A Chicago Blog

Here’s a bit of political irony. Last night, Dick Durbin was on Chicago Tonight arguing that drilling won’t affect the price of oil for 8 to 14 years because it will take that long to bring the new oil to market. But this is just hooey. Once there are new supplies scheduled to come into [...]

Forget the polls. There is a new metirc to consider when judging the strength of presidential campaigns: web presence. It is a dose of dramatic irony that Obama is literally beating the pants off the man who eight years ago broke new ground in online campaigning. The Maverick McCain in 2000 beat the establishment candidate [...]

One of the reasons public education is such a mess in this country is lack of clear ownership. Ownership produces accountability. But who owns the public schools? Well … the public, I suppose. But how can the public be held responsible for failure and besides, what incentive does the public have to hold itself accountable? [...]

I have to give Bob Barr credit for running a pretty libertarian campaign. He’s making it really difficult, for any self-respecting liberty-lover to vote for McCain or Obama. I mean, a presidential candidate talking about the Bill of Rights? Come on.
Check out his Bill of Rights Blackout Petition.

It baffles me. Seriously. The discussion we have over “negative” politics makes absolutely no sense. Yesterday I watched Andrea Mitchell repeatedly question campaign manager Rick Davis about why McCain is going negative and mischaracterizing Obama’s position. The interview devolved into a discussion of what “celebrity” means and whether it is “negative” to call Obama one. [...]

Here’s a telling quote from a guy who does business with the state. He is commenting on the value of a ban on political contributions from contractors doing business with the state:
“It will be good for me, for purely selfish reasons,” said Tony Karam, an executive vice president at Albert Benesch & Co., a national [...]

Nice! Now if we could only get this put to video.

Chicagoist has an interesting enough interview with Judy Barr Topinka today. Interesting “enough” is the key … I’m not sure why we care what Judy has to say about Illinois politics anyway. One interesting tidbit, she mentions she is “hearing” Bill Daley’s name in discussions about who will be the next Governor. I am sure [...]

I don’t have much time for blogging today. I have tons of “work” to do. Needless to say, now is not the time to find something really cool online to distract me. But as fate would have it, I did. The guys at Politicker have put together an application that allows you to build your [...]

According to Warner Todd Huston, the Austin American Statesman retracted an article that called Gore’s appearance at Net Roots conference a “faint-in.” The Daily Kos crowd wasn’t pleased with the coverage and bombarded the publisher with complaints. Hmmm. What’s next, taking to the streets and burning effigies? What country do we live in?