Jim Oberweis, Republican candidate for Illinois governor, called me last week.

I know what you’re thinking: “Why would a gubernatorial candidate call some schmuck from a newspaper that is known for a comic called ‘Sausage Fest’?” Trust me, I share this sentiment. I mean, I’m aware that I’ve taken a few potshots at Oberweis, but I really thought I’d be beneath his radar.

Maybe I should have been. A lot of my friends have asked, “doesn’t he have anything better to do than call up random college columnists?” That’s a valid point, but I was oddly comforted by the fact that he read my column and wanted to speak to me. It shows a certain openness with the press that many politicians don’t have. Thus, I took it seriously. I did research to make sure our discussion could be frank and productive. I read up on his campaign and his positions, making sure I was respectful of his beliefs. He was going to have to get up mighty early to get the drop on me.

Either that, or simply call me on a day when I didn’t get up early at all. You see, Oberweis called me last Friday at about 10:30 a.m. I didn’t have class until noon, so I was awakened by the bleating sound of the phone.

“Hello?” I said hoarsely.

“Craig, this is Jim Oberweis,” the voice on the other end boomed.

“Yeah?” I replied, as if it were perfectly natural for millionaire gubernatorial candidates to call me whenever I’m sleeping in.

“Listen, I don’t remember why I called you earlier this week. You have a right to say whatever you want to say,” said Oberweis. “It’s just that I went to the University of Illinois; I have kids that are Illini; and I cringe a little whenever I see my name in a negative light in that paper.”

“Yeah?” I said, displaying the sharp command of the English language that has gotten me this far in my career.

“Like, I said, I don’t even remember what you said. I know someone said I’d inherited all my money, and that’s just not the case.”

He proceeded to explain to me how he actually did make his money, and while I didn’t understand much of it, it all sounded legitimate. So I said, “OK, that sounds good.” He then asked if I was the one who had claimed he had inherited his money. I said, “no, I’m the one who said you don’t have a chance of winning, so it’s a good thing you go to state fairs to unload all those stickers.”

There was a long silence on the other end of the phone. Finally, Oberweis said: “well, I don’t know how you can say that. Gov. Blagojevich has worn out his welcome, so whoever wins the Republican nomination will be governor. And I’m winning that right now.”

Now, there are a lot of things I could’ve said to that. I could’ve pointed out that Jim Edgar and Judy Barr Topinka, the two giants of the Illinois Republican Party, haven’t announced yet. I could have pointed out that Oberweis, a conservative, has made plenty of blunders. Blagojevich would find it easy to paint him as a clown in the general election.

Instead, I just said yeah. This was about the time Oberweis realized he might not have been dealing with a fully functioning reporter. He quickly thanked me for the conversation and said goodbye.

Like I said, I really like the fact that this conversation happened. I still have no intention of voting in favor of Oberweis for anything. He’s too anti-immigrant, anti-choice and anti-anyone but corporations. And yeah, maybe calling up a columnist is a little petty. But after years of politicians whose press policy can best be summed up in the word no, a little openness is awfully refreshing.

But he’s still going to get crushed in 2006.

Craig Colbrook is a senior in Communications. His column appears every Friday. He can be reached at [email protected].