A VIEW FROM CHICAGO


Has Mayor Daley backed a loser in the Illinois presidential primary?
by James Ylisela Jr.

Mayor Richard M. Daley hates primaries.

He doesn't like it when his fellow Democrats rip each other in public fights over a political post. The mayor prefers to make decisions behind closed doors. And while the room may no longer be filled with smoke, the outcome is still very much the same. In Daley's Democratic Party, you make your deals in private, choosing a slate of candidates to run for office, sometimes rewarding loyal soldiers, often persuading eager up-and-comers to wait their turn, but emerging united, with smiles and pride intact, ready to kick some serious Republican butt.

That philosophy has been captured in this indelible pearl of Chicago political wisdom: "We don't want nobody nobody sent."

And that's why you're likely to find Daley on the sidelines whenever Demo- cratic rivals insist on running against each other. The mayor rarely endorses candidates in contested party primaries, and while he'll usually deliver the vote for his candidate of choice, he'll do so quietly, trying not to become a campaign issue.

Daley appeared to be on safe ground more than two years ago when he endorsed Vice President Al Gore as the party's standard bearer for the 2000 presidential election. Then Bill Bradley showed up. Now Daley has a primary fight on his hands — one he can hardly afford to sit out.

He appeared to be on safe ground more than two years ago when he endorsed Vice

President Al Gore as his party's presidential standard bearer for the 2000 election.

If all politics is truly local, then Chicago is like one of those neighborhood taverns where you have to be buzzed in to get a drink. This is a town where former U.S. Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, once the second most powerful politi- cian in Washington, kept his post as 32nd Ward committeeman just so he could deliver the vote on Election Day and reap the benefits of clout the rest of the year. It's a town where the state legislature is a finishing school for politicians who may one day aspire to be aldermen or county officeholders. And where the mayor is more powerful than the governor, better known than a congressman and has a direct line to the president of the United States.

In fact, local political power has made Daley a national political figure. In 1992, he made the right choice by supporting Bill Clinton for president and delivering big in the Illinois primary and the general election. The mayor has been close to Clinton ever since, hosting the president's successful re-coronation at the 1996 convention

love-test and landing a White House patronage job for brother Bill, who became secretary of commerce. With Clinton's help, Daley has earned a national reputation as a mayor who tackles tough problems like crime, education and public housing.

In turn, Daley's national stature has made him even more politically omnipo- tent at home. But a Gore loss in the March 21 Illinois primary would be a blow to the mayor's prestige, and might even signal that independent Democrats are awakening from a decade-long snooze.

Bradley has won surprising support in Chicago from some generally reliable Daley vote-getters, such as U.S. Rep. William Lipinski, committeeman of the 23rd Ward on the city's Southwest Side; Cook County Commissioner Calvin Sutker, the former state party chairman and a powerful presence in the northern Cook County suburbs; and most recent- ly, U.S. Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez, the city's only Latino congressman. Former U.S. Sen. Adiai Stevenson III chairs Bradley's state campaign.

The Gore camp can also trot out big names in Illinois politics, boasting such notable supporters as former U.S. Sen. Paul Simon, U.S. Reps. Danny K. Davis and Jan Schakowsky, and Cook County Board President John H. Stroger Jr. Both camps claim widespread support among African Americans and Latinos.

Given the early primary season this year, though, this race may be all but over before a single baby gets kissed. And Gore has a huge head start in Illinois, more money to spend and, of course, Daley.

But with a couple of key wins in New Hampshire and other states, Bradley could be in the race to stay, and Illinois might yet emerge as a key battleground in the fight for the nomination.

And if Bradley can pull it out in Illinois, Mayor Daley would find himself at the wrong end of another classic Chicago political aphorism: "Don't make no waves; don't back no losers." 

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

Illinois Issues February 2000 / 37