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The Mechanics
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Cook County Board Thu Jan 07 2010

Cook County Board President Candidates Debate Tonight--Catch the Extremely Specific Fever!

The Better Government Association and ABC-7 are sponsoring a debate [PDF] between the candidates for the Democratic nomination for the Cook County Board Presidency tonight at 7pm on Channel 7. The BGA, now headed by Andy Shaw, has been aggressive in pairing with local media outlets. It will be interesting to see if "camps" are created--will everybody go after nominal frontrunner Dorothy Brown? Or actual front runner Preckwinkle? Do any of the candidates have a strategy to accent some element of their campaign, or downplay something?

My read: Stroger has nothing to lose. If he's still got the fire in his belly to win, he's going to go after the person splitting his base, Dorothy Brown. That's a big IF though. Preckwinkle has the most to gain simply by increasing her name recognition. The others would have to be crazy to team up on her, particularly Stroger. Also, there's that white guy.

I don't know how honed Clerk Brown's or Water Reclamation District President Terry O'Brien's (afore mentioned white guy) debating skills are, or even whether they consider this debate as that important, get-out-the-vote wise. For both, it may just be a matter of keeping what they have and focusing on turning out their base.

 
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Feature

Parents Still Steaming, but About More Than Just Boilers

By Phil Huckelberry / 2 Comments

It's now been 11 days since the carbon monoxide leak which sent over 80 Prussing Elementary School students and staff to the hospital. While officials from Chicago Public Schools have partially answered some questions, and CPS CEO Forrest Claypool has informed that he will be visiting the school to field more questions on Nov. 16, many parents remain irate at the CPS response to date. More...

Civics

Substance, Not Style, the Source of Rahm's Woes

By Ramsin Canon / 2 Comments

It's not surprising that some of Mayor Emanuel's sympathizers and supporters are confusing people's substantive disputes with the mayor as the effect of poor marketing on his part. It's exactly this insular worldview that has gotten the mayor in hot... More...

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Mechanics is the politics section of Gapers Block, reflecting the diversity of viewpoints and beliefs of Chicagoans and Illinoisans. More...
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