He's already burned the union bridge. I dont see how hes ever getting those votes.

Uh, you're joking, right??

http://chicago.suntimes.com/chicago-...5-labor-unions

Right, it's the public employee unions that don't like Rahm. CTU and Karen Lewis types.

Yes, very true. I should qualify my statement: these pitches are absurd because everyone knows that they have zero chance of happening not necessarily because of their merit or lack thereof. But yes, I agree: in terms of quality, Obama's most "absurd" policy proposals are pretty reasonable/centrist--at least by '90s standards.

Relatively quiet in here since a mayoral run-off has been official. Maybe it is because the overconfidence many of you had about there being no run off kind of slapped you back. Anyways it exceeded even my expectations, if I had come out and predicted Rahm 45%, Chuy 34% I would probably have been called naive or even batshit on here. This has become the most noteworthy Mayoral election since 1983. I think the argument should not be that Rahm is non-machine and never was rather the real story is that Rahm tried to use the machine and take it over and on balance he has failed if you look at the ward by ward results of this election.

I've been overseas and haven't been able to log in much. Cold weather and low turnout hurt Rahm because his supporters simply are not as motivated as the groups of people who are pissed at him. Luckily for Rahm, the deck is stacked in his favor for the runoff.

I forget where I was reading it, but 7 of the 19 wards with Aldermanic runnoffs were won by Chuy, 9 of them were won handily by Rahm, and the other 3 were leaning Rahm. While there will be ballots in all wards, it's difficult to get people to turn out for a single candidate ballot and turnout in the wards with aldermanic runoffs will undoubtedly be significantly higher than in those without. None of the aldermen in Chuy's SW and NW side strongholds are going to runoff. That alone could be a killer for him as he will have to work 2X as hard just to maintain the votes in his core constituency. I think Chuy will be hurt the most by the outright victory of hipster aldermen like Carlos Rosa and Joe Moreno who seem to have been the only wards with plurality white populations that went in favor of Chuy. Most of the NW side hipsters hate Rahm as a part of their moral outrage shtick and I'm not sure they will come out if Moreno isn't eeking out a win or they don't have the option to vote for the first openly gay hispanic on city council.

Theoretically Rahm has a major structural advantage going into the runoff election, but he could still screw it up. I heard a lot of Chuy supporters lamenting that "if the weather was better we might have won, just wait until spring when it's nicer" which simply isn't the case, poor weather usually hurts the incumbent.

In any case, Chuy's numbers surprised, but I still don't see him adding another 16% to them before Rahm can add 5%. Things will be a lot hairier for Rahm though now that he let this go to runoff.

Garcia doesn't want Obama library on South Side park land
http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/7/7...side-park-land

I'm surprised to see Garcia stick to his guns about this issue, especially given his need to increase support among African-American voters.

^^Talk about Chicago-machine-style pandering. "I'm a parks guy. I feel that parks are sacred." Interesting that this is all of a sudden a big issue for him..

F*ck this guy.

Hell, who needs museums anyway? Let our children, tourists, educators, private citizens from all walks of life remain ignorant about various aspects of the arts and sciences; who needs that anyway? All we need to learn can be gained from the internet or tv. Murica!!

It's not like museums in the park have ever done anything for anyone. Not the Field, or the Shedd, or the MSI. Or the Art Institute. Or DuSable. Or the National Museum of Mexican American art. Or the Chicago History Museum. Or the Notebaert Nature Museum.

As a Chicagoan, I'm utterly embarrassed by the likes of Chuy Garcia.

^ This is just about him trying to define himself. You define yourself by drawing solid lines between yourself and your opponent. Look for him to draw similar lines in regards to other Emanuel projects (Lucas Museum, BRT, McCormick Place hotel/stadium, etc etc)

Defining yourself is one thing, but doing it solely by being the perceived polar opposite of your opponent?? Especially for all of the elements you just listed, isn't that a net loss for the City?? Being anti-progress, anti-development is the way to go?? Because laissez-faire attitudes have helped cities SO MUCH in the past. Just like in the late 60s in Detroit. Or even the same time period in Chicago. Or NYC in the 70s. Or Paris in the 80s.

I don't buy this phoney, Chuy-your-ear-off rhetoric - Rahm is no angel by any means, but I'd rather have an asshole be Mayor, than someone who can't even keep his own house/offspring in order. And I don't want to hear anything about Rahm not doing enough to prevent gang-violence or shootings/murders in the City, because you wanna know what? Barbarism begins at home, so good luck with that, Chuy.

If Obama really wants to help out Emmanuel, he should delay the decision on the library until after the run-off election and then strongly hint that its the Washington Park location or Columbia University.

But museums are for rich people! Rahm is bringing too many corporations and rich people to Chicago, what we really need is more people on the dole and more public sector unions. That will clearly address the massive pension time bomb!

Sarcasm aside, I too am embarrassed by the likes of Chuy. A vote for him is a vote for a return to the Daley years of stuffing our fingers in our ears and going "naa naa naa naa can't hear you" whenever we have to confront a problem. Sickening. I read the other day that Chicago could triple the property tax rate and still not be fully funding it's pensions... Chuy won't even broach that topic. Why? Because he's Karen Lewis' b!$%h.

Excellent point. I would love to see Rahm run Chuy through with this the first time gangs and crime comes up in the next debate. "Gangs Chuy? Let's talk about gangs... Starting with your shithead son." Honestly though, clearly he learned to behave that way somewhere. Either he learned to act like that from his parents ( I hope to God that's not the case, I will give Chuy the benefit of the doubt on that point) or he didn't learn it from his parents and learned it because his parents were too absentee or incompetent to prevent it. Either way, if you can't raise a child to not be a shithead gang banger then you certainly have no business running a city of 2.7 million with a rampant gang problem.

PS 70% of Southsiders support putting the library in the park and 91% support it if not giving up parkland could jepordize Chicago's chances of securing the library. Chuy just handed Rahm a gift. Ten bucks says Rahm slams him for this over the coming weeks. Nothing will drive the African American community back into Rahms arms faster than threatening the Obama library:

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/artic...oreUserAgent=1

I agree with a lot of this.

As an aside, I'm curious to know what kind of relationship Garcia had with Daley, while Da Mayor was in office..

the sins of a family member are often an incredibly weak line of political attack, but in this specific situation, it's actually relevant for the reasons you mentioned.

"how the hell is chuy garcia gonna keep kids out of gangs when he couldn't even keep his own freaking flesh and blood son from succumbing to that toxic bullshit world?"

still, i don't expect rahm to touch chuy's douche bag gangbanger son, at least not in any kind of direct fashion.

This was EXACTLY my thought when I first read about Garcia's position this morning! That's why, to add to my earlier response to TUP, If Garcia's entire platform is to be contrarian, then he's got a few surprises coming his way. He's def not day for prime time.

Indirection works just as well. That's why Rahm has all these loosely-affiliated PACs. They can slam Chuy's son and Rahm can keep himself out of the mud.

Surprise, surprise - Chicagomachinepandering at it's worst:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...302-story.html

I couldn't copy this

Heres the link though.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2...rcia/24263201/


Basically Senator Mark Kirk says Chicago will go bankrupt if Rahm loses.