* The lede of the latest Barack Obama in Springfield profile succinctly sums up how the national press corps too often views us lowly “flyover” types…

There was something improbable about the new guy from Chicago via Honolulu and Jakarta, Indonesia, the one with the Harvard law degree and the job teaching constitutional law, turning up in Springfield, Ill., in January 1997 among the housewives, ex-mayors and occasional soybean farmer serving in the State Senate.

[Emphasis added.]

From reading the story, it looks like NY Times reporter Janny Scott spent at least some time in Springfield. So, you’d think Scott would have noticed that there is more to the General Assembly’s makeup than what was reported. However, it is, after all, a citizens legislature. Pardon us for not measuring up to the standards of the eastern elite.

As is usual with these Springfield stories emanating from the big outlets, almost nothing new was reported. You got yer Denny Jacobs quotes, the Emil Jones as his mentor stuff, congressional bid against Bobby Rush rehash, highlights of his push for ethics reforms, lowlights of his tiffs with a couple of his fellow African-American Senators, blah, blah, blah. It’s mainly the standard fare.

There was one tiny new revelation, though…

(Sen. Rickey) Hendon, who says he is writing a book on electoral politics called “Backstabbers,” …

I’d read that book.