“Obama can help this nation move forward…In the minority party for all but his final two years in the Statehouse, he tempered a progressive agenda with a cold dash of realism…Racial profiling, death penalty reform, recording of criminal interrogations, health care — when victory was elusive, Obama seized progress. He did so by working fluidly with Republicans and Democrats. He sought out his ideological foes. He listened closely to them. As a result, many Republicans in Illinois have warm words for Barack Obama.” One I missed earlier: Sen. Obama’s hometown paper, The Chicago Tribune, endorses him for president.