latest allegations of corruption, setting the stage for a lackluster turnout in the Nov. 7 election. And as the election moves closer, voters are becoming increasingly unsure about where to turn.

If there is any encouraging news, it is that voters are not worshipping the so-called "two-party system".

More than half the voters surveyed aren't satisfied with the ballot choices for governor. A large majority believe the level of corruption is the same as in previous administrations, and nearly four in 10 think that neither of the major candidates would do the better job in cleaning up state government.

One voter gives me an idea.

Poll respondent Joan MacLennan, 67, of Des Plaines, who calls herself an independent voter, said investigations of alleged corruption involving the current administration have lessened her opinion of the governor, while Topinka's shoot-from-the-hip statements in public have diminished her view of
the state treasurer.

"The things she says, they just aren't very gubernatorial," MacLennan said. "And with Blagojevich, you have all these fraud investigations. I just have no idea what to do."

You could write in my name. I'm going to look at the Illinois rules involving declaration as an independent write-in candidate and post further on this. What's my platform? It's relatively simple: I'm not claiming I could do a better job. But I certainly couldn't do any worse.

For instance, I won't pass off misquotations of the main press as positions of my opponents. The misquoting has become so blatant that the editorial writers at the Chicago Tribune had to hoist the protest flag.

Judy Baar Topinka wants to do away with Illinois' health-care program for children. Tammy Duckworth would give welfare and Social Security benefits to illegal aliens. You read it here first--or so their opponents would have you believe. But you didn't.Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who's being challenged by Topinka, and state Sen. Peter Roskam, who's running against Duckworth in the 6th Congressional District, cite the Chicago Tribune as the source for those claims in televised ads. In both cases, the attribution is misleading.

In the Blagojevich ad, a narrator warns that Topinka "has pledged to dismantle Illinois' health-care program for kids." That's not what Topinka said, and it's not what the Tribune said she said. The accusation was made by John Filan, Blagojevich's own budget director, and the story made that clear. The ad, however, cited the source as "Chicago Tribune, 8/18/06."

If we're going to play by those rules, then it's fair to say the Tribune recently called George W. Bush the devil. Actually, it was Venezuela's leftist president, Hugo Chavez, who said that, but hey, we quoted him. Same thing.

When Blagojevich and Topinka met with the Tribune editorial board last week, a reporter questioned the ad's representation of the quote. The governor ducked. "I guess you should talk to the guy that does the commercials," he said. "I don't know what the Tribune's story was talking about." Now that's taking responsibility for your campaign.

Write in Stephen Karlson for Illinois governor.

He doesn't claim he could do a better job. But he couldn't do any worse.