Democrats selecting their candidate for treasurer have two solid candidates in Robin Kelly, the office's current chief of staff, and Justin Oberman, an adviser to a firm that raises capital for small businesses.

The low-profile office oversees more than 700 special funds and invests state money. It also handles a college savings program parents can invest in. The job is typically more bureaucratic than political.

Kelly, 53, may be familiar to Peorians from her time working at her alma mater, Bradley University, during the 1990s and later serving on its board of trustees. A well-regarded four-year stint in the Legislature and extensive economic development work in south suburban Matteson help round out the experience she gained running the treasurer's office since 2007. During that time the office has trimmed its budget and reduced the number of employees while working to modernize it.

She's keen on expanding the treasurer's economic development programs, which offer low-interest loans. She'd open more part-time satellite offices on the cheap - in existing government buildings, staffed by employees who live nearby - to ensure a presence outside of Chicago and Springfield. She'd emphasize programs with schools that teach teens how to manage their money.

Oberman, 35, advises a firm that raises capital for small businesses and was one of a handful of high-ranking Democrats working in the Department of Transportation during President George W. Bush's first term. He later assisted in creating the Transportation Security Administration. Before jumping into this race, he weighed bids for lieutenant governor and Congress. He's informed, bursting with ideas about economic development and the central role he says the treasurer's office can play there.

Neither candidate advocates merging the treasurer's and comptroller's offices as a cost-savings move, arguing that their separation serves as a check and balance; we're not terribly convinced of that in a state well-known for its corruption. Each would do well to remember that Illinois has a Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity that is supposed to handle economic development; we could use a lot less duplication of services in an Illinois that is hemorrhaging money. We wouldn't mind the treasurer's office doing less, not more, and concentrating on its core function.

While voters looking for a new face in state government wouldn't go wrong casting a ballot for Oberman, Robin Kelly has been overseeing the day-to-day functions of the office for the last four years and could step up without missing a beat. Oberman is bright, energetic, obviously ambitious, but we see him more in the policymaker mold. Kelly's more limited interpretation of the position is probably a better fit in a cash-strapped state. She is endorsed.