Chicago Daily Observer

Did you, for example, ever know a single fact about Joe Biden’s health care plan? Anything at all? But let me guess, you know Barack Obama’s bowling score. We are choosing a president, the next leader of the free world. We are not buying soap, and we are not choosing a court clerk with primarily administrative duties.

What’s more, the news media cut candidates like Joe Biden out of the process even before they got started. Just to be clear: I’m not talking about my husband. I’m referring to other worthy Democratic contenders. Few people even had the chance to find out about Joe Biden’s health care plan before he was literally forced from the race by the news blackout that depressed his poll numbers, which in turn depressed his fund-raising.

And it’s not as if people didn’t want this information. In focus groups that I attended or followed after ... Read More...

Some of the winners and losers from yesterday’s primaries were obvious, others not as much. Here are a few we’ve noticed:

Winner: Sandi Jackson. She routed longtime Seventh Ward boss William Beavers by winning nearly three-quarters of the votes cast in their committeeman showdown—not a year after beating his daughter, Darcel, for alderman.

Loser: Jesse Jackson Jr. Sandi’s husband lost the other two races he got involved in: his friend Kenny Johnson fell to Will Burns in the 26th state rep contest while Larry Suffredin finished third in the Democratic campaign for state’s attorney. Maybe Sandi’s the legitimate mayoral threat from the Jackson family.

Winners: Incumbent water reclamation district commissioners. All three held on, turning back aggressive, big-spending challengers.