Forrest Claypool is the Charlie Brown of Cook County Politics

By Kevin Robinson in News on Nov 3, 2010 2:30PM

Forrest Claypool, who launched an independent bid against Democrat Joe Berrios for Cook County Tax Assessor, lost last night. Claypool told WBEZ that he was counting on the suburban "protest" vote to put him over the top. Unfortunately for Claypool, that vote never materialized, putting Berrios firmly in the assessor's seat.

The problem for Claypool, when he runs for county-wide office, is that he never grasps the importance of three key voting blocks in Chicago: Latinos, African-Americans and working-class whites. When he ran for County Board President, Claypool ran a campaign that was heavy on the rhetoric of the lakefront liberal, and light on a real message for the very people that Claypool's policies might help. If he's not going to run a real campaign for county-wide office, maybe Claypool should stop running for county-wide office.