Chicago Mayor Richard Daley to Retire.

I'm assuming his successor will simply be an administrative caretaker until Daly's first born male heir acheives the age of majority.

It's significance lies not so much in the daily happenings of Chicago's city hall (Daley is retiring primarily because he faces a potential indictment in the next few months), but rather Rahm Emanuel's departure from the White House to run for Mayor. The trouble is that he's no shoo-in for the job. He's running primarily because his power within the Obama Administration has been undercut by Valerie Jarrett, Michelle Obama, and other old guard loyalists of the President who have his ear. Emanuel has been leaking information for the past year to the press regarding the infighting amongst the President and his cabinet, which likely lead to his ouster. This is happening as many other big names depart the White House. Changes in personnel are common after a midterm election, but never right before it, making this situation very unusual. NSA director James Jones, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, David Axelrod, Larry Summers, Peter Orzag, Dennis Blair, Christina Romer, and a few other n... Read more

UPDATED OCTOBER 6, 2010: Chicago has fifty wards. Twenty of them are black majority wards, and nine of them are Hispanic majority wards, and yet, the various minority groups are split among various personalities, and it looks like Rahm Emanuel will win the mayor's job because of that split.The one African-American who had a chance, Jesse Jackson, Jr., is now political dog meat because of the scandal about a donor flying in a blonde "companion" to help Jesse pass the time away, and the fact that Mrs. Jesse, a Chicago alderman, has been on the front page of the Sun-Times singing the blues about Jesse. To top that all off, Mary Mitchell, the "black woman" columnist for the Sun-Times has been blasting Jesse for having a white girl friend and ditching his black wife. This has not done Jesse, Jr. any good, and also Jesse was trying to keep unindicted in the Blago selling the U. S. Senate appointment scandal.Stay tuned. Chicago politics is the gift that keeps on giving.ORIGINAL COMMENT:... Read more

Probably the epitome of why politicians need term limits on state, local, and national levels. Whoever gets in there next probably won't be much of a straight shooter. I actually have a really funny story about the mayor before Daley. His name was Harold Washington. An urban planning professor I had in college wrote extensively on Harold Washington, and passed around a picture of him. One of the girls in my class started making out w/the picture. It was pretty funny.