Chicago Daily Observer

Projections by Fox News as of 8: 50 p.m. Iowa time were for the Democrats: Obama…37%; Edwards…30.9%...Clinton…29.68%.

For the Republicans: Huckabee…34%;; Romney…25%; Thompson…14%; McCain …13%...Giuliani…11%....Paul…10%.

I will assume these numbers hold or at least aren’t turned upside down by some quirk. If so, I want to take the Democrats first because the numbers will affect the Republican choice ultimately as well. We must remember that all along, Republicans have been facing the specter of 2008 being a variant of 1974 after Watergate. But the rise of Barack Obama gives us the chance to forestall that calamity.

That is because, given the makeup of the Democratic party today, Obama runs as very-very strong chance of taking the Democratic nomination. The reason I have been writing so tediously (to some people’s minds about McCarthy and ... Read More...

Well, it may be a new year, but Cook County government has some nagging old business left to settle. There’s the not so trivial matter of passing a budget for the fiscal year that began on December 1, 2007. Being over a month into the new fiscal year without a budget is problematic, even more worrisome is the fact that negotiations appear to be at a standstill. The holdup is over how to fill a $288 million deficit—almost 10 percent of the County’s $2.9 billion operating budget.

Some critics will say so what, deriding Cook County as nothing more than a retirement home for precinct captains. Now, there’s certainly more than a little truth in that accusation. That said, the media fixation with the “friends and family” approach to patronage at the County completely obfuscates the essential services County delivers, including such basics as the criminal justice system. Then there’s ... Read More...