I've become an Illinois Politics Blog

Readers from other parts of the world may not know that from 1955-1976, Richard J. Daley was Mayor of Chicago, and that since 1999, his son, Richard M. Daley, has filled that office. The name "Daley" is all over the city, on almost every public building. This dynasty is part of what makes Chicago politics so interesting to me (along with the famous "machine" and the rumors of mob ties and the rivalries between different neighborhoods.) These readers also might not know that Chicago has two baseball teams, the Cubs and the White Sox. Cubs are North Side, Sox are South Side. They don't compete directly, as they belong to different leagues, but nevertheless Sox fans will say their favorite team is "The Sox and whoever's beating the Cubs" and Cubs fans will wear "Sox suck" shirts.

Mayor Daley is a Sox fan. In Chicago, this means a lot more than the fact that he's a Democrat. (Everyone's a Democrat!) So with that context, you can appreciate the humor of this item from last year, via Andy:

In an effort to get a leg up on his four opponents in the hotly contested race for 44th Ward, attorney Dean Maragos is distributing 15,000 refrigerator magnets with the Cubs' 2003 schedule. The magnets bear the Daley and Maragos campaign logos, with the slogan, "The Best Team for the 44th Ward."

The giveaway implies two things that are not true because Daley is a die-hard Sox fan who wouldn't be caught dead at Wrigley Field, and he is not endorsing Maragos. He's supporting Tom Tunney, whom he recently appointed ward alderman.

... "We view the use of the mayor's logo as an endorsement," said Daley's deputy campaign manager Julian Green.

...He added, "No one should be worried about the mayor's allegiance. Clearly, the mayor is a Sox fan."

Incidentally, Tunney won.

I also think it's funny that according to my friend Tomasz, who went to the Cubs game yesterday (Cubs 10 Phillies 7, hooray!) there were lots of people wearing hard hats. Just as Andy suggested. (That links to a Sun Times article because the Chicago Tribune owns the Cubs...) No women wearing beards, though, they only do that when Matt Clement pitches -- as he did today.

And finally, I should update you all: Jack Ryan finally dropped out of the race on Thursday. I realized I never mentioned one of the more surreal aspects of the case, which non-Chicago readers may not have known: the woman he divorced was Jeri Ryan, who played Seven-of-Nine on Star Trek, Voyager.