show for a final vote during a special legislative session Gov. George Ryan called last December to re-enact a bill that toughened the penalty for illegal possession of a firearm. The Ryan measure didn't pass and Obama took some public heat, though he said he had to attend to a family emergency. It isn't clear whether this will be an issue in March.

Trotter and Obama argue Rush ill-serves the district, saying he hasn't gotten significant legislation passed during his eight years in office. They argue he fails to lead and he spends too much time focusing on local events instead of negotiating solutions at the federal level.

"Bobby Rush engages in divisive politics that promotes his name but [then] doesn't deliver the goods," says Obama. "The question here is not policy disagreements, but who can create coalitions."

Rush counters that he's done an excellent job. In fact, he worked to win the $100 million federal Empowerment Zone for the city, kept an Amtrak reservations center with 400 jobs in the district and brought $100 million to the university. He stresses that he's just beginning to gain influence.

"Seniority is the most important currency in Congress," says Rush. "I'm poised to be a subcommittee chair. This will greatly enhance my constituency."

But the Empowerment Zone, which targets federal dollars for job training and business development, may be just the example Rush shouldn't tout. Heralded as a coup in 1994, the program disintegrated into a battle between community groups and the administration of Mayor Richard Daley, which has tenaciously held on to the purse strings. Much of the promised money hasn't been delivered and few well-paying, long-term jobs have been created.

Rush's background is a confounding mixture of radicalism and conventionality. His mother was a Republican precinct captain on the city's North and West sides. Rush served in the U.S. Army for five years, yet was a co-founder in the 1960s of the Illinois Black Panthers, a grass-roots organization that worked outside the political system to empower blacks. It was a time when blacks were urged to carry guns to protect themselves against the police. Despite the anti-establishment rhetoric, Rush earned his name for developing the first national sickle cell anemia testing program.

Rush served as alderman of the South Side 2nd Ward and was a loyal Washington backer. In 1992, he made the move to Congress by winning 42 percent of the vote in a three-way race. He is a member of the powerful Commerce Committee. He has two master's degrees, one in political science and the other in theology

Obama was born in Hawaii, the son of a Kenyan father and Midwestern mother. He was a community activist in New York's Harlem and on Chicago's South Side, working in public housing and on school reform. He earned a law degree from Harvard and became the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. Obama moved to Hyde Park, and in 1995 published his memoir, Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance. He teaches constitutional law at the University of Chicago, and has held the 13th Senate District seat since 1997. Supporters include former gubernatorial candidate John Schmidt, Democratic power brokers William Singer and Newton Minow, former Illinois Senate President Philip Rock and Peter C. B. Bynoe, chairman of the Chicago Plan Commission.

That Obama earns this support is telling. His campaign aides say he's about halfway to his goal of raising more than $500, 000. He'll need that money to spread his name. A November poll for Rush found that only 22 percent of the district's likely voters knew of Obama.

And Obama's background hurts him with some. Lu Palmer, a longtime activist respected for his work on the Washington mayoral campaign, suspects Obama's supporters. "I don't like Obama. He has large Hyde Park liberal backing. He's barely been in the state Senate. Let him get his feet wet."

But Obama's energy is just what the district needs, say others. Alderman Toni Preckwinkle represents Hyde Park in the Chicago City Council. Her political career has coincided with Rush's but she is supporting Obama. "In 1992, he was involved in voter registration in the presidential campaign. He's smart and talented," she says.

Trotter, a lifelong resident of the district, earned a degree from Chicago State University. He has been in the General Assembly since 1988, replacing Moseley-Braun. He became a state senator in 1993. He is chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus and is minority spokesperson for the Approp-riations Committee. Trotter worked his way up in the organization of powerhouse Cook County Board President John H. Stroger Jr.

Being a senior administrator for several health systems gives him an advantage in a district with a number of large hospitals, including Michael Reese, St. Bernard, Christ, Provident and the university's medical center. He also has a master's degree in health and policy jurisprudence from Loyola University.

But Trotter has been lagging in the hunt for money, having collected only about $80, 000 by the middle of January. And he was especially damaged when Stroger, a Daley ally in the black wards, decided to throw his support to Rush.

Despite the qualifications of Trotter and Obama, there might not have been a race here if it weren't for Rush's bumbling Chicago mayoral campaign early in 1999. He lost badly to Daley by a better than 2-to-l margin citywide and was embarrassed by losing his own ward. He focused on cuts in public transportation and police brutality, but that didn't generate strong support beyond his core consitituency.

In fairness, Rush entered a nearly impossible race. The economy has been good. And Daley has spent the last decade avidly courting the Hispanic community and the white swing voters who used to be known as Lakefront Liberals. Daley also has made inroads in the black community, receiving the support of religious leaders and business interests.

Still, Rush is given credit for accepting the responsibility of challenging the mayor. "[Rush] is not known for having a good organization. But he took on Daley when no one else would. I think his constituents respect him more for that," says Laura Washington, publisher of The Chicago Reporter, an investigative monthly that covers race issues. "This built his reputation for speaking up for the low-income and repressed people of Chicago."

No doubt that's a noble quest. But the 1 st District has been a leader in the advance of the black middle class. And there are some who believe its residents deserve more than speeches. 

Illinois Issues February 2000 / 7