Media reaction was decidedly mixed to the governor’s State of the State address.

For months, the Southern Illinoisan has beat up the governor for ignoring its forgotten part of the state, but the paper completely changed its tune after the governor spent a couple of days touring the area.

THUMBS UP… to Gov. Rod Blagojevich for including in his State of the State address on Thursday remarks about his “great visit” to Southern Illinois a few weeks ago. In the address, the governor spoke fondly of the visit and meeting with community leaders who have developed “a shared regional vision for the growth of their economy.” Come back soon, governor.

It’s all I can do to resist calling the Southern’s staff a bunch of hayseeds for allowing themselves to be wowed by a single visit by Dear Leader. I definitely have to give credit to the guv for turning that paper around, though. Whatever he did, he needs to keep doing it.

“Legislators say Blagojevich all talk, little action,” is the headline in the Morris Daily Herald.

The best lede of the day was in the Sun-Times:

Gov. Blagojevich on Thursday outlined a modest vision for the spring legislative season in a State of the State address that lacked demons as much as detail.

Nice turn of a phrase.

The Daily Herald headlined their story, “Legislators left looking for details.”

The State Journal-Register’s story was headlined, “Low-key, low-cost plans; Blagojevich takes a more modest tone this year.” Its editorial was more skeptical:

It always is difficult to critique State of the State speeches. It’s kind of like trying to judge a car by the quality of its wax job. We won’t start to see what’s really under Blagojevich’s hood until Feb. 16, when the governor delivers his annual budget address, where he will need to start matching dollars to his State of the State vision.

The Bloomington Pantagraph’s headline was, “Governor sticks to positives,” but the subhed was, “Lawmakers: Address short on key details.” The paper also ran a positive editorial:

Did we hear a new Gov. Rod Blagojevich Thursday? A governor more willing to be cooperative? A governor who singles out others for praise? A governor who is more punctual and more to the point?

If so, the state of the state could indeed be growing stronger.