by John McCormick

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) is calling on Attorney General Eric Holder to do more to address youth violence in Chicago.

"Last school year, more than 500 Chicago school children were shot and at least 36 of them were killed," Durbin said today in a statement. "This is not a chance occurrence but, unfortunately, is a developing pattern of tragedy. We need to work with the Obama Administration and state and local officials to end this devastating violence in Chicago."

Durbin made his remarks during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing dealing with oversight of the Justice Department. He noted that he has also called on Education Secretary Arne Duncan, the former head of Chicago Public Schools, to join in the effort.

"No one in Washington knows the Chicago schools better," Durbin said.

Obama has come under some criticism for not doing more to address youth violence in a community where he still owns property, as noted in this April Tribune story.

By Bruce Japsen

A slew of high-ranking Democratic office holders showed up at St. Andrew Catholic Church on Chicago's North Side last week to wish a happy retirement to the Rev. Jack Farry, a local priest known for his involvement in civil rights and other social justice issues. It was a respectful nod to a popular figure and yet another demonstration that in Chicago anyway pols still pay more than lip service to the notion that 'all politics is local.'

Those at a mass honoring the popular pastor included: U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley, who in April was elected to replace Rahm Emanuel as Congressman from Illinois Fifth District; Illinois House Majority Leader Rep. Barbara Flynn-Currie, a Democrat close to President Barack Obama and his wife from Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood; and Dan Hynes, Illinois Comptroller and likely 2010 candidate for governor.

by John McCormick, updated

Although not exactly a 'stop the presses' moment, two top aides to President Barack Obama broke a small piece of White House news while appearing this afternoon at a Chicago luncheon to boost the campaign coffers of U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.).

Chicagoans Valerie Jarrett and Tina Tchen said an office they both lead, the White House Office of Public Liaison, is being renamed to the Office of Public Engagement to give it more of a community organizing tone that is central to Obama's biography.

Jarrett, a senior adviser to the president, and Tchen, director of the engagement office, told stories about their first months into the White House during a joint half-hour appearance before a heavily female audience of about 2,000.

Schakowsky, meanwhile, said she will announce on June 8 -- an arbitrary deadline -- whether she will run for U.S. Senate. "If I do run, we will put together a campaign that leaves no stone unturned," she said.

With the Democrats in control of the White House and Congress, she said she has no plans to leaving public life, even as she prepares to turn 65 later this month.

"I find retirement unthinkable," she said. "This is harvest time."

Should she decide to run, questions about her husband, Robert Creamer, will almost certainly be raised.

by Frank James

We've seen many depictions of President-elect Barack Obama but never one quite like this. An artist whose work apparently requires a helicopter to be properly seen had a group of Chicago students and teachers help fill in a huge portrait of the next president. The people were kind of like points in a huge pointillist painting. It's weirdly interesting.

By Andrew Zajac

It's the Chicago way. Use the suffering of others to advance yourself.

This time it's the Chicago Republican Party -- yes, there is one -- seeking to capitalize on the misfortune of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who is accused of trying to peddle Barack Obama's former Senate seat to the highest bidder.

The local party sent out an email invite recently to "join the party for the post-Blagojevich era."

by Frank James

Many people may not know (I didn't until a few minutes ago) that Gov. Rod Blagojevich's problems could potentially cost Illinois taxpayers significant money. How so? A Bloomberg report explains:

Fitch Ratings cut the credit rating yesterday on $19.1 billion of Illinois bonds because of concern the governor's legal woes will make it more difficult to deal with a $2 billion budget deficit.

Standard & Poor's has said it may lower the state's credit rating in response to Blagojevich's arrest, which would add millions of dollars to borrowing costs, according to Scott Burnham, a spokesman for Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias.

So not only is there a constitutional crisis in Illinois and the national problem that arises from Illinois having just one senator on Capitol Hill but there's this very real problem of the state having to pay more to raise money which suggests a real impact on an already strained state budget.

To quote Marvin Gaye, it "makes me wanna holler, throw up both my hands."

by Frank James

It looks like Illinois will continue to have one senator, Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, for weeks if not longer.

It's clear that embattled Gov. Rod Blagojevich won't step down. And why would he? That $177,000 governor's salary, which only a few weeks ago looked puny to him, now must look especially bountiful, given the bleak prospects he faces if he resigns.

So it stands to reason he will hang on as long as he can just to collect the paycheck and to have a "thing of value," as U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald might say, with which to bargain with prosecutors later on for a lesser criminal penalty if he chooses to work with Fitzgerald.

If Illinoisans want to pry him out of the governorship, it looks increasingly likely that they will have to impeach him. The Illinois legislature started that process yesterday, but it could take weeks if not longer for that to play out.

What a weird turn of events for Illinoisans. They have the pride of having the next president be one of their own.

by Frank James

Native Chicagoan Scott Simon, the National Public Radio host, has a piece in The Wall Street Journal that will strike a chord with many. Of all the tawdry behavior alleged against Gov. Rod Blagojevich, the most damning is this -- he tried to shakedown a children's hospital.

The criminal complaint against Blagojevich includes transcripts of recorded conversations in which he allegedly threatened to withdraw $8 million of state funding for Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago if its chief executive officer didn't raise $50,000 for the governor's campaign committee.

What manner of man would do this? Blagojevich is a father himself of young daughters. One might think that would provide one with a level of compassion for that particular hospital's patients and sympathy for the institution's mission, not that one needs to be a parent to have such feelings.

As Simon writes in the piece in which he explains that taking care of oneself or one's kin is a well accepted practice among many participants in Chicago politics:

A Chicago alderman once complained to me about modern reform hiring laws -- the line was so good, I borrowed it, unembellished, for a novel -- "What's this world coming to when a guy can get a job for a stranger more easily than he can for his brother in law?"

But even those who live by this kind of code are appalled by the allegations against Mr. Blagojevich. Reaping reward for appointing someone to the senate is not unprecedented, or even unethical. I am confident that if Gov. Blagojevich had appointed Valerie Jarrett, Mr. Obama's reported favorite, to the seat, the people in his administration would consider that they owed the governor some sort of favor, and would have resurfaced a highway, or invited him to a White House dinner with Angelina Jolie. But unsubtly putting a senate seat up for personal auction, as if it were a piece of family jewelry, is arrogance that makes even hardened pols shudder.

by Frank James

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. held a Capitol Hill press conference to assert that he didn't participate in Gov. Rod Blagojevich's alleged scheme to sell the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.

Jackson, who's been openly interested in the seat, said he had no idea Blagojevich didn't plan on choosing Obama's replacement based on credentials but rather on what federal prosecutors allege was Blagojevich's desire to essentially auction the seat to the highest bidder.

Jackson has been identified as "Senate Candidate Five" in the criminal complaint against Blagojevich and his top aide John Harris. The complaint has Blagojevich saying that SC5 promised to raise $1 million for Blagojevich if he was named to the open Senate seat.

Jackson said:

I did not initiate or authorize anyone at any time to promise anything to Governor Blagojevich on my behalf. I never sent a message or an emissary to the governor to make an offer, to plead my case or to propose a deal about a U.S. Senate seat, period.

Clearly, I was badly mistaken. I did not know that the process had been corrupted. I did not know that credentials, that qualifications, that a record of service meant nothing to the governor. I did not know that the governor and his cronies were attempting to use the process to extort money and favors in a brazen pay-to-play scheme.

by Josh Meyer

The prolonged federal investigation into corruption in the office of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was run almost entirely out of Chicago, with little input or guidance from officials at Justice Department headquarters in Washington, according to several current and former department officials familiar with the case and with U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.

They said that while Main Justice has a very active Public Integrity Section that sends prosecutors around the country to work on cases, it has traditionally allowed a handful of large U.S. Attorney's Offices around the country to maintain almost complete autonomy over their cases, even significant political corruption cases involving sitting governors and other lawmakers, the current and former officials said. All of them spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of such matters and the ongoing investigation.

The officials said the Chicago office is particularly autonomous, in part given its long history of aggressively--and successfully--prosecuting public corruption cases there, including one that led to the conviction of Blagojevich's predecessor, Gov. George H. Ryan in 2006. That autonomy is also due to the respect for Fitzgerald, a veteran prosecutor who has maintained good and close relations with the top leadership of the Justice Department and FBI in Washington.

Peter Carr, the Justice Department spokesman, said he could not discuss specific cases, but Fitzgerald himself suggested that he and his team in Chicago worked the case independently and kept Washington informed of their progress.

``It was very closely held, '' one senior Justice Department official said of the new wrinkles in the long-running Chicago investigation.

by Frank James

William Ayers continues his post-election fight to set the record straight after the recent presidential campaign in which he was labeled a terrorist by the McCain-Palin team.

Today, it's on the op-ed page of the New York Times. The Chicago educator, whose acquaintance with President-elect Barack Obama became a major issue, wrote:

I never killed or injured anyone. I did join the civil rights movement in the mid-1960s, and later resisted the draft and was arrested in nonviolent demonstrations. I became a full-time antiwar organizer for Students for a Democratic Society. In 1970, I co-founded the Weather Underground, an organization that was created after an accidental explosion that claimed the lives of three of our comrades in Greenwich Village. The Weather Underground went on to take responsibility for placing several small bombs in empty offices -- the ones at the Pentagon and the United States Capitol were the most notorious -- as an illegal and unpopular war consumed the nation.

Peaceful protests had failed to stop the war. So we issued a screaming response. But it was not terrorism; we were not engaged in a campaign to kill and injure people indiscriminately, spreading fear and suffering for political ends.

by John McCormick

After remaining out of public view for most of the week, President-elect Barack Obama ventured out of his transition office this afternoon to grab lunch at a Chicago landmark.

Obama left the Kluczynski Federal Building in the Loop at 12:22 p.m. and headed straight for Manny's deli, where a couple dozen people were already waiting outside.

The president-elect spent a little over 10 minutes inside the restaurant, where he was joined by friend and adviser Valerie Jarrett.

Diners repeatedly shouted "congratulations," as Obama ordered lunch and worked the room wearing a topcoat and scarf.

Asked about a federal bailout for the auto industry, Obama responded, "I got the corned beef."

Earlier, he had asked for "Manny's mustard" on his sandwich. As part of his take-out order, Obama left with two cherry pies, three corned beef sandwiches and paid cash for his tab, $48.34.

Obama shook dozens of hands and posed for photos with the patrons and staff. He signed a photo of himself and Mayor Richard Daley that had been taken in the deli after he won the U.S. Senate primary in 2004.

by John McCormick

President-elect Barack Obama's transition staff released a video message this morning that he recorded to boost Chicago's efforts to win the 2016 Olympics. The message is for the European Olympic Committee (EOC) XXXVII General Assembly meeting in Istanbul, Turkey.

"In the coming years, my administration will bring a fresh perspective on America's role and responsibilities around the world," Obama says in the message. "But if we are to truly meet our shared challenges, we must all work together. By uniting the world in a peaceful celebration of human achievement, the Olympic Games reminds us that this is possible."

Obama goes on to talk about the importance of the Olympics to international relations.

"The United States would be honored to have the opportunity to host the Games and serve the Olympic Movement," he says. "As President-Elect, I see the Olympic and Paralympic Games as an opportunity for our nation to reach out, welcome the world to our shores, and strengthen our friendships across the globe."

Mayor Richard J. Daley at Chicago City Hall at June 14, 1973 press conference. Chicago Tribune photo by George Quinn.

by Frank James

Although the 2008 presidential campaign is over, its talking points apparently aren't, particularly the one about President-elect Barack Obama being a creature of Chicago Machine Politics.

In the last few weeks of the election, this was an attack line the McCain campaign used as part of its attempt to raise questions about Obama.

Yesterday, Grover Norquist, a leader of the diminished conservative movement in Washington, was on C-Span accusing Obama and his new chief of staff, Rep. Rahm Emanuel of being products of the "Chicago political machine." And when Rush Limbaugh after the election called both Obama and Emanuel two Chicago "thugs" he was obviously stretching to make the same point.

There's only one not-so-small problem with this talking point -- there is no Chicago political machine. There hasn't been a Chicago machine for decades. The machine effectively died with Mayor Richard J. Daley in 1976. People who talk as though the Chicago machine still exists are vaguely amusing in the same way visitors to Chicago who want to do the Al Capone tours are.

Tom Krieglstein, 28, and Joe Musselman, 24, are first in line at Michigan Ave and Congress Pkwy, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2008. (Chicago Tribune photo by Michael Tercha.)

As many as a million people are expected at Grant Park tonight for what a lot of people expect will be a victory celebration.

Sen. Barack Obama's campaign is issuing about 75,000 tickets. Everyone else is going to have to line up and hope to get in.

People started lining up early, like Monday night. Chicago Tribune journalists found the two earliest birds, the Brothers Kreiglstein -- Tom, 28, and Dan, 29 from Chicago.

Here's a report from the Tribune's Breaking News Desk.

by Frank James, revised with an Obama campaign clarification.

Preparations are underway in Chicago's Grant Park and the surrounding area for Sen. Barack Obama's big Election Night event, which looks like it will be a celebration if he wins or the world's largest consolation session if he doesn't.

Chicago Tribune reporter Dan Mihalopoulos has a posting up on the Tribune's Clout Street blog with details.

Mayor Richard Daley put the tab at $2 million today for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's Grant Park rally on election night.

Noting the city's budget shortfall and planned layoffs of city workers, Daley said, "In this financial crisis, the city of Chicago could not afford $2 million on this."

by Frank James

Chicago is once again drawing fire from Republicans who have seemingly convinced themselves that they have to run not only against Sen. Barack Obama but against an entire city.

Sen. John McCain, for instance, has recently gone around saying with mock indignation that he doesn't need be schooled on how to tell the truth by a "Chicago politician." (We all know he means "that one.")

The premise of a new Republican National Committee ad called "Chicago Way" is that Obama is tainted because he learned his politics in Chicago of all places, and we're all supposed to know what that means.

Here's the ad's text:

VO: The Chicago Way. Shady politics. That's Barack Obama's training.

There's more you need to know...

Yeah, there sure is. "Shady politics" isn't just the Chicago way, it's the American way. I dare anyone to name one large American city or county which hasn't had corrupt officials, a political machine and irregular elections at one time or another. Is that the sound of crickets?

by Frank James

Eric Zorn, one of the best journalistic bloggers around, is always ready to question underlying premises and he does so again today on his blog, asking what is terrorism and who is a terrorist?

Here's an excerpt:

It's common these days to refer to former Weather Underground radical William Ayers as a one-time "domestic terrorist." Was he?

I see such a practical and moral difference between the two that using "terrorist" to describe them both strikes me as inaccurate, misleading, and, in the case of Ayers, deliberately inflammatory.

by John McCormick, updated

After tapping Chicago-area pockets for 19 months, Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign is bringing a new face to town tonight to boost fundraising during a time when it has fallen behind an aggressive set of national finance goals.

Sen. Joe Biden, Obama's Democratic running mate, is expected to spend a few hours in Chicago to headline two fundraising events at North Side homes.

The events are being hosted by Chicago businessmen Jim Crown and John Rogers. Admission for a 6:30 p.m. reception is $1,000, while a 7:30 p.m. dinner will cost $5,000.

The Delaware Democrat was last in Illinois late last month when Obama introduced him as his running mate on the steps of the Old State Capitol in Springfield.

But other than the occasional fundraising visit or campaign meeting, Biden is not likely to spend much time in Illinois, a state considered very safe for the Democratic ticket on Nov. 4.

Biden's Chicago stop follows one Monday by Republican nominee Sen. John McCain, who raised more than $4 million while in the city.

by Christi Parsons

In an elegant high-rise apartment overlooking the Chicago Loop Monday night, Michelle Obama ascended a spiral staircase to address a private party of campaign contributors as they dined on sushi and sipped wine.

But as she spoke she frequently gestured toward the wall of glass windows and to the streets beyond the downtown business district, talking of the problems that face residents on the city's South Side and in other struggling neighborhoods around the country.

"Do we settle for the world as it is?" she asked. "Or do we work for the world as it should be?"

It was a familiar theme for the wife of the Democratic presidential candidate, who took the "world as it should be" phrase from a speech she heard her future husband give in a church basement on the far South Side when they were first dating.

On Monday, she employed it in a pitch for Dan Seals and Debbie Halvorson, two Illinois Democrats seeking congressional seats currently held by Republicans. Michelle Obama was the featured guest at the fundraiser in the home of real estate magnate Neil Bluhm, who hosted the event along with Rep. Rahm Emanuel.

Sen. Barack Obama and Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, Friday, June 6, 2008, during an unscheduled stop at the Chicago 2016 Olympic Rally in Chicago at Daley Plaza.(Chicago Tribune photo by Heather Stone)

by Amanda Erickson

Chicago's taking a political backseat to the likes of likes of New York, Los Angeles, Boston, and Little Rock no longer. Thanks to Barack Obama, it's back in the spotlight as the headquarters of the Democratic Party.

In a Politico article, David Paul Kuhn writes that the city has become central to American politics and the Democrats' efforts to retake the White House this year. "Chicago," Kuhn writes, "is the new capital of the Democratic Party."

It's only fair. The city has a storied history of painting the town blue. According to Kuhn, it has hosted 25 nominating conventions. It's where Abraham Lincoln was nominated by the new Republican Party in 1860. And it controversially "delivered" just enough votes in 1960 to squeeze John F. Kennedy past Richard Nixon for the White House. It's where where Bill Clinton accepted renomination in 1996.

But in the last ten years, Kuhn writes, Chicago has played a bit part in the national presidential election drama. It's been more than a decade since Dems met in Chicago, and more than 50 years since a nominee had broad Chicagoland roots.

Not anymore. The city's political scene features a 33,000 square foot Michigan Avenue campaign office for Obama and vital Democratic National Committee operations, as well as Richard M. Daley, who the article considers one of the nation's most influential Democratic mayors.

by Frank James

There's certainly some irony in the conviction of Antoin "Tony" Rezko, Sen. Barack Obama's former ally and campaign contributor, one day after Obama made history by becoming the first African-American to clinch a major political party's presidential nomination.

Rezko, a Chicago businessman and wheeler-dealer, saw Obama's gifts early, even before the Democratic presidential nominee officially entered politics. As he faces years in prison on his conviction on corruption charges, Rezko at least has the satisfaction of knowing that he's a keen judge of political talent.

For Obama, Rezko's conviction means the all-but-official Democratic presidential nominee can expect to face dark Republican ads, likely featuring a narrator whose voice conjures up something sinister, that refer to the senator from Illinois's one-time relationship with the convicted businessman.

Expect to see, for instance, ads with Obama South Side Chicago house and that infamous side yard he purchased from Rezko's wife. Indeed, the GOP just put this new site up.

It will all be part of an effort to dull Obama's sheen of novelty and portray him as a regular Cook County Democratic politician, as someone with the requisite dirty laundry that comes with that territory.

If there are any saving graces for Obama, they would be that the trial didn't reveal much more about his relationship with Rezko than we already knew.

Also, the conviction probably surprised no one. The evidence against Rezko was fairly strong.

Here's a link to the Chicago Tribune story by Bob Secter and Jeff Coen.

by Bob Secter and Jeff Coen

The name of former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert was added Monday to the roster of political heavyweights linked by witnesses to an alleged plan to dump Chicago's top federal prosecutor and kill a criminal investigation into a top fundraiser for Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

A witness at the corruption trial of Blagojevich insider Antoin "Tony" Rezko testified that Rezko told him in February 2005 about an effort under way to fire U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald and replace him with someone more compliant to be hand-picked by Hastert, then the top Republican in the House.

Rezko said the Hastert designee would then "order the prosecutor to stop the investigation," recalled Elie Maloof, a former Rezko business associate who also testified that Rezko had told him to keep Rezko's name to himself if he were questioned by authorities because it could damage Blagojevich.

See the rest of the story in today's Tribune.

Chicago Tribune Photo by Candice C. Cusic.

by John McCormick

INDIANAPOLIS -- Sen. Barack Obama said he spoke with Mayor Richard Daley today about the increasing gun violence in Chicago.

"He's going to have a summit this afternoon and so I wanted to get an update on his plans and find out how I can be helpful at the federal level," Obama said. "A lot of the emphasis is going to be on more effective community policing. A lot of the emphasis is going to be on how we are working together to give young people more constructive things to do and to give them more perspective in terms of why violence is unacceptable."

The Illinois Democrat said the federal government should work with state and local governments more to "crack down on illegal handguns that are flooding the community."

by Aamer Madhani

Chicago-based Boeing Co. just announced they will formally protest the Air Force decision to award a $35 billion contract to a consortium led by Northrop Grumman and the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co. to overhaul the service's aerial refueling tanker fleet.

Boeing officials had until Wednesday to file the appeal that would compel the Government Accountability Office to review how the Air Force went about granting the contract.

"Our team has taken a very close look at the tanker decision and found serious flaws in the process that we believe warrant appeal," Jim McNerney, Boeing chairman, president and chief executive officer said in a statement. "This is an extraordinary step rarely taken by our company, and one we take very seriously."

by Aamer Madhani

Union leaders are steaming over the Air Force’s decision last week to award a $35 billion contract to build 179 airborne refueling tankers to a partnership of Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman and the French-owned Aerospace company, EADS.

Richard Michalski, the vice president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, was particularly angry at Gen. Arthur Lichte, the commander of the Air Force’s Air Mobility command. Lichte downplayed the partial outsourcing at a Pentagon news conference to announce that the Northrop-EADS group was the winner over Chicago-based Boeing Co.

"This is an American tanker," Lichte said on Friday. "It's flown by American airmen. It has a big American flag on the tail, and every day it'll be out there saving American lives."

Michalski stopped short of calling Lichte a brie-eating, beret-wearing frog, but the union boss wasn't holding much back.

“To see this Air Force and that Air Force general say that the economics of this country and jobs in this country was not a factor that they even figured into this bidding process just is outrageous,” Michalski said. “To be able to have a general talk like that…That general should look at where his paycheck comes from. The last time I looked it was the U.S.A....That general in particular, with the rude comments he made, should quit his job, move to France and join the French Foreign Legion.”

Michalski said that his organization and others would lobby Congress to introduce legislation that would prohibit the U.S. government from doing business with foreign companies that receive anti-competitive subsidies.

The U.S. Trade Representative has accused the parent company of EADS, Airbus, of receiving such subsidies. The European Union has made similar complaints about Boeing.

by Aamer Madhani

Any day now, the Pentagon is expected to announce the winner of a long-awaited $40 billion contract to build 179 air-to-air refueling tankers for the Air Force.

The two competitors, Chicago-based Boeing Co. and a team from Northrop Grumman and the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co., are vying for the lucrative contract to replace a decrepit fleet that dates back to the Eisenhower era.

But the forthcoming announcement may just mark another chapter in the ongoing battle for the mammoth military contract that has the potential of ballooning to more than $100 billion in sales for the winner.

Boeing would make its version of the KC-767 tanker at Everett, Wash., and then fly them to Wichita, Kan. for the final conversion. The Northrop-EADS group would build its version, a KC-30 tanker, in Mobile, Ala.

Many defense analysts expect the losing company or Congressional delegation to appeal the decision with the Government Accountability Office, a move that would further delay a process that date backs to 2001.

Boeing had previously won the contract, but Congress scrapped the offer after it learned that Boeing hired a former Air Force acquisitions official who gave the company preferential treatment before leaving the Air Force.

Boeing is the heavy favorite to win the contract again, according to defense analysts. But Northrop-EADS has put up a spirited fight, and the Alabama Congressional delegation has lobbied hard to win the project.

Earlier today, Gen. T. Michael Moseley, chief of the Air Force, called on the loser to consider what a drawn-out appeal would mean to the service.

“This is not about lawyers and companies,” Moseley said “This is about operational capability and fielding capability for the country. So if it we get a long, drawn out protest, we still operate 44-year old airplanes longer. To me that’s a big deal. It’s a big deal for the people I ask to get in the airplane. It’s a big deal for the people that I ask to take the airplane to combat….From a service chief’s perspective, I would ask them to think about the country and think about the people that fly the plane.”

By Michael Martinez

LOS ANGELES – Turnabout is fair play when Oprah stumps for Obama on Super Bowl Sunday.

Normally, Lucille “Miss” Evans, 54, a south Los Angeles community activist, is something of a football widow to her boyfriend, Ray Lewis, on Super Bowl day.

But when Oprah was scheduled to come to the University of California at Los Angeles to rally for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, Evans told Lewis that he would have to give up the NFL’s biggest game – or at least a good part of it – to hear Oprah, Caroline Kennedy and Michelle Obama on Sunday afternoon.

Lewis thus became something of a widower to a rival event on Super Bowl Sunday.

President Bush visits third graders at Horace Greeley Elementary in Chicago, Illinois, Monday, January 7, 2008. (Chicago Tribune photo by Heather Stone/Chicago Tribune/MCT)

by Matthew Hay Brown

Visiting a Chicago elementary school today, President Bush said he was open to increasing flexibility in the No Child Left Behind Act – but threatened to veto any changes that would weaken educational accountability, and said he was prepared to reform it himself if Congress didn’t cooperate.

“Look, I recognize some people don't like accountability,” Bush said today at Horace Greeley Elementary School. “In other words, accountability says if you're failing, we're going to expose that and expect you to change. Accountability also says that when you're succeeding you'll get plenty of praise.

“I know No Child Left Behind has worked. And I believe this country needs to build upon the successes. The philosophy behind No Child Left Behind was in return for money there ought to be results. It's pretty commonsensical it seems like to me.”

Bush’s signature domestic policy, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002, which requires public schools to show improvements in student achievement in reading and math or face sanctions, comes up for reauthorization this year. The sides are establishing their positions for the debate to come.

Critics say the law has turned schools into test preparation centers that focus on reading and math to the neglect of other subjects. They also say the law has never been funded to the levels needed for it to work.

“When Congress joined President Bush in 2002 to usher in a dramatic reform of our nation’s schools, we were hopeful that increased accountability and performance standards, together with a significant increase in the federal investment in education, would raise student achievement levels,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said today in response to Bush’s comments.

Andrew Zajac

Mayor Richard M. Daley clearly wanted somebody with an FBI pedigree to run his scandal-plagued police department and he got his man in J.P. "Jody" Weis, the Special Agent in Charge of the bureau's Philadelphia office.

But Weis wasn't Daley's first choice and probably not his second, third or fourth either, according to sources familiar with the talent hunt here in Washington.

by William Neikirk

The coach quit today.

Rep. Dennis Hastert of Illinois, who served as House speaker longer than any other Republican, announced that he's leaving the House and will be gone by the first of the year.

The former high school wrestling coach leaves on a sad note for his party, having lost his job as speaker when the GOP lost control of the House in last year's elections. .

The quiet, unassuming Hastert, 65, bowed out with a gracious speech on the House floor and received standing ovations from both sides of the aisle. His wife was in the gallery, and also was recognized.

Now there will be a special election in his district in suburban Chicago, which includes Aurora and Elgin--and Yorkville, where he was the wrestling coach. The district leans Republican, although Democrats are expected to compete for it.

by John McCormick

It must be city elected official endorsement day over at Obama campaign headquarters.

First, the announcement arrived earlier this morning of an endorsement by the mayor of Durham, North Carolina, where the Illinois senator is expected to campaign and raise money tonight.

Now, the campaign says a large group of Chicago aldermen are following the lead of Mayor Richard Daley and also endorsing Obama. The news release says the endorsement represents a unanimous endorsement of Obama by the city council's African-American aldermen.

The names of the alderman endorsing Obama, as provide by the campaign, are listed below the jump.

by John McCormick

We don't know yet whether Sen. Barack Obama will be smiling or frowning following his performance in tonight's Democratic presidential primary debate in Philadelphia, where all eyes will be on him as he tries to cast himself as a more confrontational candidate.

No matter how the battle with Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York goes, we do know that he is expected to wear a mask the next day. It turns out that the Illinois Democrat is a big Halloween fan.

He is not expected to make any public appearances Wednesday while spending a rare day at home in Chicago. He may, however, be on the city's streets, going door to door with his two children and his Secret Service detail.

"I am, by the way, going to be home to do trick-or-treating, although I've got to wear a mask, so that I don't scare the children," Obama told an audience Saturday at a high school in Perry, Iowa. "'It's a presidential candidate, oh no.'"

Small children in Iowa are used to seeing presidential candidates. But for those in Illinois, it is a significantly less common experience.

Inset photo: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama at the July 23, 2007 Democratic presidential debate. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, file)

by John McCormick

Gathered in a Chicago hotel ballroom, the 100 or so students had come from across the nation to learn from some of the top names in the business: Solomont, Kearney, Barzun.

While not household names, they are some of the top players in the presidential money game, where the bundling of contributions by elite fundraisers is an essential part in financing the growing cost of national campaigns.

The three instructors, plus others, spoke at "Obama University." The training program is designed to expand an already massive fundraising operation that raised $79 million during the first three quarters of the year for Sen. Barack Obama, keeping him competitive with Democratic frontrunner Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York.

With titles like "Hunting vs. Farming," "Segmenting your Donors," and "Four Ways to Raise Money," the sessions offered tips of the trade for bundlers, who ask friends, family and business associates to contribute to their candidate. They also were briefed on Obama's central speaking points, as well as upcoming fundraising initiatives like one called "Project Give Again."

The Tribune was offered an exclusive glimpse inside the one-day session earlier this week. As the veterans spoke to the rookies, it at times felt like a motivational meeting for a sales group, sort of Amway goes to Washington.

See the story in this morning's Tribune.

by John McCormick, Updated at 1:25 p.m. Eastern

Sen. Barack Obama maintained his fundraising advantage over Sen. Hillary Clionton in his home state of Illinois, but the gap was smaller than in previous quarters.

Detailed Federal Election Commission reports filed overnight show Obama raised $1.66 million in Illinois during the period from July through September, while Clinton netted $1.13 million. Clinton held several large fundraisers in Chicago near the end of the reporting period.

Illinois was Obama's third biggest fundraising state, behind California and New York. It was Clinton's sixth largest state, if the District of Columbia is included in the rankings. The nation's capital was her top location for donations during the quarter.

At the city level, Clinton raised about $541,000 during the quarter from those listing Chicago addresses, compared to about $809,000 for Obama. In New York City, Clinton raised $2.7 million, compared to $1.1 million for Obama.

Including non-itemized contributions, a type that cannot be inspected in the public records, Obama's campaign says it raised $2.19 million during the third quarter from Illinois, bringing its year-to-date amount raised in the state to $11.5 million.

by John McCormick

Sen. Hillary Clinton is expected in Chicago today for two fundraising events which organizers say are expected to net about $750,000.

The New York Democrat's arrival comes just days after her presidential campaign announced that she raised more money during the third quarter than Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois.

Jay Robert "J.B." Pritzker, a Chicago billionaire who is a national co-chairman for the Clinton campaign, said it is starting to get easier to raise money in Obama's home city.

"I wouldn’t call it hedging their bets," he said. "It's still a tough environment, but the purse strings for her have loosened here."

Collecting $750,000 in a single day from Chicago is an impressive sum for Clinton, although it is still smaller than the $1.5 million to $2 million Obama collected in the city by attending four back-to-back events in June.

Pritzker's sister, Penny Pritzker, is Obama's national finance chairman. "It's not a competition," he said, when asked about his sibling's fundraising efforts.

Pritzker said he was not prepared to criticize his favorite candidate for her recent answer in a debate about whether she would root for the Cubs or the Yankees, should the teams ever find themselves in the World Series.

"That is a tough one for her," Pritzker said.

by John McCormick

Marking the five-year anniversary of his first speech in opposition to the invasion of Iraq, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama today boosted his efforts to differentiate himself from other candidates who voted to support the war.

"The American people weren't just failed by a president," he told several hundred students and others at DePaul University in Chicago.

"They were failed by much of Washington. By a media that too often reported spin instead of facts. By a foreign policy elite that largely boarded the bandwagon for war. And most of all by the majority of a Congress – a coequal branch of government – that voted to give the president the open-ended authority to wage war that he uses to this day," he said. "So let's be clear: without that vote, there would be no war."

Although he did not name Democratic frontrunner Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, Obama made several less than subtle references to votes made by others to authorize the use of force in Iraq.

"Some seek to rewrite history," he said. "They argue that they weren't really voting for war, they were voting for inspectors, or they were voting for diplomacy. But the Congress, the administration, the media and the American people all understood what we were debating in the fall of 2002. This was a vote about whether or not to go to war."

Obama's 2002 speech, delivered in the Loop's Federal Plaza, became a pivotal moment in his political career and remains a centerpiece of his presidential bid.

(Sen. Barack Obama at DePaul University today. Tribune staff photo by Michael Tercha)

by James Kimberly

Today,Sen. Barack Obama became the first Democratic presidential candidate to weigh in on the battle over a Planned Parenthood clinic in Aurora.

Not surprisingly, the abortion rights supporter from Illinois said he would like to see the clinic open soon.

"I fully support Planned Parenthood's desire to open a new facility in Aurora," he said in a statement released this afternoon. "The proposed center will serve the growing population in a part of the state where access to a full range of reproductive health care services is lacking."

The statement went on to list some of the services the Planned Parenthood clinic would offer such as pap tests, contraceptive care, cancer screening and breast exams. It did not mention abortion procedures, which have drawn thousands of anti-abortion protesters to demonstrate outside the clinic.

Planned Parenthood built the $7.5 million, 22,000-square-foot clinic near New York Street and Oakhurst Drive on Aurora's east side this year and intended to open it Sept. 18. The City of Aurora has refused to grant Planned Parenthood an occupancy permit for the building until the city completes and independent investigation of how Planned Parenthood obtained building permits.

by Rick Pearson and John McCormick

Two Democratic presidential candidates appeared in Chicago today to make their pitch to yet another union convention -- and one additional candidate phoned in -- even as one of the nation's most influential unions has decided to not endorse any of them for now.

"I'm tired of playing defense," Sen. Barack Obama told about 1,000 union members gathered at the Chicago Hilton. "We are ready to play offense for a living wage and good jobs…We're ready to play offense for some comprehensive immigration reform."

The Illinois Democrat was the first of the top three Democratic candidates to speak to the Change to Win group of unions. He was followed by former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina. Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York phoned in, after she was forced to cancel a personal appearance because of transportation problems.

Obama reminded the audience that he has walked picket lines before as a community organizer and candidate.

"I've got some comfortable shoes at home. If it's hot outside, then I've got a hat. If it's cold outside, I've got a jacket," Obama said. "But if you are being denied your rights, I don't care if I'm in the United States Senate or in the White House, I will make sure I am marching with you on the picket lines because that's what I believe in…I don't mind walking. I'm young. I'm in good shape."

CLTV's footage of the incident.

by Frank James

Mike Flannery, the veteran political editor for Chicago's CBS 2 television station, may need to negotiate a bodyguard the next time his contract is up.

Flannery, who can be heard in the video shooting questions at Weller, was allegedly pushed down a flight of the stairs today by a man accompanying Rep. Jerry Weller (R-Ill.) after the congressman announced his retirement. Here's CBS2's video of the incident.

Fortunately, he's all right. He plans to press charges against the person who allegedly pushed him.

Today's altercation was reminiscent of an earlier one way back in the pre-web video era, 1989, when then congressman Gus Savage from Chicago's South Side pushed Flannery at Midway Airport after the reporter asked Savage for a reaction to reports of a Justice Department probe of the subcommittee Savage chaired.

Here's how I reported that earlier contretemps involving Flannery way back then:

Savage ``went berserk, absolutely berserk. He started pushing and shoving me.``

Some associates herded the congressman into a room to cool off. But Savage soon bounced out, and with cameras and audiotape rolling, began a bizarre mock interrogation of the reporters.

``He said, `I`m going to ask you reporters some questions,` `` Flannery recalls. ``He turned to me and said, `Are you still wearing your wife`s underwear?` Then he turned to another and asked, `Are you still messing with little boys?` And then he turned to another and said, `You know, we`re all pretty upset with what you`re doing with your wife`s sister.` It was like he wanted me to slug him.

``Somebody suggested that I file charges, but he`s really too pathethic to work up much of a lather over,`` Flannery says.

Flannery's apparently not as forgiving now as he was back then. But then getting pushed down a flight of stairs is potentially a lot more dangerous, however, than some shoving in an airport waiting area.

by John McCormick

The room covered with gorgeous woodwork that serves as the setting for Sen. Barack Obama's new 60-second television commercial debuting in Iowa today is actually part of a park facility building in suburban Oak Park, Ill.

The ad, called "Believe," is the first where the Illinois Democrat speaks directly to the camera as he tries to sell himself as a Washington outsider. It is expected to run with greater frequency -- and more expense -- than his earlier television ads in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Obama makes no mention of his opponents, while he stresses his opposition to the invasion of Iraq and past record of working with Republicans to solve problems.

by John McCormick

Speaking in Chicago this morning, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson tried to draw a distinction between himself and other Democratic presidential candidates on the withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

"They would leave tens of thousands of troops in Iraq for years," he told about 1,000 labor leaders gathered at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers. "That's not ending the war."

Richardson continued his pledge of bringing all troops home from Iraq within six months of their de-authorization with no residual forces.

"The Iraqis want us out of their country, and they will not make the hard choices necessary for political reconciliation until we make it clear that we are leaving for good," he said.

By pulling troops out immediately, Richardson said the nation could begin to "spend the $450 billion that we have spent in this war on health care and education for our own people."

The governor was the final Democratic presidential candidate to appear before the Laborers' International Union of North America convention. On Monday, the group heard from Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards.

Richardson, who spoke for just under 30 minutes, poked fun at one of the speakers Monday who spoke for closer to an hour.

John Edwards in Chicago, Sept. 17, 2007. Chicago Tribune photo by Michael Tercha.

by John McCormick

John Edwards aggressively attacked Hillary Clinton during an appearance this morning in Chicago, as Democratic presidential candidates sought to gain the upper hand in the health care debate.

In his address to a union group, the former North Carolina senator repeatedly pointed to Clinton's failed efforts to win health care reform in the 1990s during her husband administration.

"The cost of that failure 14 years ago is not just somebody's political fortune or their scars," he said. "It's the millions of Americans who have now gone for almost 15 years without health care."

Clinton, a New York Democrat, unveiled her health care plan in Iowa just a few hours after speaking earlier in Chicago to the same group, the Laborers' International Union of North America.

With the number of uninsured Americans growing dramatically since the early 1990s, Edwards pointed to a proposal passed by the Clinton White House that remains unpopular with unions.

"We didn't get universal health care, but we got [the North American Free Trade Agreement]," he said. "We need universal health care. We didn't need NAFTA."

Edwards suggested Clinton is unable to reform the health care industry because she has failed to accept his challenge not to accept any contributions from federal lobbyists.

By John McCormick

NOTE: This item will be updated throughout the morning.

Speaking to a sea of union members wearing orange T-shirts, Sen. Hillary Clinton received numerous standing ovations this morning during a speech in Chicago where she pledged her commitment to health care for all.

"There is hardly a square foot of America that doesn't have your fingerprints on it," the New York Democrat told about 1,000 members of the Laborers' International Union of North America. "You have built the infrastructure, and now we are going to have to build some more."

Clinton was the first of three presidential candidates expected to speak today at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers. Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards and Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware are expected later in the morning, and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson is on Tuesday's schedule.

Sen. Barack Obama, meanwhile, bypassed the audience in his home city, instead traveling to Wall Street today to deliver an economic speech. The Illinois Democrat said last month that he would skip most candidate forums because they were getting in the way of his speaking directly to voters.

Clinton made the stop in Chicago after appearing Sunday afternoon with five other Democratic presidential candidates in Iowa. She was set to immediately return to the first-in-the-nation caucus state to unveil her health care plan.

"We need to get to a point where health care is a right, not a privilege," she told the construction union members. "We have to take on the special interests to get this done."

by John McCormick

On a day Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign announced it was returning $850,000 tied to a Democratic fundraiser under federal investigation, former President Bill Clinton helped raise at least $125,000 for his wife in Chicago.

About 600 donors gathered this evening to hear Clinton speak at the SushiSamba restaurant in the River North neighborhood. The event was closed to the media.

Admission to the sold-out event ranged from $100 to $1,000, with those at the top end invited to spend some time with Clinton in a private VIP room.

Sen. Clinton has made a greater effort in recent months to try to raise money from the Chicago area, a region she largely ceded to Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois during the first part of the year.

By Rick Pearson

AMES, Iowa—In the midst of the tents, children's inflatable rides, T-shirts, barbecue sandwiches and crowds, there is an area devoted to the quixotic presidential campaign of Chicago businessman John Cox.

But while crowds plied into the adjoining tents of better known Republican contends, five people sat beneath a small tent for Cox campaign, surrounding a lone and lonely snow cone machine.

The Cox area also had a fake hot air balloon with a banner promoting his candidacy.

In a speech to straw poll attendees, where he was greeted with polite applause, Cox assailed the career politicians of Washington.

by John McCormick

If you miss tonight's Democratic presidential debate in Chicago on MSNBC, don't worry. You can listen to a rebroadcast of it for 24 hours if you have XM Satellite Radio.

The AFL-CIO candidate forum at Soldier Field will be broadcast live on XM's new channel devoted to the 2008 presidential election. The channel, 130 on the dial, is called P.O.T.U.S., playing off the White House abbreviation for President of the United States.

After the debate is over, XM representatives say they will rebroadcast the 90-minute forum for the next 24 hours. The channel is airing Democratic and Republican debates this summer, in advance of its official launch in September.

By Rick Pearson

Democratic presidential contender Hillary Rodham Clinton used an audience of national police officials in Chicago today to criticize President Bush for federal spending plans that treat law enforcement like they are "invisible."

Speaking to the National Association of Police Organizations at a downtown hotel, the New York senator took a veiled shot at rival John Edwards by saying she was not "one of those who believe there is no war on terrorism." Edwards, a former North Carolina senator, in May called the phrase "war on terrorism" a "bumper sticker" slogan for the failings of the Bush presidency.

Clinton said she was "getting tired" of watching Bush lauding law enforcement in various speeches while cutting federal funding in his budget proposals—particularly after what she said were gains made in fighting crime under her husband's administration.

"Honestly, it is like the police officers of our country--along with your families who stand with you every single day in the dangerous and difficult work you do--are invisible to the president," Clinton told the audience. "You know, it's like he just looks through you instead of seeing you on the front lines. In the war against crime and the war against terrorism, it's like he doesn’t see you at all."

Recounting her tour of "Ground Zero" the day after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, Clinton said she appreciated the additional workload being conducted by first responders. She promoted efforts to achieve a federal law allowing police to collectively bargain and to help those injured on the job.

Noting rescue workers who later became severely ill or, in some cases, died from toxins at the World Trade Center site, Clinton said, "This was an act of war and you don't leave people on the battlefield."

by John McCormick

The Associated Press is reporting that Democratic presidential candidates will appear at Chicago's Soldier Field next month for an AFL-CIO presidential forum.

The nation's largest labor federation originally planned to hold its forum at the McCormick Place convention center, but more than 12,000 union members wanted to attend, so the Aug. 7 event is being moved outside to Soldier Field to ensure there is enough room.

The AFL-CIO represents about 10 million workers in more than 50 unions. Its executive council will decide after the debate whether to start its endorsement process during the Democratic presidential primaries or wait until later.

The AFL-CIO's web site is still listing McCormick Place as the location of the forum, but this link has the details.

by John McCormick

It was a speech Sen. Dick Durbin is almost certain to give again, on both the west and east sides of the Mississippi River.

With about 100 Barack Obama volunteers gathered around him on the 10th floor of a Loop high-rise, the senior senator from Illinois reminded the audience of another time when an Illinois senator was running for president.

It was 1988 and the field was crowded with Democratic opponents, much like it is today. Illinois volunteers flooded Iowa in advance of the leadoff caucuses there, just as Obama's campaign is planning for this election cycle.

"We created what we called the Bow Tie Brigade," Durbin said Friday afternoon, speaking at an opening reception for a new Obama volunteer headquarters at 300 W. Adams. "We introduced ourselves to Iowans and asked them to consider voting for Paul Simon."

But the 1988 effort fell short, with Simon finishing second. His campaign ended shortly thereafter.

by John McCormick

A prominent Republican fundraiser from Chicago has endorsed Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential bid, her campaign said today.

Terry Duffy, executive chairman of CME Group, the combined entity formed by the recent merger of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade, cited Clinton's understanding of domestic and international economic issues in making his endorsement.

“Like no other candidate, Hillary Clinton crosses party lines to combine the visionary leadership and pragmatic problem-solving skills that this country needs in its president,” he said in statement. “It is critical that the U.S. retains its leadership position in the global economy and that our financial markets have the support and infrastructure needed to successfully compete globally."

by John McCormick

Although he already has more than 33,000 square feet, occupying the entire 11th floor at 233 N. Michigan Ave., Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama will soon be opening a second office in downtown Chicago.

The new office, on the 10th floor of 300 W. Adams, will be used as a home for volunteers and Illinois field operations, freeing up space in the main headquarters.

Michelle Obama, the candidate's wife, is expected to attend an opening reception for the office on Friday afternoon.

During the second quarter alone, Obama's campaign spent at least $365,000 on rental payments for office space in Chicago and early voting states. In Iowa, for example, he now has 29 offices open across the state.

By John McCormick

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama took a couple laps on the picket line outside Chicago's Congress Plaza Hotel this afternoon, showing his solidarity with workers associated with a key union that has many members in the early voting state of Nevada.

The Illinois Democrat, in a white dress shirt with sleeves rolled up, received cheers from about 100 strikers after he jumped out of a black SUV with his Secret Service agents in front of the South Michigan Avenue property.

"I can only imagine how difficult it has been," he told the workers through a bullhorn, a translator then offering his words in Spanish. "You have been out here in the cold. You have been out here in the hot."

Last month marked the fourth anniversary of the strike at South Michigan Avenue property, where housekeepers, dishwashers, bartenders and other employees are engaged in one of the longest-running ongoing strikes in the nation.

by John McCormick

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama is expected to walk a picket line in Chicago today.

His campaign has not yet released details, but his schedule has him in Chicago all day Monday. He also said this on Friday to the Las Vegas Sun:

"Next week I’ll be walking a picket line in front of (Chicago's) Congress Hotel. That’s been the longest running fight for [the union organization] Unite Here across the country. It’s been going on there for four years. I’ve walked the picket line there before and I’ll do it again."

Last month marked the fourth anniversary of the strike at South Michigan Avenue property, where housekeepers, dishwashers, bartenders and other employees are engaged in one of the longest-running ongoing strikes in the nation.

by John McCormick

It was a busy weekend of theater-going in Chicago for Sen. Barack Obama and his family.

First, Michelle Obama, the senator's wife, attended Second City's "Between Barack and a Hard Place" on Friday evening, according to an item reported in Sunday's edition by Tribune theater critic Chris Jones.

Then, after a long day of campaigning Saturday in Iowa, the senator took in "The Color Purple," a production presented by his pal Oprah Winfrey at the Cadillac Palace Theatre.

"Last night, Michelle and I went to the Color Purple. We don't get a chance to see a play very often," he said Sunday. "So, Michelle, she said, 'How come we don't get a chance to go out once and a while?' And you know what they say, 'If Mama is happy, everybody is happy.'"

The Illinois Democrat said he enjoyed the production.

"It's a powerful play. I recommend it," he said. "It's powerful. And it's a little tough for the brothers in the audience because all the brothers acted like fools in the play the whole time."

Obama used the play as an example of how violence begets violence, which was the topic of a message he delivered about gun violence to the congregation at Vernon Park Church of God on Chicago's far South Side. The Tribune's report on the church appearance is linked here.

by John McCormick

It was head-to-head Democratic fundraising Monday evening in Chicago.

Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois set up shop at Fulton's on the River for an event that was expected to raise about $100,000. Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York was about six blocks south at the Palmer House Hilton for one that was expected to raise about $750,000.

Reporters were not allowed into either gathering.

Obama, meanwhile, was expected to attend a second Chicago fundraiser Tuesday morning, at the very same hotel where Clinton held her event. His was scheduled less than 12 hours after her guests were to clear out.

All of the presidential candidates are racing toward a June 30 deadline for second-quarter fundraising that will be used by some to help judge their viability as candidates.

by John McCormick

Maybe it's just a coincidence, but Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama will have fundraisers next week in Chicago within a day of each other and in the same hotel.

Clinton will start off the fun Monday evening with an event at the Palmer House Hilton that is expected to draw several hundred. It is being sponsored by some big Chicago Democratic names such as Myron Cherry, Fred Eychaner and Joe Power, Jr. Access to the cocktail reception will run $1,000, while drinks and dinner will set donors back $2,300, the full amount allowed for a primary campaign contribution.

Like Clinton's event, Obama's is being hosted by a group that includes several trial lawyers, always an important donor base for Democrats. Less than 12 hours after Clinton's dinner crowd clears out, Obama is expected to arrive for what looks to be a breakfast "reception," with the eggs costing a "suggested contribution of $2,300 or $1,000." Some of Obama's hosts for the event are Bob Clifford, Kevin Conway and Bruce M. Kohen.

All of the presidential candidates are racing toward a June 30 deadline for second-quarter fundraising that will be used by some to help judge their viability as candidates.

by John McCormick

From Thursday's Tribune:

Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards stopped in Chicago Wednesday evening for two relatively small fundraisers, a day before Sen. Barack Obama was scheduled to raise money in Edwards' home state.

Amid the home-turf invasions by the two top-tier Democratic presidential candidates, Edwards also sought to talk up his environmental credentials.

by John McCormick

Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards will be in Chicago for a fundraiser Wednesday, just as Sen. Barack Obama prepares to head to Edwards' hometown.

Edwards will be at BB's bar and restaurant Wednesday evening, while Obama is expected to headline fundraisers Thursday in Raleigh and Chapel Hill.

Both Democratic campaigns told the Raleigh News & Observer newspaper that the opposing visits were a pure coincidence since the schedules are planned months in advance. But it's no coincidence that both men are pouring it on when it comes to fundraising, in advance of the June 30 deadline for the second-quarter.

by John McCormick

Some people arrived at dawn. Supporters were selling T-shirts and buttons. There was a fiery speech. And reporters and photographers were tripping over each other.

Al Gore's visit to a Chicago bookstore Wednesday was officially to promote his new book, but it had all the trappings of the typical campaign appearance.

Still, as he has done for months, the former vice president insisted he has no plans to run again for the nation's highest office.

"I'm not planning to be a candidate again," he said after a six-minute campaign-style speech that touched on everything from his trademark issue of global warming to the Iraq war.

Posted by John McCormick at 6:05 a.m. CDT

Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign is planning what could be the largest fundraiser of his presidential bid so far, a big-dollar event in Chicago that is expected to raise at least $1.5 million in a single evening.

Minimum suggested admission for the June 8 reception at the Park West theater, 322 W. Armitage Ave., is $1,000.

A flier for the event lists nine individuals or couples who have each pledged to raise at least $100,000, enough to make them "chairs" for the "Celebration with Senator Barack and Michelle Obama."

Posted by John McCormick at 1:54 p.m. CDT

Sen. Barack Obama used a midday appearance in Chicago today to respond to Republican criticism that his vote Thursday night against an Iraq spending bill is the equivalent of "waving a white flag" to terrorists.

"The way that we are going to show that we support the troops is by [starting to bring] some of them home," Obama told an international convention of more than 1,200 members of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists at the Hyatt Regency Chicago.

His fiery speech came after a vote in Washington where Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton opposed an Iraq war spending bill because it didn't contain a timeline for withdrawing U.S. troops.

Posted by Naftali Bendavid at 7:45 am CDT

Democratic Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Chicago, as many politics watchers know, is one of Washington's more forceful, vivid personalities. Whatever you think of his politics and personality, Emanuel stands out in this blow-dried world with his intensity, abrasiveness and liberal use of profanity.

That's part of the reason I followed him through the 2006 congressional campaign, a project that resulted in my new book, "The Thumpin': How Rahm Emanuel and the Democrats learned to be ruthless and ended the Republican revolution." Emanuel headed the Democratic campaign to retake the House after 12 years in the wilderness, and I thought it would be fascinating to watch this compelling figure as he cajoled, bullied and prodded his fellow Democrats to win as many seats as they could.

Not that I expected them to win. It's hard to remember now, but back in early 2005 President Bush had just won an impressive re-election victory, the Republicans had gained seats in the House and Senate, and some analysts were predicting a new era of GOP dominance.

It didn't turn out that way. And that's why I think this ended up being such a good story. Few congressional elections change the political scene in a significant way; voters usually trudge to the polls and grudgingly return the incumbents to power. Not this time. Dissatisfaction with the Iraq war and frustration with corruption prompted voters to throw out the Republicans and hand the Capitol keys to the Democrats. The House hadn't changed hands in 12 years--and before that, not four 40 years.

Posted by Frank James at 2:18 pm CDT

Our own Naftali Bendavid, deputy chief of the Chicago Tribune’s Washington bureau, has a new book “The Thumpin’, that chronicles Rep. Rahm Emanuel and the Democrats’ takeover of Congress. The title comes from President Bush’s characterization of the defeat Republicans experienced at Democratic hands last fall.

The book grew out of a post-election article Naftali wrote based on his exclusive year-long access to Emanuel, the peppery and profane Chicago-area congressman and former Clinton White House political operative who ran the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s successful efforts in 2006.

To mark the book’s publication by Doubleday and its going on sale Tuesday, Naftali has agreed to blog tomorrow about Emanuel, the book, and the House Democrats.

So even though we know Swampers haven’t had a chance to read the book, don’t let that stop you from weighing in on Emanuel or joining our “Ask Naftali” session. Look for his posting early tomorrow and send in those questions or comments.

Posted by Jim Tankersley and Christi Parsons at 4:20 CDT

Sen. Barack Obama picked up a personal Secret Service detail today, after a committee made up of the top Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate determined that he was a "major candidate" in need of special protection.

The Secret Service confirms the appointment of the detail, the earliest ever assigned to a presidential candidate who didn't already merit protection because of another job, but did not say why Obama now needs it.

Privately, several congressional sources close to the senator said they believe there was no threat against Obama that raised specific concerns but that there had been a series of threats since he launched his campaign.

Two Secret Service agents stood out front of his Hyde Park home this afternoon.

Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) already has a detail because of her status as a former First Lady.

Posted by Frank James at 12:21 pm CDT

As a reporter who covered Carol Moseley Braun’s historic 1992 Senate campaign and got to know her fairly well back then, I just want to say how sorry I am that she sustained a broken wrist but how glad I am that nothing more happened to her during a mugging Friday night outside her Hyde Park home.

Braun's pretty feisty and street smart so I have to believe the mugger caught her off guard which sounds like the case.

Also, thank goodness for those University of Chicago students who came to her aid, Zachary Trayes-Gibson and Rachel McFadden, scaring off her attacker. Braun has referred to them as heroes and that’s what they are.

From the description of the attack and the short foot chase, it sounds like the attacker, who got away, didn’t have a gun though he apparently had a knife.

But Trayes-Gibson didn’t know that, at the time he commenced the chase, a fact his parents likely will mention to him if they haven’t already.

Posted by Naftali Bendavid at 1:40 pm CST

It’s a classic example of rapid response.

The Los Angeles Times published an article this morning suggesting that Barack Obama, in his 1994 memoir “Dreams From My Father,” exaggerated his role in a movement to rid certain Chicago apartments of asbestos. Specifically, the Times suggests that Obama downplayed the role of others in the Altgeld Gardens development and enhanced his own.

By 8:05 this morning, Obama’s campaign had sent reporters an e-mail titled “About that L.A. Times Story…”, offering a five-page, point-by-point rebuttal. “The implication is false, and the article is misleading,” it says, arguing that Obama’s role in the asbestos removal campaign was key and that he never exaggerated it. Given the detail in the document, it was clear the Obama campaign had been ready for the article and was pulling material together for some time. (The rebuttal is posted below.)

Posted by Christi Parsons at 2:50 p.m. CST

Some big Chicago unions are unhappy with him, but Democratic Mayor Richard Daley shrugged it off with a smile today.

It's true the Chicago police union isn't endorsing his bid for reelection, but Daley said he thinks that's actually a "strong message for me."

Mayor Daley at the Capitol today. Tribune Photo by Pete Souza

Sen. Dick Durbin plays host to a group of mayors from Illinois in his Capitol office. Chicago Tribune photo by Pete Souza.

Posted by Christi Parsons at 1:51 pm CST

The sandwiches he served were nice and the view from his office is spectacular, but Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) was under no illusion as to why thirty Illinois mayors were so eager to join him for lunch today.

"I know many of you will be coming to me for earmarks," Durbin told the mayors, referring to the process by which Congress doles out federal money for special projects to local officials who come calling every year.

Now that Democrats have taken over and Durbin is the second-in-command in the U.S. Senate, he’s in a position to give Illinois communities a leg up in that process – whether they’re seeking money for a new bridge, a road or a municipal building.

Posted by Frank James at 1:58 pm CDT

An observation about yesterday’s presidential news conference. Over the years, it has become almost axiomatic that the Washington press corps cares mainly for scandals, especially if sex is involved, while ignoring issues of great moment.

But at yesterday’s White House Rose Garden press conference, the White House reporters' first 13 or so questions to President Bush had to do with important affairs of state – his policy towards North Korea and the continuing difficulties for the U.S. in Iraq dominated the first 13 or so questions.

(Official White House photo by Paul Morse.)

Posted by Jeff Zeleny at 8:39 am CDT

KISUMU, Kenya -- Michelle Obama joined her husband, Sen. Barack Obama, in taking an HIV test here today as thousands of jubuliant admirers cheered the mere sight of the man they have come to adore.

After their caravan barreled through town, the Obamas toured a medical clinic before walking up the steps into a mobile AIDS testing center. They took the test together, they said, to encourage African men and women to also be tested for the disease that effects about 15 percent of the people here.

Posted by John D. McCormick at 11:37 am CDT

Meeting in Chicago this morning, members of the Democratic National Committee passed a new rule that will punish presidential candidates and states who violate the DNC nominating calendar by campaigning in states out of order.

The new rule would take away the candidate's delegates at the party's summer nominating convention, although that punishment could be overruled by a credential committee before the convention.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Monday, August 14, as compiled by the Associated Press.

First Lady Laura Bush is campaigning for congressional candidate Peter Roskam at a luncheon in Chicago.

3:30 p.m. YAALON-LEBANON — Former Israeli Defense Force Chief of Staff Moshe Yaalon holds a briefing for congressional staffers, administration advisors and policy insiders on the crisis in Lebanon.
Location: Room 188, Russell Senate Office Building.

Posted by Jeff Zeleny at 8:36 a.m.

This morning at O'Hare, passengers were bracing for the worst. And I was among them.

No wonder, given the fact that this email bulletin arrived long before sunrise: "United strongly recommends that passengers arrive at the security checkpoint at least 3 hours prior to scheduled departure for all flights."

So how long did it take this traveler to get through security? 12 minutes.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Friday, July 7, as compiled by the Associated Press.

President Bush is in Chicago, where he's breakfasting with business leaders, holding a press conference at 9 a.m. and later campaigning for Illinois Republican gubernatorial candidate Judy Baar Topinka and visiting the Cabot Microelectronic Corp. in Aurora.

The Labor Department is releasing the unemployment report for June.

July 7 - 11. FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL — Second session of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, focusing on life in the Canadian province of Alberta, evening concerts celebrating African American music from New Orleans, Latino music of Chicago, basketweavers from a wide variety of geographical regions and other events.
Location: On the Mall between 7th and 14th Streets NW.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Friday, June 23, as compiled by the Associated Press.

President Bush is attending a kids' Tee-ball game on the White House lawn.

Vice President Cheney is in Chicago, speaking on the economy this morning at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and later campaigning for congressional candidate Dave McSweeney.

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Wednesday, June 21, as compiled by the Associated Press.

The National Transportation Safety Board is holding its second day of hearings on last year's runway overrun by a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 at Chicago Midway Airport.
Location: NTSB offices, 429 L’Enfant Plaza

President Bush is in Vienna, meeting with Austrian and EU officials.

The Educational Testing Service is releasing its results of a 6th annual nationwide survey of Americans’ views on key education issues. 11 a.m.

Posted by Mark Silva at 4:45 pm CDT

“This is the year, right?” President Bush asked Chicago Cubs manager Dusty Baker, as the president entered the Cubs clubhouse in the season opener at Cincinnati's Great American Ball Park today. "Dusty Baker, good to know you,'' the president said, turning for smiles for the cameras.

"Smile,'' the president told Baker, who complied and said: "I'll do what I got to do.''

Posted by Frank James at 5:26 pm CST

In case anyone was wondering how much it costs for the United States Postal Service to maintain the hulk of the vacated main post office building that straddles the Eisenhower Expressway in downtown Chicago, it's $2 million a year.

That's the amount the General Accountability Office, Congress's investigative agency, gives as the postal service's "annual holding costs" for keeping that choice piece of real estate near the Sears Tower.