A Chicago Blog

A reader emails his thoughts on Barack Obama and the race debate:
Here has been my concern about Barack Obama’s candidacy, which rests on his promise to not throw his race (and the history of American racism) in the faces of white voters: it is now okay to talk about race because Obama says it’s okay [...]

Steve Chapman’s column yesterday examines why the general election might be tough on John McCain. The president’s disapproval numbers are at a historical low, since the Gallup poll began decades ago. Combine this with an unpopular war and a rough economy and you have all the necessary conditions for a “repudiation” of the Republican Party.
And [...]

NOOOOOOOOO! Oh Wait … whewww! He’s in North Carolina. That was close.

To be honest, I don’t know anything about Mike Gravel. But I gotta give the guy credit for this:

It looks like Jim Oberweis’ chances of beating Bill Foster in the 14th District just got a little slimmer. From the Beacon News:
Libertarian Dan Druck announced Monday that he is planning to run if he can get the required number of signatures to be on the ballot.
If he does, Druck would join Democratic incumbent Rep. [...]

12 nuns were turned away from a polling place near Notre Dame because they didn’t have sufficient ID. A scandal I tell you!
Are there theological implications here? Is God a Clinton suporter?

Going into today’s primaries, the punditry has been preoccupied with the question of whether or not Obama can “close the deal.” A valid question, sure. But a more interesting question might be what happens if he wins?
I’m a baseball fan, and every year there is a team that manages to clinch their division relatively early [...]

Another year older and what do you get. The Chicago Tribune reports this morning that the Governor’s people are preparing to fight over a $750 million budget gap. The chart below shows that we are (according to Dan Hynes records) off pace for the year, by 0.7%.
The Trib calls this a “shortfall.” Isn’t that one [...]

Regardless whether a gas-tax holiday will really do anyone any good, Obama’s failure to anticipate and triangulate the issue is exposing a major weakness of his. Yes, sure. I agree that gas-tax holidays are more pandering than anything else. There are probably better ways to deal with the energy problems. But this is not really [...]

Regardless whether a gas-tax holiday will really do anyone any good, Obama’s failure to anticipate and triangulate the issue is exposing a major weakness of his. Yes, sure. I agree that gas-tax holidays are more pandering than anything else. There are probably better ways to deal with the energy problems. But this is not really [...]