Chicago Daily Observer

Sun-Times religion writer Susan Hogan/Albach reprises her rundown on how Chicago churchmen prospered in the wake of the Rev. Daniel McCormack scandal in this (farewell) blog. She did well in her short time at that newspaper, now being axed beyond recognition in paroxysms of budget-cutting.

Two years ago this month, the Rev. Daniel McCormack was arrested for molesting boys. He’s in prison now. And the top leaders in the Archdiocese of Chicago who might have stopped him have risen in their church positions.

If we can assign theoretical strategies to the top three Democratic contenders, we might say Hillary Clinton is aiming at the Big Bang—winning it all by the first week in March after picking up most of the marbles on Super Dooper Tuesday, Feb. 5.

Barack Obama is playing Smash-and-Grab—hoping to stop Clinton short in the early primaries and caucuses. Say he wins all Illinois and a goodly part of Iowa and California plus a good handful of delegates elsewhere—even gobbles up a chunk of New York. Then he knocks off a bunch of southern states on Super Tuesday where black voters tip the balance, ultimately building a majority by convention time.

This week’s subject, John Edwards, aims to light a fuse by concentrating his far more limited resources in Iowa, where his intensive efforts seem to be paying off. In Iowa he has sometimes led, but minimally stays bunched up ... Read More...