the pet / February 26, 2007 1:13 AM

My, but look at the candidates for mayor!

Honestly, it feels like going to buffet where the only choices are shit and corn.

Daley isn't getting my vote on account of the fact that I'm still pissed about what he did regarding the living wage ordinance, Brown isn't getting my vote because I saw her on "Chicago Tonight" and I was extraordinarily displeased with her constantly interrupting "Dock" when he was trying to answer his questions (well, there's other stuff, too, but that really irritated the fuck out of me. I mean, ACT LIKE ADULTS!)

I'm probably going to go with "Dock," because... well, why not. Daley's going to win anyway. I just don't want to vote for Daley.

Other than that, it's been mighty quiet here in the 33rd. Luckily I have friends in the 35th who have been keeping me up to date, especially with all the lit they're receiving as of late.

Carlotta / February 26, 2007 1:23 AM

I'll be voting for Dorothy Brown because she seems to be the candidate with the best shot of beating Daley, however slim that is in fact is.

I don't think I'll vote for city clerk, even though Del Valle is a good guy, because that office is totally unnecessary.

Tunney is uncontested in the 44th ward, so there's no reason to cast a vote there.

I should've voted last week to get this out of the way!

unmake / February 26, 2007 5:37 AM

Temoc Morfin for Alderman in the 25th.

4point44 / February 26, 2007 8:33 AM

just say no.

J / February 26, 2007 9:17 AM

Someone other than Daley is running?

Hal / February 26, 2007 10:14 AM

Voted early (and, damn, as easy as they said it was) and voted for Cappleman for the 46th Ward. Abstained from the other three.

WhiteGuyThai / February 26, 2007 10:17 AM

I'll be voting for the people of my community, for I know they won't turn out. That way I can keep the little man down while I and my white-as-milk brethren can keep our pockets filled with the crumbs of the many.
Stay at home, people! I'll handle this.

jaymce / February 26, 2007 10:22 AM

can i vote to get rid of frank kruesi somehow? seriously. HOW does this guy keep his job?!?!

WhiteGuyThai / February 26, 2007 10:26 AM

I said stay at home, jaymce.

I'll handle this.

Seriously, are you even registered?

Terminal Verbosity / February 26, 2007 11:13 AM

Not for Daley 'cause The Reader told me not to.

skafiend / February 26, 2007 11:19 AM

can i vote to get rid of frank kruesi somehow? seriously. HOW does this guy keep his job?!?!

Kruesi? You mean the CTA guy? Sorry, he has nude photos of Daley rubbing his genitals against The Bean. Kruesi is CTA Director For Life.

As for voting, probably voting for Brown, if only to keep Daley "honest" and scare him a little by giving an opponent a double digit vote percentage.

Spook / February 26, 2007 11:57 AM

Bill “Dock” Walls for Mayor( protest vote)

Miguel del Valle for City Clerk

And as much as it really pains me, I'm gonna hold my nose and vote Jesse Granato
for Aldercreatureman of the 26 ward.

I wish I wasn't redistricted out of the 35th ward because I'd love to vote for Alderman Rey Colón

Cheryl / February 26, 2007 12:20 PM

Not Daley, though I haven't decided which Not Daley to vote for. I don't think anyone is running against Dick Mell, but if they are I'll vote for Mell to protest their piss-poor campaign(s). I'd really like to vote *for* someone for a change, but it's not happening this year.

B / February 26, 2007 1:01 PM

Voting for Daley because I know nothing of the other candidates.

Live in the 46th, enthusiastically voting for Cappleman. After 20 years it's time to give someone else a shot in Uptown.

B / February 26, 2007 1:01 PM

Voting for Daley because I know nothing of the other candidates.

Live in the 46th, enthusiastically voting for Cappleman. After 20 years it's time to give someone else a shot in Uptown.

Emerson Dameron / February 26, 2007 2:37 PM

With all due respect, it's none of your business.

An unrelated note of completely uninformed speculation: Despite the strength of the developer/tourist/fatalist lobby, Daley seems to be right on the edge of a significant backlash. But, like his buddy W, he'll skate through the election before he really starts to stink.

anthony / February 26, 2007 3:27 PM

Daley and Del Valle

Christopher / February 26, 2007 3:27 PM

Cappleman for the 46th Ward.

Rick K / February 26, 2007 3:31 PM

Richard Daley--I love the guy

skafiend / February 26, 2007 4:45 PM

But, like his buddy W, he'll skate through the election before he really starts to stink.

I see it as Daley skating through before anyone NOTICES he really stinks. He's already got the stink thing down.

Appleby / February 26, 2007 5:23 PM

No way I'm voting for Dorothy Brown. She's been running a corrupt city office for long enough She used to be an auditor for the CTA (what a recommendation!) and then brought her incompetence to the Cook County Circuit Court Clerk's Office, where she pressured employees to donate to her campaign.

I'm going with Bill "Dock" Walls.

daniel / February 26, 2007 5:41 PM

I'm voting for Blagg the Axman, can we start a last minute write-in campaign? His even-handed distribution of rage and vengeance seems very populist to me.

jj / February 26, 2007 5:47 PM

Your neighborhood election judge here reminding you that if you do go vote, make sure you're going to the right polling place. Visit www.chicagoelections.com to find yours. The judge will ask for your name, look it up, read your name and address aloud, and ask you to sign the slip. (These procedures and guidelines are established by voting rights law to protect your right to vote - you do not need to show an ID, but having your voters card may help you remember which precient you are in.) You will then vote with a paper ballot and sharpee-type marker, or with a card inserted into the electronic machine. After voting, you will bring your paper ballot back to the scanner and send it through. Electronic voters, this is done at the machine for you automatically, and there is a paper record of your vote - look at the printer at the side of the machine to review it.

If they don't have your name at the polling place, make sure you are at the right polling place, and at the right table (some polling places have more than one precient in them). Your voters registration card might help you here. If they still can't find you, you have the right to cast a provisional ballot. Provisional ballots do not always "count" in the end (determined days later by the lawyers downtown, not by us judges), so make every effort to cast a regular ballot to make your vote count. Most often, you are just in the wrong polling place.

Remember, if you write in a candidate that is not a registered write in candidate, no one will see it other than your friendly neighborhood election judges, so you're not "sending a message" by doing that - although I did appreciate the laugh when I opened up the vote for Daffy Duck last time. If you want to "send a message" my personal recommendation is to either vote for another candidate on the ballot or do not vote at all in that particular race. (You can undervote and the rest of your votes in all other races will still count.) Happy voting!

jj / February 26, 2007 5:55 PM

Ha! X-posted with Daniel - I'd love to see a Blagg write-in!

Spook / February 26, 2007 6:43 PM

Appleby:

Gawd, have I lived here that long that I forgot to make such a basic connection! Actually I remember seeing her campaiging wearing a mink coat that Queen Elizabeth would envy when she ran the first time. I think I voted green then.

Of course I do speculate that Brown is a Daley plant to draw votes as she announced when Jesse Jr was close to declaring before he chickened out.

And its not that she has been "visible"

Maybe Daley promised her a cut of the heroine profits that his employees probably continue to sale in the city water department

Michael / February 27, 2007 7:08 AM

Daley.

uptown girl / February 27, 2007 9:09 AM

shiller for 46th. i don't want uptown turning into lincoln park.

JFS / February 27, 2007 9:17 AM

I am voting for Cappleman for 46th.

He will not turn Uptown into Lincoln Park. Shiller is more likely to do that with all of the developer-donations to her campaign.

skafiend / February 27, 2007 9:26 AM

I'm voting for Mary Ann Smith because she made sure I had no other choice! Yay!!!

Spook / February 27, 2007 9:31 AM

Seems that Cappleman
and Shiller should be working together. As big and corupt as the machine is....here are two seemingly like minded people( in the poltical minority) fighting against each other. Of course he is running against her. Nice.

Andrew / February 27, 2007 10:40 AM

Naisy Dolar.

matthew / February 27, 2007 11:10 AM

Daley for life!

fluffy / February 27, 2007 12:14 PM

I voted for Pedro

Dan R / February 27, 2007 12:38 PM

After hesitating, the arrow next to Dorothy Brown was filled in. I just couldn't pull the lever for Da Mare/Hizzoner Jr. My sincere hope is that Daley gets under 65% (God it's sad that's my best case scenario). I think if he gets less than 65%, the city council might get some cajones and start talking back, not just rubber stamping everything.

I also voted for Rey Colon for Alerman of the 35th. I was pretty sure I was going to vote for him all along, but after getting some nasty, anonymous anti-Colon fliers (clearly from Vilma Colom), that sealed the deal.

Jen / February 27, 2007 1:23 PM

Not voting (only because I'm not an official Chicago resident) but I do have an opinion on the matter. For the people who say that Daley will start to stink after the election goes down....yeah, he's been in office for nearly 20 years and he hasn't been able to amount the significant corruption that W did in only 8. That's not to say that there won't be more to come (I know, poor phrasing) but there's a reason why people keep voting him in...it's a functional corruption that has been in this city for ages. Corruption didn't start with Daley...either one of them.

vise77 / February 27, 2007 1:28 PM

Jen: What part of the the city corruption is "functional"?

The schools? (How many more decades should we give Daley on this one?)

The CTA?

The city's declining affordability?

The recylcing program?

The TIF process?

The traffic management?

The overbudget O'Hare expansion?

The midnight raid on Meigs (when will that park be done, by the way?)

A downtown vacancy rate higher than that of Manhattan's?

People vote Daley in because the majority of city residents are frightful little children who can't imagine this city without a Daley at top--that's discounting the pukes who've been bought off with city jobs, of course.

Jen / February 27, 2007 1:50 PM

-Schools are a national problem in general. There is a 30% drop out rate in high schools in the US, I'm not going to put that one on Daley alone.

When I say functional corruption I mean shit still gets done. I don't endorse corruption but if you talk to anyone who has lived here an extended period of time they'll say that the city has never looked better (i.e. 70s and 80s). That's a hard fact to negate in the long run. That being said, it's easy to see why he's been re-elected. All your points are significant but when you look at the big picture it's very easy to see why he'll win. I know that's a simplistic arguement but most people will vote along those lines. Again, I'm not on either side of the issue. I'm not a resident.

p.s. Meigs is supposedly going to be apart of the plan for the Olympics if we get it.

vise77 / February 27, 2007 2:07 PM

Shit gets done? Bullshit on that, too. Sure, garbage gets picked up and streets get clean, but the city budget is getting weaker every year--these are decisions Daley makes--as much of our infrastructure collapses.

As well, why does Daley get a pass on schools? He took them over a while ago--what's the grace period?

You people are way too forgiving of local leadership. Fuck it--you get what you deserve when you vote for Daley, et al. I am so fucking sick of the Chicago attitude that keeps on forgiving corruption. Reminds me of the shithole that is Moscow. Or New Olreans.

skafiend / February 27, 2007 2:09 PM

When I say functional corruption I mean shit still gets done.

Jen, gotta say, if you haven't read this, check it out...

He's Going to Win

Jen / February 27, 2007 2:13 PM

Hey man, I'm just telling you why people vote the way they vote. It's not the way I vote.

p.s. Never underestimate the appeal of garbage getting picked up, streets being clean, and trees getting planted.

Jen / February 27, 2007 2:19 PM

Ok, do you people not read? I know about a lot of the crap that he's done/is doing. I'm just saying why a lot of people keep voting for him. That's it.

skafiend / February 27, 2007 2:35 PM

OK, sorry if I misinterpreted, but when you wrote this:

When I say functional corruption I mean shit still gets done.

was that YOU saying that or were you paraphrasing what OTHER people think? Not accusing or anything, just trying to understand what parts are your person opinions on Daley and what parts are just explaining why people vote for him.

Jen / February 27, 2007 2:52 PM

That was me saying what OTHER PEOPLE THINK and how that influences their vote.

My personal opinion is barely there...the only part that is mine regards the schools and how there is a 30% high school drop out rate nationally. That's where I'll argue that it's not a unique Chicago (or Daley) issue.

C. H. / February 27, 2007 3:54 PM

I voted for Brown, and I used to like Daley. Lately he has been acting too much like a Republican ...

Big Box, corruption investigations getting a little too close, and frankly he has been in long enough.
Enough perks for the developers already - let's help the folks our federal government has turned their backs on.

KJ / February 27, 2007 4:51 PM

I'm not voting. I don't like any of the mayoral candidates and my ward in uncontested.

Jen / February 27, 2007 5:12 PM

That was me saying what OTHER PEOPLE THINK and how that influences their vote.

My personal opinion is barely there...the only part that is mine regards the schools and how there is a 30% high school drop out rate nationally. That's where I'll argue that it's not a unique Chicago (or Daley) issue.

JB / February 27, 2007 5:30 PM

how this city doesn't have a viable and effective recycling program, i will never understand.

i'm on my way to vote now, and it ain't gonna be for daley.

anthony / February 27, 2007 8:16 PM

Daley in a cakewalk, I wished this guy coached the Bears!
A born winner!

skafiend / February 27, 2007 8:46 PM

Ok, voted at about 6:45 p.m, hardly anyone there. Didn't really realize that the ballot would be that short (thank god no judges). Voted for Dorothy... sure, she's the other side of the same coin, but had to. Daley has to see SOMEONE take a noticable chunk out of his usual 86 percent of the vote. This lack of substantial people willing to run against him is RE-FUCKING-DICULOUS...

leelah / February 27, 2007 10:15 PM

I looked at Daley on stage the other night at the CPS/National Board event, then I looked at the Chicago teacher's union president on the other side of the stage and thought, "we're fucked." (in terms of our contract negotiations).