Irish luck tops electoral enthusiasm?

This weekend is going to be an event of great cultural significance to the reality of Chicago; something that gives us a large part of our character. Something that will get people nationwide talking about us. 

The Chicago River won't be the only body of water turning green -- the Daley plaza fountain also likely to take on color. Photo by Gregory Tejeda

Oh, and by the way, the early voting for the mayoral election run-off also starts this weekend.

BECAUSE ALL THOSE crowds coming to downtown Chicago on Saturday sure ain’t a gonna be headed for the Loop supersite, at 175 W. Washington St., which will be set up so that anybody living within the Chicago city limits can cast their ballots for mayor.

Lori Lightfoot, or Toni Preckwinkle?

Personally, I expect the pathetically low, near-record-setting, turnouts that we saw on Feb. 26 will recur themselves again for the April 2 run-off, with the early voting portion actually beginning Friday.

So yes, people can take a trip downtown Friday, Saturday or Sunday to cast their mayoral vote. Maybe even do so Saturday in and around attending the St. Patrick’s Day parade – the annual tradition that now takes place along Columbus Drive.

Will Lightfoot top Preckwinkle (below) … 

BUT I DON’T expect a lot of people to turn out to cast their ballots. The Luck of the Irish will probably mean too much green-dyed beer being consumed for people to even want to think of casting a ballot.

Even though all those Irish politicos of the past would probably think that casting a vote, particularly if for a “Machine” candidate of Irish-American ethnic origins, is the ultimate gesture of cultural support one could show.

Perhaps if it were Toni O’Preckwinkle on the ballot, she’d be able to get more excitement from would-be voters. Or if Alderman Edward M. Burke hadn’t have won his Feb. 26 election so handily?

… for public attention, or … 

But I suspect this weekend will be about people trying to find the appropriate way of celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, the date upon which the saint used his shillelagh to whack at snakes and chase them out of Ireland.

OR AT LEAST that’s what we were taught when I was in grade school. I suspect the reality of the holiday is to have an excuse for beer companies to push their product, similar to the way in which they have turned the Cinco de Mayo holiday into a generic Mexican fest.

Only I’ve never seen anybody dye the Chicago River a Red, White and Green tri-color mixture the way the city every year turns the city’s namesake river a bright, obnoxious Kelly green that in some ways looks even more sickly than the dingy shade of green the river takes on the rest of the year.

Seriously, those people who miss out on Saturday’s downtown parade can always venture out to the Beverly neighborhood’s South Side Irish parade for a chance to see the Irish bands and dancing girls work their way along Western Avenue, and the local residents will have to spend the rest of the day (and night) chasing away the overly-imbibed partiers who don’t have a proper sense of when it is to go home.

I’m sure all of this will be more on people’s minds than their mayoral vote. For all I know, they may view the St. Patrick’s festivities as an escape from the political nonsense that wishes it could overtake our lives for the next couple of weeks.

… will Madeline Mitchell top both on Saturday?

MAYBE THIS WEEKEND would be more intense if we’d have got a Daley, a Joyce or a McCarthy into the run-off election. But we didn’t. They didn’t have the Luck of the Irish back on Feb. 26

But we are getting closer to it all being over.

For Monday is the day that early voting extends to the neighborhood polling places. One site in each of the 50 wards, so that you can cast your vote without having to make the trip downtown.

Then on Election Day, you can go to the polling place located in your neighborhood proper. A chance to take part in this great American experience of Democracy – which also includes the four-year follow-up period of voters ranting and raging on how stupid the electorate was for choosing the nitwit who ultimately prevails April 2.

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EXTRA: Daley concedes; a fem win

William Daley conceded defeat late Tuesday, resulting in an apparent victory by Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and one-time federal prosecutor and Chicago Police Board member Lori Lightfoot as the top two vote-getters for a mayoral run-off election to be held April 2.

THOMPSON: The Daley family winner

Some already are getting excited at the very thought that Chicago will have its first black woman as mayor -- regardless of who wins the run-off.

IT WILL BE interesting to see which of the two can prevail in a head-to-head political brawl.

Could it be Preckwinkle, who will get many of the people who were more establishment-minded and aren't anxious to see a grand shake-up of government by someone who doesn't really have any experience.

Or could it be Lightfoot, who will get the support of those people who think a grand shake-up of government is exactly what is needed.

I do have to admit one thing; it is good to see that all those dire predictions of not knowing the outcome for many days, if not weeks, failed to come true. Now we can move forward with an election process that will become a lot less confusing -- now that it's just mano a mano.

ALTHOUGH I'M SURE there are those who are saddened at the thought we're not getting another "Mayor Daley." Maybe they'll be remembering the fact that Richard M. himself lost his mayoral bid in 1983; but came back to win six years later (and we couldn't get him out of office for nearly a quarter of a century afterwards).

Either that, or maybe they'll take their pleasure from the political victory of William Daley's nephew, Patrick Daley Thompson, who continues to serve as the Bridgeport neighborhood's alderman.

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EXTRA: A “first,” a last, and more of just the same – election day in Chicago

The vote tally is still taking place, and it’s not clear whether we’re going to have a chance at a third incarnation of a “Mayor Daley,” or if we’re going to get the city’s first black woman to hold the office of “Hizzoner.”

 

Daley III. Or not close enough?

Or “Heronner,” if we want to be strictly accurate about things.

TUESDAY WAS AN Election Day that threatened to have the lowest voter turnout ever for a mayoral election, and it was only because of a final surge at the end of the day at polling places that the turnout crept just above the 33 percent record that was set back in 2007.

That was the final re-election for Richard M. Daley, by which time many people were tired of the son of Richard J. So the trick was whether enough time had passed that another son of Richard J. might actually succeed.

After about two hours of ballot counting, William Daley’s mayoral campaign had 14.7 percent of the votes. Which in this election cycle with 14 candidates seeking the mayor’s office was good enough for third.

Or just close enough that he can’t qualify for an April 2 run-off election.

THE TOP TWO slots were being held by Toni Preckwinkle (16 percent of the vote) and Lori Lightfoot (at 17.4 percent). With votes in more than 200 precincts across the city still to be counted, it could still be possible for the one-time chief of staff to President Barack Obama could manage to creep into second place – and therefore be in the run-off for mayor.

Is Preckwinkle or Lightfoot (below) … 

But if things manage to stand as they already are, we’ll be facing a Preckwinkle/Lightfoot brawl.

Both of whom are black women, which would be a “first” for Chicago. Although I’m sure there are certain kinds of people who deliberately cast their ballots Tuesday in ways meant to prevent such a “first” from being achieved.

… more fitting of the character … 

It is kind of humorous the way this election cycle has shaped up. Preckwinkle was the one-time darling of those who considered themselves politically progressive, but now is regarded as just another political hack.

HOW ELSE TO describe a one-time alderman (albeit from the Hyde Park neighborhood) and county board president?

… of former Mayor Jane Byrne?

Whereas Lightfoot is a former federal prosecutor and head of the Chicago Police Board. Not usually credentials that would gain anybody political support from people of progressive leanings.

But in this election cycle, some people seem so eager to vote for anybody who’s never held elective office before. As though we’re eager to have a political amateur in place.

Consider that some 52 percent of people who cast ballots actually voted for someone other than the three people who are dominating the vote. This really is an election cycle in which we, the electorate, couldn’t reach a consensus.

Chance the Rapper not enough for Enyia win

SO WE’LL LIKELY find out in coming days whether we have a chance at another “Mayor Daley,” or someone to remind us of the days of Jane Byrne’s mayoral stint. About the only thing we can say is that the influence of Chance the Rapper (who financially backed candidate Amara Enyia’s campaign) was only good for about 8 percent of the vote.

Which was good enough to top the 5.5 percent that one-time Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas managed to get in his mayoral bid.

Burke held against everyone but himself

But before you start to think that we’re in for total change, keep in mind the aldermanic races – where Edward M. Burke’s legal problems and his ties to so many political people were being blamed for the failure of candidates to finish strong. Even Preckwinkle supposedly didn’t finish first because of such ties.

But as for Burke himself? It seems he got re-elected without having to do a run-off – he got some 55 percent of the vote – even though his ward has developed an overwhelmingly Latino population and some were counting on that factor as being enough to dump Burke. It seems that voters will hold Burke against other people, while not hesitating to vote for the man himself!

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Chicago gets to see what real electoral competition looks like come Tuesday

Tuesday is Election Day, and we’re finally going to get a clue as to whom our city’s next mayor will be.

MENDOZA: A mayoral preference

This is a particularly unusual election cycle (“the most important election cycle in decades,” says the Chicago Tribune) in that we have real competitive candidates. We don’t have a clue as to who will win.

BECAUSE WE USUALLY GET a case of a frontrunner who is so clearly the establishment favorite running against another person or two – one of whom may be the choice of idealists but who really doesn’t have a chance of achieving political victory.

It’s almost like our municipal elections are a done deal before the candidates even file for slots on the ballot.

This time is different!

It’s all about the 14 candidates who are of varying levels of qualifications. I’m sure there are some people who think the real problem is that we’re letting just anybody get on the ballot, creating such a mass of candidates that even now, some people still don’t have a clue who they’ll vote for.

IT MAY WELL be that some people won’t make up their minds until they literally set foot in the voting booth. There also will be many who will make their choice – then wind up regretting it as the stupidest thing they ever did.

Will Cook Co. 'mayor' become 'Boss Toni?'

So who’s going to win? I really don’t have a clue.

I’m really not comfortable saying who the “top two” candidates will be who would qualify for an April 2 run-off election – which will have the feel of a more conventional election in that the number of choices are limited.

Even the pundit predictions are all over the place. I know I’ve already written that the campaigns of one-time White House chief of staff William Daley and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle could wind up as the “top two” picks, creating a brawl giving an establishment and a progressive-leaning candidate a chance to face off.

BUT THEN AGAIN, this election fight could turn out to be so bizarre that the predictable top two will manage to fall short.

Could we get Mayor Daley III?

What happens if the candidacy of former federal prosecutor Lori Lightfoot manages to catch on just enough that she can overcome what some originally thought would be the inevitable ascension of Preckwinkle to the mayoral post?

Then again, there also once were people who thought that this would be a year of politically powerful women – with Preckwinkle and Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza managing to create a historic brawl. While knocking the third coming of a “Mayor Daley” out of the race altogether.

We also have those people who think that Willie Wilson (who turned ownership of McDonald’s franchises in inner city neighborhoods into a financial fortune) is a colorful enough character that they’d like to see him remain in the running after Tuesday.

PERSONALLY, I’D BE inclined to support the Mendoza candidacy – in part as a gesture of increased political empowerment of the growing Latino population in Chicago. I think it would be an excellent “up yours” gesture for Chicago to pick her at a time when the supporters of this Age of Trump would want us to think that people of Latino ethnic origins (she’s of Mexican-American background) as the ultimate political losers.

LIGHTFOOT: Upset in the making?

We’ll see, however, what happens once the votes are counted Tuesday and we have to figure out how long it will take to count the absentee ballots to see if the election is so close that it literally will come down to counting EVERY SINGLE VOTE.

Something that I’m sure many political watchers in Chicago will find to be a bizarre experience. It ain’t supposed to be that close – they’ll think.

While they’re probably wondering why all municipal elections can’t be like the one for city clerk – where incumbent Anna Valencia managed to get all of her challengers knocked off the ballot outright!

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Friendly around political tables? At best, they manage to tolerate each other

Something I learned early on about dealing with government officials is that they really don’t like each other very much.

 

MENDOZA: Will she still be welcome at da Hall?

At best, they tolerate each other – particularly when there’s something to the advantage of the individual politicians. But they’re also quick to throw each other under the bus. People who think their government is a cohesive batch in cahoots with each other really are missing the point.

THAT CONCEPT COULDN’T have been made more obvious by anybody who happened to watch the WTTW-TV mayoral forum held earlier this week – the one in which Susana Mendoza, currently the Illinois state comptroller, made it clear she’s not all that united with her Democratic Party partisan colleagues.

Even though the Mendoza background is clearly one of somebody who managed to work her way through the legislative and City Hall ranks to get to her current position of running for mayor, she was quick to dump on everybody in sight.

Particularly that of mayoral opponent William Daley and his “first family” of Chicago politics.

I couldn’t help but chuckle at the point in which Mendoza was vehemently lambasting the youngest of all the Daley sons for the infamous deal involving Chicago parking meters.

 

Mendoza managed to attack both William ... 

THE ONE IN which management of the downtown parking meters was leased off to a private company, which will operate them for 99 years. Meaning the city isn’t getting any of the proceeds from those ridiculously-high rates you pay every time you stick your credit cards into the modern devices that replaced the old parking meters you’d dump change into.

It was Mayor Richard M. Daley who negotiated that deal, which Mendoza openly accused brother Bill of having helped to put together.

“It was good business for your family, but it was terrible business for Chicagoans,” Mendoza shrieked. “That’s about as big a lie as you telling Chicagoans right now that you were not a key adviser to your brother during his key caretaker years as mayor.

 

… and Richard M. Daley

“Of course you were,” she said. Which may well be true, since the man who advised Al Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign and served a stint as chief of staff to Barack Obama as president reached those levels because of his experience advising the family on electoral matters.

BUT FOR MENDOZA to come out so bluntly in making such an accusation was, to say the least, over-the-top.

Particularly because Mendoza is one who has become a part of the political establishment. Not the kind who spouts off the activist-type rhetoric about how corrupt everybody was.

This was the woman who, during the candidate forum, was called out for having her wedding ceremony officiated by Illinois Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke – the spouse of long-time Alderman Edward M. Burke, who these days faces allegations from federal investigators of criminal behavior.

Mendoza takes her shots at Toni, … 

To which Mendoza offers up explanations of how she has had to work with various people in politics, even if she didn’t quite agree with everything they did or said.

IN ALL, IT means Mendoza likely is engaging in many acts of rhetorical suicide that will cost her political friendships and alliances. It’s kind of reminiscent of the 1992 election cycle between congressmen Bill Lipinski and Marty Russo – who used to regard themselves as close friends, until they got pitted against each other.

The politicking got personal, and the friendship withered away.

… while both are distancing self from Burke

Likely to happen this time between Mendoza and the Daleys, or the Burkes, or Toni Preckwinkle (who claimed this week she's never truly been allied with the Burkes) or countless other Democrats – whom, of course, the Republican ideologues will insist on saying are really in cahoots with each other.

Because spewing out trash talk about all Democrats being in a cabal with each other is easier for them to understand than the reality – that the egos and self-interest often cause them to dump all over each other in the most petty of political manners.

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EXTRA: Whose side will people take with regards to Daley’s debate absence?

B. DALEY: Took union endorsement over debate

It will be interesting to see whether Bill Daley’s mayoral campaign takes a hit, or receives a boost, from the fact he blew off a televised debate Thursday night that would have given him some serious exposure in the upcoming election.

Daley, one of 14 candidates with dreams of becoming Chicago’s next mayor, let officials with WFLD-TV know Thursday afternoon that he wouldn’t be participating in the program that Channel 32 had planned for Thursday night.

MENDOZA: Daley a sissy?

DALEY INSISTS HE found out last-minute that local 130 of the Chicago Journeyman Plumbers and Technical Engineers union wanted to do an evening event by which they’d endorse his mayoral campaign.

Saying he saw it as a choice of being with political people or “normal people,” he chose to take the endorsement. By an old-school way of viewing things, I could see how this works – if he can successfully spin this as a chance to spend time with the kind of people who might actually vote for him.

But others think the fact that the Chicago Tribune published a story Thursday morning implying that he only passed a licensing test some four-plus decades ago to sell insurance because someone tampered with it.

BLAGOJEVICH: Pol of  testicular virility

It surely would have been an issue that he would have been questioned on during any debate. Was Daley merely hiding from some serious questions about an old issue?

MAYORAL OPPONENT Susana Mendoza thinks so. “There’s one bad story about him and he wilts like a little flower,” she said, adding that this may well be evidence he’s not fit to be mayor of the metropolis of Chicago. Is she calling him a political sissy?

She might as well have accused Daley of lacking the “testicular virility” that one-time Gov. Rod Blagojevich once claimed was his biggest strength as a government official.

R. DALEY: Man of the people?

Of course, that line is now recalled as one of Blagojevich’s most buffoonish moments as governor. Will this absence from the debate – which already was considered controversial because Daley was among the five candidates invited to participate while nine other candidates were excluded – really be seen as evidence that the Son of Hizzoner himself is too weak to hold office?

Or is it Daley deciding to hang out with the so-called “normal people” his way of trying to play politics the way his father would have – as it was “Old Man” Daley who once said, “No poll can equal the day-to-day visits of the men and women of the Democratic Party.”

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EXTRA: Burke political impact harsher on others rather than on himself?

It would seem that long-time Alderman Edward M. Burke has his share of political backers who will kick in with the most significant kind of help – campaign cash!

BURKE: Hurt on others, not himself

But the possibility that Burke is headed for a criminal indictment by a federal grand jury? It seems that likelihood’s possibility is most likely to hurt other people – as in the ones who all these years thought having Burke on their side was their greatest strength.

ADMITTEDLY, THE SOURCE of this perspective is one with a bias. It seems that mayoral hopeful Toni Preckwinkle (who once was considered to be the mayoral frontrunner for the upcoming elections in February and April) is losing support because it is known that she was Burke’s preference to become the city’s next mayor.

It seems that the pollster working on behalf of mayoral opponent Susana Mendoza (and also worked for new Gov. J.B. Pritzker) says that Preckwinkle’s “favorable” rating dropped from 47 percent in December to 36 percent now.

Meanwhile, her “unfavorable” rating went up 15 percentage points – to 46 percent.

By comparison, the Gallup Organization gives President Donald Trump a 39 percent approval rating these days. Do fewer people like Toni than do The Donald?

PRECKWINKLE: Favorable worse than Trump

COULD IT BE that the one-time front-runner has developed about as much distaste amongst the Chicago public as Trump has amongst the national electorate?

This drop is largely due to the perception that Preckwinkle is too aligned with Burke, and even had to go to the trouble of returning campaign contributions she had received from people who were doing Burke a favor by giving her money.

The same poll that now shows Preckwinkle’s favorability rating on the decline shows her now tied (at 11 percent support each) with Mendoza in the 14-candidate mayoral race. With William Daley close behind at 9 percent, rising slightly.

MENDOZA: Thinks she'll benefit

I find it humorous that Preckwinkle had to return campaign donations that carried the taint of Ed Burke, while Burke himself has a campaign fund so far ahead of his own opponents that he’s going to be able to bury his opposition financially – particularly since it is likely that any indictment won’t be handed down until AFTER the elections are past.

BURKE COULD EASILY be re-elected to the beginning of his second half-century in the City Council by the time we know if he’s actually going to be charged with anything – which will make it easier for him to disregard the issue during the actual election cycle.

How much better off financially is Burke?

Burke went into this month with some $9.7 million on hand and having spent some $3 million already. By comparison, the Latino ethnic challengers to Burke are poverty-stricken. One opponent, Irene Corral, literally has $0.

While Tanya Patino, who’d like to call herself the front-runner of the Latino Burke challengers because she has Rep. Jesus Garcia’s endorsement, only has $16,274 to spend.

I HAVE NO doubt there will be some people living in the Southwest Side neighborhoods of the 14^th Ward that have developed a significant Mexican-American population who will be eager to vote for “one of their own” for alderman.

PATINO: A pauper, next to Burke

But Burke isn’t going to be buried politically because he’s lacking in finances.

There will be those eager to see him maintained as a City Council presence – even though he technically no longer holds the Finance Committee chairman position that was the source of his political influence.

The sad reality could be that Burke gets himself re-elected to the City Council, with people choosing to take out their contempt with Eddie when they cast their vote for mayor.

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Fioretti showing persnickety mindset in wanting to dump Daley Plaza name

During the time he served as an alderman, Robert Fioretti was one of the people willing to speak out and say whatever he thought – regardless of how contrary his thoughts were to the establishment that set policy for municipal government.

Fioretti takes political pot shots at Daley son … 

Not that he was someone who got things done. If anything, he was somebody that reporter-type people could turn to whenever they needed a quote saying how absurd the mayor or other officials were being in their actions. Not somebody who could talk about serious policy questions or details.

SO IT WASN’T a shock that city officials used their last redistricting process of ward boundaries to put Fioretti into a ward without many people who’d be inclined to support him.

And that when he tried running for mayor in 2015, he was viewed by the city’s political establishment as the guy they most wanted to see go down to defeat.

He was a loud-mouth who wouldn’t get anything accomplished, but would also make other people feel awkward and miserable while they tried to go about their actions.

And now that Fioretti is trying once again to run for mayor, it seems his temperament hasn’t changed one iota.

FOR FIORETTI DARED to make the most sacrilegious of suggestions – taking away the name of the ultimate Hizzoner, Richard J. Daley, from the Civic Center that serves as the Cook County courthouse.

… for suggesting Dan Ryan name change … 

What would the Daley Plaza be, other than a place with a half-century-old Picasso sculpture that most Chicagoans still can’t say exactly what it is.

Fioretti on Friday suggested that the Daley Center building be the Chicago structure that gets renamed to honor Barack Obama – the former president who made his adult life in the Hyde Park neighborhood.

Now in all honesty, Fioretti doesn’t expect anybody to take his suggestion seriously. He doesn’t really want to have the identity of the Big O himself become tied to our civil courthouse and future generations of lawsuits that get filed within the city of Chicago.

… to a tribute to Barack Obama

WHAT HE’S REALLY doing is taking pot shots at Daley’s son, William. Who’s also among the masses of candidates wishing to run for mayor, and who is the one who suggested that the Dan Ryan Expressway be renamed for Obama.

In short, he’s trying to p’ off the powers that be who still hold the name “Daley” as something sacrosanct and sacred.

Maybe he even thinks he’ll gain a few votes for his mayoral bid from the kind of people who were always eager to trash the Daley legacy and who view the idea of a third “Mayor Daley” as an absolutely abhorrent concept for Chicago to have.

It’s political trash talk; rancid rhetoric of the finest kind. It’s all about stirring up the partisan pot. Which may well be why Fioretti is a long-shot to actually become mayor, and probably wouldn’t be capable of competently serving as mayor even if he could win an election.

FOR EVEN WHEN he offers up a somewhat legitimate point, his rhetoric comes off as so antagonistic that it prevents anybody from taking him seriously in the least.

Richard J. isn't about to lose his namesake tribute

Yes, I actually think renaming the Dan Ryan is ridiculous. Then again, I tend to think we should try to avoid naming streets and buildings for people who will be forgotten a couple of generations from now. It only ensures that the few who bother to remember will take great offense.

Just think if we did name something now for Barack Obama, how much of a stink would develop some time around the year 2070 when someone suggests ditching the name to honor somebody who likely doesn’t even exist yet.

So it may be so that Bill Daley is being short-sighted in even suggesting the renaming of the Dan Ryan Expressway. But Fioretti’s willingness to go for the punchline as part of his own mayoral dreams may well show us why he’s no better qualified to work out of Richard J.’s one-time City Hall office.

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Chicago mayoral pack to whittle its way down to more manageable pack

The days of having 30 to 40 people claiming they’re candidates for the post of Mayor of the city of Chicago are soon to be through.

Chicago's next mayor will be, … who knows?

Next Monday is the deadline for candidates for the Feb. 26 municipal elections to file their nominating petitions to even get on the ballot, and we’re going to learn how many of those people were politically incompetent enough that they couldn’t get the 12,500 signatures of support needed to qualify.

WE’RE GOING TO see how many of the so-called candidates of earlier this year will not even be a factor in the final discussion over who should replace Rahm Emanuel in the mayor’s office.

If anything, I gained some respect earlier this week when I learned that Troy LaRaviere, head of the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association, was giving up his campaign before it even began.

He was honest enough to admit he couldn’t get a sufficient number of signatures of support, thereby making any effort to run for mayor an exercise in futility.

Of course, he’ll probably be remembered in this election cycle as the guy whose farewell to the campaign season was to take a pot shot at entertainer Kanye West – who apparently reached out early on to the LaRaviere camp with thoughts of publicly supporting him.

LaRAVIERE: First to see jolt of reality

WEST, OF COURSE, is one of several entertainers who are now backing the mayoral dreams of Amara Enyia, an experienced public policy professional who has never actually run for office herself.

LaRaviere let it be known he couldn’t accept West’s support because the man’s too friendly with President Donald Trump (remember that goofy Oval Office meeting between the two of a few weeks ago?).

The trick of anticipating the upcoming week is to figure out how many of the mayoral dreamers will come to their senses before the Nov. 26 deadline. Of course, people with political aspirations usually are delusional enough to think so highly of themselves they can’t see their own flaws.

So we may get a lot of them fighting for a ballot space, just so they can take 1 percent or so of the vote come the end of February.

FIORETTI: Latest with mayoral dreams

TAKE ROBERT FIORETTI – the one-time outspoken alderman who has since run for mayor and Cook County Board president. He let it be known this week he’s getting into the mayoral mix again.

I understand that having a political post is more interesting for a legal-minded person than having a mere law practice. Yet Fioretti comes across these days as somebody who runs for office because he needs a job! Not necessarily because he has ideas beneficial to our society at-large.

So Fioretti is working these days, as are other candidates, in gathering the necessary petition signatures to qualify. By Fioretti’s admission, he’s trying to gain some 30,000 signatures, because he knows the political powers-that-be are capable of having their people come up with ways to disqualify signatures so as to void them out.

Time for a new 'Mayor' Daley, … 

It may even turn out that some of those who do file their petitions next week will be unable to actually appear on the ballot.

PERSONALLY, I’M GOING to find it interesting how many of the candidates who have been talking up the mayor’s race for months on end will be amongst those who qualify. Will Rahm Emanuel turn out to be correct when he said upon his own announcement he would not seek re-election that Chicago’s next mayor wasn’t even in the race yet?

Implying that people like former Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy and former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas were kidding themselves, and that the rest of the dozens of mayoral dreamers were truly delusional.

… or is Chicago ready for Mendoza's youth

Will this really become a campaign dominated by the big-time political names of Daley (as in William), Chico (as in Gery) and Preckwinkle (as in Toni)? With the real question becoming whether the kid (as in 46-year-old Susana Mendoza) can do enough to get herself taken seriously. Or whether Willie Wilson attracts any political support outside of a few select political precincts on the South and West sides?

There’s a lot of uncertainty be settled between now and April 2 – the date of the run-off election likely to be needed. I wonder if the only certainty now is the appropriateness of the election so close to April Fool’s Day. We may wind up feeling like the election results are a practical joke on all of us.

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Everybody freaking out during the final days of 2018 election cycle

I suppose it’s only natural; after devoting more than a full year of one’s life to trying to get elected to political office, the final days of the election cycle are going to bring out those last-minute jitters.

OBAMA: Returning home, or doing Dem duty?

Resulting in acts of desperation meant to ensure that nothing gets overlooked. After all, coming up a loser on Tuesday would merely mean the past year of a politico’s life amounts to nothing more than wasted time.

I COULDN’T HELP but interpret the actions of Bruce Rauner in such a manner when I saw his campaign try to make an issue of the fact that former President Barack Obama is going to be in the Chicago metro area on Sunday.

He’ll be in the city proper for an 3 p.m. event at the University of Illinois at Chicago (the same place where protesters once turned away Donald Trump himself). It will be a large-scale political rally where Obama will go out of his way to urge people to vote for Democrats come Tuesday.

He’ll be doing the same thing that same day in Gary, Ind., during a noon-hour rally at the Genesis Convention Center in the city's downtown.

Only there, instead of touting J.B. Pritzker for governor, he’ll be singing the praises of Joe Donnelly for re-election to the U.S. Senate.

BECAUSE IF DEMOCRATS are to have a chance of taking control of the Senate, keeping the seat from Indiana in their column is just as important as any of the places currently represented by Republicans that they dream of swiping.

PRITZKER: Getting Obama jolt prior to Tuesday

If anything, it may be more likely that Pritzker will put the Illinois governor post in the Democratic Party column than it will be that Donnelly will be able to prevent Hoosier ideologues from booting him from office in exchange for Republican Mike Braun.

Which is why Rauner is trying to make an issue of this. Why else, Bruce asks, would Obama feel compelled to visit Chicago unless Dems seriously feared a Rauner re-election.

Pure nonsense talk, if you think about it logically. But then again, political operatives of all persuasions rarely do – particularly when it gets to this point in the election season.

BUT THEN AGAIN, for Donnelly, an Obama visit may be a bigger deal – largely because the ideologues of Indiana always thought Joe got the Senate victory in 2012 largely on a fluke. Hence, they’re going all out to kick him out of office, and Donnelly may well feel the need to use all the weapons possible to get the Gary vote (one of the few parts of Indiana where Democrats prevail) to turn out to the max.

DONNELLY: Needs Obama jolt to win

Which then allows for Obama to be so close to his spiritual home (even if he now is a suburban D.C. guy, more than anything) that he can also make the two-days-before-Election Day appearance on behalf of Pritzker.

But it’s not just the Pritzker and Donnelly campaigns, along with that of Rauner, desperately looking to gain themselves attention.

For there’s also Toni Preckwinkle, whose campaign for Chicago mayor has until Feb. 26 to sway voters. Yet she’s trying to make people think it’s all important to turn out to vote on Tuesday to show support for her three months from now!

FOR PRECKWINKLE SAYS that a strong voter turnout for politically-progressive candidates on Tuesday will scare the opposition. “It’ll signal to our opponents that they need to spend as much money as possible to slow our movement down. We can’t let that happen,” she said.

PRECKWINKLE: She wants campaign cash!

Of course, Preckwinkle’s “solution” to this “problem?” Donate more money to her campaign, so she can fight back in next year’s election cycle. That’s literally the theme of her latest fundraising appeal.

Not that she’d be upset with having a larger campaign fund, since it seems some of her mayoral challengers (particularly William Daley, who already has come up with $1 million-plus for his political aspirations next year) have developed a large gap between her and the amount of cash she hopes to have on hand.

The jitters are fluttering about for political people. We literally don’t get a break between this election cycle, and the upcoming one.

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