* The Sun-Times’ Neil Steinberg hilariously bites the hand that feeds him…

When it comes to a high office such as governor, however, I assume most readers don’t need a newspaper to tell them what their guts tell them. I assume you either are already a supporter — and I’ll try to be impartial here — of good old Gov. Pat Quinn, the homespun Democrat whom everybody knows and loves, working like a plough horse trying to correct the problems left behind by the jail-bound Rod Blagojevich, and, before him, the jail-bound George Ryan.

Or you back Bruce Rauner, the Republican multimillionaire who popped steaming from the C. Montgomery Burns mold, bursting onto the scene like a party guest flinging his cape at a cringing footman, demanding the governorship be given him right now, as his birthright, a kind of droit de seigneur.

Darn, I’ve blown this whole balance bit, haven’t I? No big mystery as to why. I’ve had many encounters with Quinn over the years, conversations and coffees and discussions about important issues facing Illinois. He struck me as decent, hardworking, moral — he signed the gay marriage law that Rauner said he would veto, despite Quinn being Catholic and enduring threats of excommunication from a church now scrambling to catch up with him. Two years ago I invited Quinn to a party; he came, and said some kind words.

I couldn’t invite Rauner two years ago because he wasn’t in the public eye. A late life conversion to the joy of public service, apparently. I’ve met the guy a few times, tried to initiate conversation, but it was as if the valet had tried to chat up a Rolls Royce owner while being tossed the keys. Rauner looked at me as if I were a bug.

Yikes.

* I’ve had drinks with both men. The governor and I whiled away part of an afternoon in 2008, back when he was the lieutenant governor and didn’t have much else to do. I moderated a forum on the proposed constitutional convention at a North Side tavern and he was the panelist arguing in favor (Doug Whitley of the Illinois Chamber argued the other side). He stuck around after the crowd left and we bellied up to the bar.

He was human, he was funny, he was warm and modest and he was very bright. It was all off the record, so I can’t go into more, but I very much enjoyed our conversation over a couple-tree adult beverages.

* A few months ago, Bruce Rauner took time off from campaigning to spend a few hours with me - no staff, just the two of us - on a mutual friend’s front porch. He was fine as long as we didn’t get anywhere near his talking points. Whenever that happened, you could see him stiffen up and go into bot mode.

Other than that oddity, it was some of the most fun I had all summer. We swapped stories about our lives and made each other laugh for hours. He was brutally frank and open about every question I had (other than those darned talking points). Like with Quinn, the conversation was all off the record, but my takeaway was that he was a well-raised, extremely likeable, unusually self-disciplined (even after a few beers) yet quite nuanced man who believed with all his heart that he was on the mission of his life.

* These two guys aren’t cartoon characters. One isn’t evil and one isn’t wearing a white hat. Like all human beings, both men have their flaws. But they also have many, many redeeming qualities. Sometimes, it’s helpful to remember that.