Along with the food, the music and the good times, visitors of Corn Fest had the chance to meet State Sen. Denny Jacobs on one of his campaign stops for secretary of state.

Sen. Jacobs was at Corn Fest on Saturday handing out corn and looking to find prospective voters among the crowds of young people in his race against George Ryan for secretary of state.

“DeKalb is one of the towns that is instrumental to Democrats. We want to get the young people,” Jacobs said.

Jacobs said he feels he can win the election because he has the ability to get things done and has won 14 straight elections without a loss.

“I have a proven ability to get things done. I know how to work with the legislature better than the other candidates,” he said. “We need a more economic and efficient system and no more government of privilege. We need to return the state to democratic values and give it back to the people.”

Jacobs’ experience for the job includes a 14 year administrative political career in East Moline, 16 years in business and being a key role in the legalization of river boat gambling.

“We need people in government interested in jobs. The river boats created over 10,000 jobs of $8 to $16 an hour,” he said. “That’s what government should be about, creating jobs.”

Jacobs said he can’t get into the moral argument against gambling. “We leave that to the peoples’ own moral view. This is strictly an economic view,” he said.

“The office (of Secretary of State) needs to be officially administered. We need a strong top legislator and 18 years of Thompson, Edgar and Ryan is enough,” he said. “We have a long term plan. The Republicans plan only until the next election.”

One example is that the Republicans are trying to reduce the legal blood alcohol level by 20 percent in D.U.I. cases, said Jacobs.

“We have a problem with problem-drinkers. A convicted D.U.I. will lose their license and possibly lose their job and insurance. I firmly believe that a chronic D.U.I. driver will drive whenever they feel they can get away with it,” Jacobs said. “A D.U.I. driver without a license or insurance in an accident hurts the victims more than anyone else.”

“We need to find another alternative than just taking away drivers licenses. We need to get them off the road and treat them (for alcoholism) so they can become productive citizens,” Jacobs said.

Jacobs said he left Corn Fest impressed by the excellent crowd and how well organized the event was. “I didn’t know you could give away that much corn and do it for free.”