Even as Chicagoans prepare to hit the polls Tuesday, an issue left over from last November's election looms large for many Illinois politicos. Redistricting: that time-honored process of gerrymandering political district borders for the state Legislature and U.S. House of Representatives that has been elevated to an ugly art form across the Land of Lincoln. One of the few comforts emerging for Democrats as the dust clears from their national whooping in the last election, the party retained control of the General Assembly in Springfield; which translates into control of the redistricting process. This is one of only seven states where the Dems will be drawling the lines, but the once-in-a-decade process should be particularly interesting here given the City and statewide population declines and the power realignment that will likely occur in response to the alarming African-American flight from Chicago. more ›

In Illinois, the GOP picked up 11 House seats and the Senate seat formerly held by President Obama. Three of those were extremely tight races, with wins in single digit margins. Mark Kirk won over Alexi Giannoulis by under 2 percentage points, while nearly 6% of the vote went to independent candidates. While Bill Brady won't concede the race for governor, it looks like incumbent Pat Quinn will remain governor by a razor thin margin. more ›

This election season has been one of the most expensive in history in Illinois, in nearly every race for office. Last week, Fox News Chicago estimated that candidates in the Chicago area spent at least $61.1 million on television campaign advertisements alone. The Illinois Campaign for Political Reform reported that ten legislative races hit $1 million in campaign spending, with more than 60% of funds coming from legislative leaders. Even holding onto a Supreme Court seat shattered spending records. The ICPR reported this week $3.1 million dollars raised in the one-candidate retention contest of Justice Thomas Kilbride. more ›

We’re now heading into the home stretch in election season and both the gubernatorial and senate elections are tight races, according to polls released by the Tribune. Republicans Mark Kirk and Bill Brady both lead their respective races, but by thin margins. Kirk holds a 3 percent lead over Giannoulias (44% to 41%) while Brady has a 4 point lead over Quinn (43% to 39%). more ›

Senate candidates Alexi Giannoulias and Mark Kirk kicked off their debate series on NBC's "Meet the Press" yesterday. Host David Gregory apparently spent some time boning up on Illinois politics, hammering Congressman "Maybe I misrepresented my military record a little bit" and State Treasurer "I didn't know I was loaning money to mobsters and I'm sorry for losing money on your childrens' Bright Start accounts" on the ethics issues that have dogged the both of them for months. Ethics issues that Sun-Times Washington correspondent Lynn Sweet said in the prelude to the debate gave the impression of Illinois voters having to choose between "a serial embellisher and a mob banker." more ›

Forget the Governor's race or the stampede to oust Sen. Burris. One race that's just as intriguing that's heating up for the next election seems to be for the Cook County Board President's spot. Incumbent Todd Stroger's list of opponents seems to have grown longer with the addition of U.S. Rep. Danny Davis, who has announced he is forming an exploratory committee to look into running for the position. Said Davis, "One could say that Cook County government, after the illness and death of President John Stroger, has experienced a crisis in leadership." If Davis jumps into the fray, he'll join Tony Preckwinkle (who we recently interviewed - keep your eyes peeled for that one) and Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court Dorothy Brown, both of whom have already announced their candidacy for the spot. Republican commissioner Tony Peraica, who ran against Storger in 2006, has yet to announce if he'll run though Demorcat Forrest Claypool has already announced he won't run, instead completely leaving the Board. [CBS 2] more ›

In a surprise move, Cook County Commissioner Forrest Claypool announced yesterday afternoon that he would not be running for County Board President. Claypool, who ran as a reformer against John Stroger in the 2006 Democratic primary, said in an email to supporters that he has "decided not to be a candidate again for Cook County board president. Nor will I be a candidate for a third term on the board." He has also canceled his June 30 fundraiser, and "will be returning all checks." In an early May poll, Claypool was ahead of both incumbent Todd Stroger and 4th Ward Alderman Toni Preckwinkle. more ›

The Sun-Times is reporting that Paul Vallas won't be making a return trip to Chicago to run for Cook County Board President. Instead, he'll remain in New Orleans where he's currently heading up the Recovery School District in New Orleans. Vallas had also considered switching political parties and running for board president as a Republican. more ›

There's drama and excitement afoot in the tiny town of Mettawa, Illinois this week. Tuesday's mayoral vote between incumbent Barry MacLean and challenger Jess Ray ended in a tie with 143 votes for each candidate. Lake County Clerk Willard Helander said a 14-day waiting period will now ensue because there are still some absentee ballots that have yet to come in as well as a provisional ballot that may or may not be valid. The counting of these ballots will happen on April 21 and if there's still a tie after that, the race would be decided by a coin toss. Ray threw his hat in the ring after the village approved the building of a Costco store that resulted in two houses being taken over by eminent domain. [Lake County Sun-News, via Gapers Block] more ›

Don't forget! Today's the primary vote in the Fifth U.S. Congressional District race to fill the seat vacated by President Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. We recapped some links and info yesterday for you. Turn-out is looking to be about as low as expected based on our own personal experience voting (civic duty, holla!) and what readers have told us. And if you're stuck at work, we recommend following all the action with our pals over at The Windy Citizen. more ›

• Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night nor arrest stayed these fundraisers from the swift completion of their appointed money collecting for then-governor Rod Blagojevich.
• Quinn has company: Republican state Sen. Bill Brady of Bloomington has entered the 2010 race for governor.
• Another reason to not party in Wrigleyville: you'll deal with people like James Burns who, in a drunken rage, hijacked a taxi.
• Chicago Police have charged Robert Branch with assaulting seven different women in area parking garages.

Early voting has already begun in Illinois's Fifth Congressional District, so Chicagoist figured that with 25 candidates in the race to keep Rahm Emanuel's seat warm for him, we'd look at five each day all this week. more ›

The Supreme Court has said it will not review the lawsuit questioning Barack Obama's citizenship, a controversy that has also focused on an alleged "mystery" around Obama's birth certificate. Donofrio v Welles challenged both Obama and McCain's right to run for president as being natural-born citizens of the United States. There are still some appeals in other similar lawsuits floating around out there, but it's highly unlikely these cases will be heard as well. more ›

A group of Chicago residents living on the West Side have filed a suit against the Chicago Police Department for alleged harassment as they celebrated the outcome of the election. more ›

Mayor Daley’s unofficial city council floor leader, 40th Ward Ald. Pat O’Connor, says he’d like to run for Rep. Rahm Emanuel’s seat but only if the mayor gives him the thumbs up. Receiving Daley’s blessing would be a major bonus for any candidate competing in the special election for Emanuel’s soon-to-be-vacant House seat. So far, six other Chicago aldermen in have expressed some interest in the seat. Those aldermen are Manuel Flores (1st), Ariel Reboyras (30th), Tom Allen (38th), Margaret Laurino (39th), Tom Tunney (44th) and Eugene Schulter (47th). State Representative Sara Feigenholtz has filed her paperwork to run and may be joined by some colleagues. more ›

While the big party was in Grant Park, another historic win went down in Cook County last night as Pilsen native Anita Alvarez became not only the first female state's attorney in the county's history, but is also the first Hispanic state's attorney. With 93 percent of the results in, Alvarez garnered 69 percent of the vote to Republican challenger Tony Peraica's 26 percent; Green Party candidate Tom O'Brien had five percent. more ›

The CTA, Metra and the Office of Emergency Management and Communications are all working to handle the throngs of people expected to show up at Tuesday night’s rally in Grant Park. Complicating the plan is that they really have no idea how many people will attend, but they are planning for an event similar to the annual July 3 fireworks display--on steroids. more ›

We’re looking at 70 degree weather on election day, folks. Should be a great night to host a rally! more ›

In news that will surprise no one, The Swamp is reporting that all the tickets for Obama's election night event in Grant Park have been snapped up. A message on the wait-list website reads "Thanks for your interest. There are no remaining tickets for this event." Sorry, Charlie. So what if you still want to be there? Unticketed folks are going to have to hang out around the perimeter and probably won't be able to see much of anything, unless they set up some big-ass TV screens. Time to dig out that old transistor radio and tune into NPR. more ›

There's been a certain amnesia in the collective memory when it comes to the 2000 presidential election. Part of that can probably be traced to 9/11. The rest is pure buyer's remorse. And perhaps now that Bush has some of the lowest approval ratings ever recorded, it might be the perfect time to revisit that perverse moment, without precedent in modern US history, where for 36 days we weren't sure who our next president would be. more ›

On the heels of her big victory in West Virginia, Hillary Clinton is now reeling from yet another big endorsement for Obama, this time from perennial Presidential bridesmaid John Edwards. more ›

We just pissed away, oh, an hour perusing the Chicago Postcard Museum. Howdy, The City Beautiful, Hi, Hi There Toots and the Aragon are our faves. more ›

Was it an over-eager desire to do our civic duty? Was it a whim? Or did we just want to check out what was inside the building in Welles Park? Who cares - our primary voting is done! more ›

If you're anything like Chicagoist, you're counting the days (only 382!) 'til Shrub is out and new leadership is in. And hey, America, let's not screw it up this time. more ›

...than Ed Smith's video blog? As alderman of the West Side's 28th Ward, Smith has a reputation as (sort of) an independent. Coming into office with Harold Washington in 1983, Smith was behind the smoking ban, has pushed for federal prosecution of former police commander Jon Burge, and generally annoys Mayor Daley. Now he wants to be Cook County Recorder of Deeds. As The Reader's Mick Dumke pointed out, this election may be the Year... more ›

One of the races that we've been watching this winter is the Democratic Primary in the 3rd Congressional District. Incumbent Dan Lipinski is hoping voters will send him back to D.C. for a third term, but he's facing a tough challenge from Mark Pera, an assistant county prosecutor from Western Springs. That challenge may have gotten a little tougher yesterday when Cook County Commissioner Forrest Claypool endorsed Pera. If you don't remember the 2004 general... more ›

Mechanics at Chicago-based United Airlines may soon vote to join the The Teamsters union. After a two-year organizing drive at the airline, the Teamsters filed a petition for a new representation election with the National Mediation Board on Monday. The 10,000 mechanics at United are currently members of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA). A vote to switch unions among the mechanics comes at a turbulent [Ed. note: Hay-oh!] time for United, as the legacy... more ›

Looks like Blago's at it again. State legislative leaders are meeting again tomorrow to continue working on transit/casino/construction/dick-wagging, with the plan to head back to Springfield next week for--all together now--a special session. Maybe they could have a Very Special Session in which we learn about molestation or suicide or teen pregnancy. Blagojevich met with three legislative bigwigs today, but Mike Madigan wasn't one of them. Schedulig conflicts, says Madigan's camp. Never RSVPed to... more ›

Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the death of Harold Washington. The Chicago of 1983 was very different from the Chicago of 2007: factories were shutting down, and white middle-class homeowners were leaving the city in droves, taking their property taxes and urban stability with them. An alarming upswing in crime and drugs, coupled with escalating racial tensions left many Chicagoans nervous about the future. Richard J. Daley had been dead for seven years, and... more ›

It was twenty years ago today that Mayor Harold Washington collapsed at his desk in City Hall. He died of a massive heart attack. In 1983, Washington surprised Chicago by winning the Democratic Primary for Mayor. He won with 36% of the vote, beating out incumbent Mayor Jane M. Byrne and Richard M. Daley. In the April 1983 general election, Washington received 52% of the vote to become Chicago’s first black mayor, trumping Bernard Epton... more ›