The Chicago Sun-Times’ Abdon Pallasch has a tough job. On a shrinking newsroom budget and with marginal print space, he has to find a way to cover all the candidates in the 5th Congressional District primary election. But his policy wrap-up from Sunday’s paper is not his best effort:

Maybe it’s the lack of ideological differences among the 12 Democrats running to replace U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel that has led them to attack each other over which of them might have been too close to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich or to Cook County Board President Todd Stroger.

Crain’s Greg Hinz makes a similar point in his column today (which also includes an uneducated comparison between Tom Geoghegan and Rep. Dennis Kucinich).

Meanwhile, Pallasch quoted John Fritchey trying to play down the policy differences as well:

“On the major issues, the positions of the leading candidates are all essentially similar,” said state Rep. John Fritchey. “That’s probably part of the reason why there have been so many distractions about irrelevant minutiae.”

While it’s obvious that candidates vying for a primary win in this heavily-Democratic district are going to share some common values and positions, to claim there is a “lack of ideological differences” between them is inaccurate and lazy.

Check out our recent examination of the policy positions put forward by Fritchey, Geoghegan, Sara Feigenholtz, Mike Quigley, and Charlie Wheelan. We developed it by reviewing each candidate’s endorsement questionnaires, campaign websites, and comments at public forums. By actually taking some time to analyze these statements, we found a wealth of discrepancies.

Let’s take the issue of taxes. Fritchey is in favor of preserving the estate tax; Feigenholtz, Fritchey, and Quigley all want to let the Bush tax cuts expire; Quigley adds that will not vote for any tax increase during a recession; Wheelan supports phasing out payroll, income, and corporate taxes in favor of a carbon tax; and Geoghegan wants marginal tax rates raised to 1950s levels. Given the immense need for investment nationwide and the country’s growing deficit, how the government creates revenue matters greatly. These are not in any way similar proposals.

What about Social Security? This is a crucial issue for all voters in the district—particularly the elderly—and deserves scrutiny. Wheelan has said he is open to reducing benefits for future retirees; Feigenholtz and Fritchey would consider lifting or adjusting the cap on payroll taxes; Quigley wants to leave it alone for the time being, noting that Medicare is in greater trouble; and Geoghegan wants to increase benefits and turn it into a more robust public pension program. Again, these subtleties are not “irrelevant minutiae”—they are stark and important. And in a field so crowded, they could turn the race.

Pallasch is stuck between a rock and a hard place. And we should give him credit for at least attempting to deal substantively with the policy positions of the candidates, something the Tribune has yet to do. But if this is the most substantive print reporting on the race, who can blame voters for tuning out?

Full Disclosure: The SEIU Illinois Council -- which is the sole sponsor of Progress Illinois -- has endorsed Sara Feigenholtz in the 5th Congressional District race.