Obama photo by Radiospike Photography. We’ve been waiting for the moment when Hillary would acknowledge she’s no longer the front-runner. She did that this morning in Washington DC at a party for supporters. Obama thanked Hillary via his Web site, and had this to say: Obviously, I am thrilled and honored to have Senator Clinton's support. But more than that, I honor her today for the valiant and historic campaign she has run. She shattered......

With the last primaries in this seemingly endless Democratic primary season finally over, Barack Obama took the stage in St. Paul MN to address supporters. "Tonight I can stand before you and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for president of the United States," Obama declared. Speaking to supporters in New York, Hillary Clinton congratulated Obama, while leaving the end of the nomination battle open. "Now the question is where do we go......

Last Thursday the Illinois State Board of Elections finalized its list of delegates selected in the February 5 primary. For Republicans, it's simple: John McCain has 54 delegates, Mitt Romney has 3. For Democrats, though, the complex rules of their party primary mean that 69 delegates will go to the convention to vote for Barack Obama, and 31 will vote for Hillary Clinton. Also tagging along will be a gaggle of superdelegates, some of whom......

With Democrats hell-bent on dragging their primary season all the way to the convention, and John McCain all but the GOP nominee, the question of who is more electable is weighing on the minds of many voters. SurveyUSA, whose polling is usually pretty good, put together a couple of nice maps. They interviewed 600 registered voters in each of the 50 states, for a total of 30,000 interviews, asking who they would vote for in......

Yesterday's primaries in Ohio, Texas, Vermont and Rhode Island saw John McCain assume the mantle of the Republican presidential nominee, with commanding victories in all but Texas, and Mike Huckabee's announcement that he's withdrawing from the race. "It's now important that we turn our attention not to what could have been or what we wanted to have been, but now what must be -- and that is a united party," Huckabee told told supporters in......

It's quite possible that the fat lady will sing for Hillary Clinton tomorrow. Or not. Sometimes politics is like baseball: you never know what's going to happen. Voters in four states will make some pretty important decisions tomorrow: Will Clinton go on to Pennsylvania? Or will her campaign end tomorrow night in a series of defeats in big, critical states? Will Barack Obama assume the mantle of the presumptive Democratic nominee, and will the GOP......

In a race that may be a precursor to the Ohio and Texas Democratic primaries in March, Barack Obama won a decisive victory in Wisconsin last night, leading Hillary Clinton by nearly 20 points. He also won Hawaii, taking over 75 percent of the vote in a state where he had campaigned as a "native son." His victories last night mark his ninth and tenth consecutive primary or caucus wins and put his pledged delegate......

It seems like everybody in town knows Tony Rezko's name. And why not? Besides being under federal indictment, he's a big player in Illinois politics. He's also gotten some national attention, with Former Gov. Jim Edgar musing that Rezko isn't really Obama's problem, and a photo of him with former President Bill Clinton surfacing on the Today show. So who is Tony Rezko, and why is he under indictment? Rezko immigrated to Chicago after high......

Barack Obama swept the Potomac Primary last night, bringing his winning streak to eight, and eclipsing Hillary Clinton in the delegate count, 1,059 to 956 among pledged delegates. John McCain continued his march to the nomination, winning all three states and adding to his already substantial delegate lead. Mike Huckabee came close in Virginia, doing well in rural areas and losing the state by less than 50,000 votes. He vowed last night to stay in......

At the risk of feeding the hype machine, we still have to offer a congratulations to Mr. Kanye West for pulling in some Grammy gold last night. While we still don't buy the Grammys as an accurate barometer of the music industry and what's actually, you know, good in music these days, it's still the industry's main award show so there's something to be said for coming away with multiple trophies. While the night's big......

Obama's landslide victories in the "Significant Saturday" contests - including Louisiana, Nebraska, Washington and the Virgin Islands, and his Sunday win in the Maine caucuses, could break the deadlock over pledged delegates for the Democratic nomination. Obama is hoping that these wins will generate the momentum that he needs to carry Ohio and Texas on March 4. Rhode Island and Vermont hold their primaries that day, too. Obama's wins this weekend were bad news for......

Patty Solis Doyle, Hillary Clinton's campaign manager and sister of 25th Ward Alderman Danny Solis, stepped down Sunday after a string of primary losses to Barack Obama. She will be replaced by Maggie Williams, who had been working in an informal top role on the campaign since Obama won Iowa. Solis Doyle cited the extraordinary length of the campaign, and the toll that it was taking on her and her family. Shortly after Solis Doyle......

Breaking news: Mitt Romney has dropped out of the presidential race. “If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention… I forestall the launch of a national campaign, and frankly I would be making it easier for Sen. Clinton or Obama to win... Frankly, in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign be a part of aiding a surrender to terror. He's backing McCain, and now the pressure......

Is it possible to be the inevitable presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in America and not have the funds to carry on? That's a question that Hillary Clinton's campaign is facing after she loaned her campaign $5 million. Clinton's staffers are also working without pay, and she loaned her campaign $5 million last month. Shortly after the announcement yesterday, an email went out to her supporters asking for additional funds: Photo via ankylosaur We......

John McCain won big in last night's Republican primaries, winning nine states and pushing his delegate count up to 559--not enough to win the nomination, but big enough to secure his standing as the front runner. Mike Huckabee got a boost last night as well, winning a string of upsets in the Southern states, enough to justify his continued candidacy. Mitt Romney, however, has bigger problems, winning only a handful of states, and with Huckabee......

Obama wins Illinois; Clinton takes Arkansas, Tennesee and Kansas. McCain took Illinois, Romney Massachusettes. [Trib, Trib] The weather's disgusting, and it's getting worse. There's a 100 percent chance of snow tomorrow. [National Weather Service] Walter Jacobson is joining the staff of WBEZ's 848. [S-T] Friend of the site Scott sent us this link with the subject line "AAAAAH." Amen, brother. The Shedd is closing its Oceanarium midyear for several months to update the facilities, which......

In a memo released to the press yesterday, Obama's campaign manager David Plouffe tried to manage expectations for tonight's returns: Two weeks ago, a Clinton campaign adviser told CBS News that they believed they could “wrap up” the nomination on February 5th. As the “inevitable” national frontrunner, tomorrow should be the day when she sews up the nomination or builds a formidable delegate lead. But because of Obama’s growing momentum across the country, the Clinton......

Today's the big day. Along with 24 other states, we're voting in Super Duper Tuesday. Up for grabs are 1688 pledged Democratic delegates, and 900 Republican delegates. Delegate-heavy states such as California, New Jersey, New York, Illinois and Georgia could play a deciding role in the outcome of both races. But with polling showing a tight Democratic race, and Obama working overtime to split votes in odd-numbered districts, tonight's results won't produce a nominee for......

While John McCain spent Super Bowl Sunday in Massachusetts, Mitt Romney made his pitch to the most reliably conservative county in Illinois. At a packed rally of several hundred people at the College of DuPage yesterday, he tried to convince voters here that he is the true conservative standard bearer. Romney vowed that as president he would "stand up for the principles of the Republican Party and to live in the house that Ronald Reagan......

With the race for the Democratic nomination showdown just days away, and polls showing Obama closing in on Clinton in key Super Duper Tuesday states, the Obama campaign made a huge ad buy during the Super Bowl in the Super Tuesday states, including Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia and Washington, (but,......

mmmmarshall captures the new Chicago winter wonderland: Millennium Park With Mega Tuesday looming, Oprah readies to hit the campaign trail again for Barack Obama, along with Caroline Kennedy. It looks as though Obama Girl's fifteen minutes of fame aren't up yet. Neil Steinberg and Eric Zorn give us a modern recasting of the Ballad of John Henry. A double dose of Drew: while attorney Joel Brodsky says recent photos acquired may show Stacy Peterson......

Photo by Joe M 500 Were the mother and son who were shot in Gary the victims of a car-jacking--or a domestic dispute? The marathon's official name is now the Bank of America Chicago Marathon. Hover bacon. (makes noise) Conrad Black has to report to prison on March 3. The Chicago Defender is going to be a weekly. Don't Clinton and Obama have to be polite to each other at tonight's debate...because one of......

The United States isn't the only country that is having federal elections this year. In March a by-election will be held in Toronto's Toronto Centre Riding. And our sister site, Torontoist has been posting a semi-regular column by their Environment Editor, Chris Tindal, who is running for parliament as the Green Party candidate. With Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama racing headlong into Super Tuesday, it seems that Canadians have already made up their mind. On......

John McCain changed careers last night, from the candidate who was almost out of money (and the race) last summer to quite possibly the Republican presidential nominee. He's now the man to beat. The close but critical win in Florida gave him 57 delegates and a solid lead going into Super Duper Tuesday, (there are no superdelegates at the Republican National Convention). Hillary Clinton won the non-binding Florida race, a largely symbolic victory that featured......

Does it even seem that great? Photo by Icarus the Bright. Well, when it rains it pours. Today, it's raining awful people and practices, so let's get all the coverage done at once, and then we'll try to chase it with some puppies or some such after this. To the jerk cave! Is Drew Peterson going to be on Fox's awful lie-detector show The Moment of Truth? Christ, is that show ever boring. Anyway,......

Media speculation over whether or not Bill will chill has been answered with the announcement of the former president's campaign itinerary. Next stop on the legacy-tarnishing express: Edwardsville, IL. Hillary's more controversial half will be campaigning in the small town near St. Louis tomorrow morning, hosting a "Solutions for America" rally at Southern Illinois University at 7:45 a.m. Yeah, Illinois is supposed to be Obama country, but according to a WBEZ report this morning, the......

With this year's presidential primaries perhaps the most exciting in recent memory, the media, and the nation, have paid very little attention to today's Democratic primary in Florida. Unlike the Republicans, who will let half of the state's delegates vote at the convention, the Democrats stripped Florida of its delegates to the August convention for holding a primary earlier than party rules allowed. As part of the party's castigation of the state, Democrats have agreed......

The South Carolina Democratic primary could have been a footnote in this year's race to the nomination. The Clintons fought hard in South Carolina, hoping that Bill's popularity in the black community could divide the vote, giving an unexpected win to Hillary. By the time the exit polls indicated that Obama had carried the state by wide margins, the Clintons were dismissing Obama's win as a by-product of the racial demographics in this southern state,......

The Tribune Editorial Board released its list of endorsements in the upcoming Illinois primaries on February 5. Among the list are 3rd District Congressman Dan Lipinski (striking a blow to challenger and progressive blog champion Mark Pera) and tenacious ice cream magnate Jim Oberweis -- running for Congress in the 14th District -- who is determined to get himself elected to some office, somewhere, some time (we hear Sugar Grove is looking for a......

Photo by Interrobang "You've got to be willing to get a cut in your face to get rewarded at the end of the night. If you don't want to do it, you're not going to win the Stanley Cup." -- Blackhawks coach Denis Savard after last night's 1-0 loss to the Blue Jackets. "Woof!" -- Siberian huskies at tomorrow's Tails on the Trails "sled pulling, skijorring, and speed demonstrations" at the Morton Arboretum. Skijorring......