* Efforts to get Republican US Senate candidate Steve Sauerberg’s name out there before the primary is meeting with mixed results. The Daily Herald’s endorsement was titled “Sauerberg best of weak choices for Senate” and ends…

Sauerberg is endorsed, unenthusiastically so, on the basis of his sincere desire to want to make things better for Americans as a reform candidate. Best we can do.

* ABC 7 ran a story on the three candidates for the GOP nomination to take on Dick Durbin and played it pretty straight…

Steve Sauerberg is a long-time family physician who’s never run for elected office but believes that works in his favor. He’s won newspaper endorsements and has the backing of the state Republican Central committee.

Andy Martin is an Internet commentator and perennial candidate who believes he has the credibility his opponents lack. He wants to bring high-speed rail to Illinois.

Mike Psak is a truck driver with an MBA from DePaul who believes Washington has too many lawyers and multi-millionaires. He advocates eliminating the nation’s toll ways.

* Unlike the ABC 7 story, today’s Tribune piece goes out of its way to note that Sauerberg is the party’s endorsed guy and trumpet the alarm about the other two, but the reporters get their digs in…

But some Republicans have expressed fears that Sauerberg’s low-volume campaign might not be enough to defeat Andy Martin and Mike Psak, a result that would cast further doubt on the GOP’s relevance in Illinois. […]

“I don’t think I could have covered any more ground than I have,” Sauerberg said. “I don’t think the criticism has been fair. … We have gotten in front of people who we feel were most critical, and we’ve gotten tons of endorsements and we think that should carry us through the primary.”

* And then there’s this…

According to Republican Steve Sauerberg’s disclosure report for the period from October through January 16th, he had not quite $67,000 in his campaign fund.

Durbin, meanwhile, is the Senate majority’s second-highest ranking leader and reported having $7.3 million.