Illinois Primary Election: Enjoy the attack ads, but do your homework

Oh Illinois politics, you are so predictably and consistently colorful with your rich and recent history of "alleged" corruption and the occasional "indictment." Illinois is a dream beat for a political reporter—you just can't make up stories as good as we get them unless you were in perhaps Philadelphia or maybe Moscow. It would be entertaining if it wasn't so sad. So, to cut to the chase, there's a primary election Tuesday February 2 in which we will be selecting tomorrow's reformers and headline makers—but also a raft of not-so-glamorous but awfully powerful public servants—among them, judges.

Who is running? Are they golden, are they crooked, are they beholden to the interests of the Amish special interests? You've gotta research this stuff, people, because those attack ads, well, they can be a bit inaccurate.

Start with Illinois voting info.

Then hit these detailed maps of Congressional Districts and their current Representatives
for the Congressional re-elections.

The Board of Election of Commissioners for the city of Chicago takes care of all your voting needs from information about polling places to how to use the balloting system. The site also allows you to preview sample ballots and has a list of all Democratic, Republican and Green party candidates running for office.

Meet the judges. Get comprehensive information about the candidates running for any judicial positions in Cook County. The site lists endorsements for candidates and ratings of candidates from professional organizations, including the Illinois State Bar Association, the Chicago Council of Lawyers and the Chicago Bar Association.

The Cook County Clerk lists nonpartisan information about the candidates, organized by political party. You can also view the full referenda and a schedule of public viewing.

Already have strong party ties? The Cook County Republicans will help you put a face to a name for candidates running in Cook County.  There’s also a link to view federal candidates.

For undecided democrats, the Cook County Democratic Party provides endorsements and voting recommendations for each office.

Chicago’s local ABC station invited candidates to submit information about themselves, including stances on issues. Though not all responded, many of the contenders for the major offices did.

Governor Quinn's YouTube channel

Challenger Dan Hynes's YouTube channel

Chicago Reader's "Election Follies"

NBC Chicago's slide show of candidates

Tribune's extensive coverage of the entire elections

The race for Comptroller might be the most colorful of all, more on that later.

Thanks to Amie Ninh and Julia Korol for compiling the links.