By Mark J. Valentino, Editor and Publisher

Throughout its 27-year history, the Gazette has placed great importance on its election coverage. Whether it’s the primaries or the general election, no matter if the tight races involve your state senators and representatives or your local aldermen, the Gazette has been there for you.

Covering these elections is hard work, and it takes a great deal of time and resources to track down so many candidates. However, we don’t mind. In fact, we take great pride in our election coverage.

It has always been part of the Gazette’s mission as a community newspaper to bring the races directly to you. All of the races—not just the ones that attract the glare of the spotlight. Why? Because all the races matter.

Our Feb. 1 special primary election issue is no exception. The Gazette moved its publication date up a week to be able to provide readers throughout our ten communities’ coverage of the state senate and representative races and to offer our endorsements not only on the local races but in the statewide primaries, which also affect our lives. We even hustled to get the Gazette delivered on Jan. 29 and 30 to give you time to review our coverage.

With the tremendous economic challenges facing the State of Illinois in 2010, careful deliberation of whom to support in these primaries is very important. We hope that you will realize what is at stake and do your part by voting on Tuesday, Feb. 2.

Speaking of economic challenges, it comes as no surprise that the Gazette is among the daily, weekly, and monthly community newspapers throughout the country affected by the decrease in advertising revenue. That hasn’t stopped us from continuing to publish a paper you look forward to reading each month. In fact, the popularity of the Gazette has never been greater. For that, we thank you.

In addition, we thank all of our advertisers—those businesses, organizations, and institutions — that support us each month. Please patronize these advertisers as you make your decisions on where to shop and look for services. As one of the few independent newspapers left in Illinois, we rely a great deal on their support. These loyal advertisers are partnering with the Gazette to keep community journalism alive and well in your community.