After decades of feinting in the direction of running for Illinois governor, Bill Daley, son of the legendary “Boss,” brother of the longest serving mayor of Chicago with another brother long ensconced on the Cook County Board of Commissioners, finally took the plunge—sort of.

He announced an “exploratory committee,” which is typically Step One in a real campaign. However, it gives him a bit of wiggle room should he decide to bow out if Attorney General Lisa Madigan, as …

No, I’ve not had a religious epiphany, and maybe it’s a terrible pun, but I’m suggesting an updated version of the US Senate Select Committee to Study Government Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities—known as the Church Committee, after its chair, Senator Frank Church, a liberal Democrat from Idaho, of all places.
That committee was created to examine such stuff as assassinations, domestic spying and related over-reach by the CIA and other top-secret government agencies. Its findings gave rise to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and the FISA …

Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have seen their positive ratings slip slightly, possibly because of the three mini-scandals the Republicans are maximizing. It’s only one poll, which may have other causalities, but the mini-scandals could have been minimized had not a bunch of ostensibly smart folks made some stupid moves.
Take one obvious example: The investigation into the IRS targeting of conservative groups who were seeking tax exemptions was going on for months and word was working its way up the White House food chain. But somehow, some top-level genius …

“Economically, Could Obama be America’s Best President?” asks the headline.
Now where might you read such stuff?
The Nation?
In These Times?
The American Prospect?
Or might you be hearing it from the progressive cable-babblers at MSNBC?
Guess again.
It comes from that self-acclaimed “capitalist tool,” the very conservative Forbes Magazine, by its very conservative columnist Adam Hartung, a business consultant.

 
Hartung, acknowledging our record-high markets, revival of the auto industry, lowered unemployment rate and significant reduction in the deficit, interviews Bob Deitrick, co-author of “Bulls, Bears and the Ballot Box” in the May 16 issue of Forbes …

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the election of Harold Washington as mayor of Chicago. There have been numerous tributes and commemorative celebrations honoring the city’s first ever mayor of color—and first reformer in generations, despite the fact that Harold was taken from us before his second term was less than a year old.
Another Chicago guy similar of color—okay, maybe a little lighter—went Harold one better 25 years later and landed himself in the White House. The latter guy acknowledges that Harold was part of his inspiration for settling in …

Here in Paris, where we’ve been eating, drinking and otherwise indulging our senses, little attention is being paid to recent revelations about the Benghazi attack that killed four including an ambassador. I haven’t seen what the American commentariat is saying, but here are some of my thoughts about their potential political impact.
   It’s clear that Susan Rice’s “talking points” for Sunday talk shows were sanitized by the State Department. It’s clear in one of those “what-did-we-know-and-when-did-we-know-it” episodes that we were well aware it was a terrorist attack involving, maybe led by, …

It’s a very long shot, but one aspect of a federal lawsuit filed by Tom Geoghegan challenging the Chicago City Council’s 2012 ward remap, could have revolutionary implications, potentially outlawing political gerrymandering.

Geoghegan, one of our most creative constitutional lawyers, filed it a few weeks ago on behalf of the League of Women Voters and other individuals affected by the remap. It alleges the map violates the Supreme Court’s “one-person, one-vote” ruling and denies citizens representatives of their own choosing by gerrymandering the wards into bizarre shapes …

Last week was the week that wasn’t for so-called education reformers across the land—especially those trying to shut down 54 Chicago schools.
As protests against the Chicago closings continued, more that 100 students boycotted a mandatory standardized test, crying “enough.” At the same time, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn cut off funds for the city’s largest charter school operator, which had been passing out sweetheart contracts to family and friends of its board members and engaging in political activities for candidates friendly to Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

…

We still have much to learn about the motives and goals of the brothers who bombed the Boston Marathon, killing three and maiming dozens more—later killing a campus policeman. But even as we begin learning more, two issues emerge that are certain to affect our politics and lives in the future. One is the question of ever-diminishing privacy; the other impacts the entire immigration debate.
First, the latter.
A fragmented family of Chechen Muslims was granted asylum here nearly a decade ago. …

Margaret Thatcher is being put to rest, but a couple of powerful American women—with radically different views from Britain’s Iron Lady—have national and Illinois politics frozen until they make up their minds about forthcoming elections.
There’s an amusing parallel between Hillary Clinton and Lisa Madigan, the attorney general of Illinois. Clinton is the prohibitive favorite for the 2016 Democratic nomination and the presidency should she choose to run.  Same, almost, for Madigan in the 2014 governor’s race. She is far and away the state’s most popular politician.
 

 
 
Both women have their lips zipped, …