T he biggest winner on November 3 may have been the guy who wasn't running. Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley picked up a bunch of political IOUs this fall, and he'll cash them in February 23 when he launches his own campaign for re-election.

Daley already was a formidable incumbent, but his efforts this fall make him all but unbeatable. No one can accuse him of failing to deliver solid city majorities for black and Latino candidates. No one, perhaps, except Bobby Rush, the South Side congressman who is inching toward a mayoral run. Rush's precampaign strategy is to tell everyone that the mayor's support for minority candidates is a sham. But with all the chits Daley picked up on Election Day, is anyone listening?

Certainly not John Stroger. Daley turned out the troops for the Cook County board president, who faced a tough challenge. These two guys go way back. Daley has never forgotten that Stroger, committeeman of the nearly all-black 8th Ward, endorsed him over Harold Washington in the 1983 mayoral primary. That year, the 8th Ward went 98 percent for Washington and Daley lost the election, but that was beside the point. Stroger was a stand-up guy in Daley's eyes, and the two have been helping each other ever since.

Aurelia Pucinski was considered the best hope to capture an office the GOP last held in 1969, largely on the strength of her name recognition and ethnic ties to the city's Northwest and Southwest sides. But Democratic committeemen in those wards heeded Daley's call and held their own for Stroger, even playing Pucinski to a draw in the 41st Ward, her home base and arguably the city's most Republican neighborhood. Come February, Stroger will be one of Daley's staunchest allies. And this time Stroger will find it easier to deliver black votes.

You might dismiss Stroger as just another faithful servant of the Democratic machine. But Daley also came through for Carol Moseley-Braun, who got hammered in the suburbs and lost her bid for re-election.

Six years ago, Moseley-Braun was elected with much fanfare, and her 1992 campaign took a page from Washington's magical ability to turn an election into a religious movement. Elected as a symbol, Moseley-Braun leaves office a profound disappointment. But it will be hard for Rush to pin her defeat on Daley. The mayor endorsed her early on and helped erase the nagging debt from her first campaign.

One week before the election, polls showed Moseley-Braun down 10 points. But she still almost pulled it out with a strong black turnout and solid majorities across the city.

Daley even delivered for City Treasurer Miriam Santos, who was crushed by incumbent Attorney General Jim Ryan in a race that never really got out of the starting gate.

Daley made Santos a star in 1989, when he plucked her from Illinois Bell Telephone Co. and appointed her treasurer. She was an instant hit: young, smart, attractive and-most important-a Latina. With Santos as his running mate, Daley won his first full term in 1991, and nearly eight of every 10 Hispanic voters came along for the ride. Latinos have been in the mayor's camp ever since.

Santos was always a longshot in the attorney general's race, especially after federal prosecutors released tape recordings that suggested she was soliciting campaign contributions in exchange for city business. And she and Daley have had their problems, dating back to 1991, when Santos accused the mayor of trying to remove her from several city pension boards.

But when Santos declared her candidacy for statewide office, Daley surprised everyone by endorsing her. And though she got trounced everywhere else, she defeated Ryan rather handily in the city with Daley's help. Despite their differences, Santos remains a valuable member of Daley's 1999 citywide slate.

All of these candidates were bound to do well in Democratic Chicago, but their reliance on the mayor shows how far he's come. Daley may never be beloved in the city's black wards, but he's no longer seen as Mayor Evil. In 1989, two years after Washington's death, Daley won the office in a bitter, racially charged election. And though he's faced black opponents in every campaign since-and is likely to again-each time the rhetoric grows softer.

Who knows? This time around, Hizzoner just might give Chicagoans something they haven't seen in more than 30 years: a boring mayoral election. ž

James Ylisela Jr. teaches urban reporting at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. He's the consulting editor ofThe Chicago Reporter.

Illinois IssuesDecember 1998 /41