Remember the old pop song lyric: “Everybody loves somebody sometime”? That, in a nutshell, explains the March 3 Democratic primary in the 5th congressional district.  I mistakenly said John Fritchey would likely win…but hey, I just wrote that to see if you were paying attention.  Back to the song title.
The “Big Four” – John Fritchey and Sara Feigenholtz, both state representatives, County Commissioner Mike Quigley, and Alderman Pat O’Connor (40th) – spent a combined $1,911,485, got a cumulative 37,467 votes, but didn’t generate much “love.” Quigley eked out a victory …

I live in the Fifth Congressional District and will vote in the special election on Tuesday for Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley to replace Rahm Emanuel who left Congress to become President Obama’s Chief of Staff.  Even though this primary has been somewhat overshadowed by the Roland Burris situation, a large turnout of voters was never predicted for this race.  And because there are thirteen candidates, this election is a lot like a lottery.  Anyone can win.  No one should be surprised if the winner has somewhere between 15 and …

This column specializes in crunching numbers and making predictions. For the March 3 Democratic primary in the Northwest side’s 5th congressional district, those crunched numbers are:
620,387: The district’s 2005 population.
345,000 (est.): The district’s registered voters.
124,098: The Democratic turnout in the Feb. 2008 presidential primary.
67,499-52,671: The margin by which Obama beat Clinton.
578: The number of precincts in the district — 486 in Chicago and 92 in the western suburbs.
46,774: The votes that victor Rahm Emanuel got in the 2002 Democratic primary, in a turnout of 92,625.
33,907: The number of votes that …