The big news today here in Chicago is that Bill Daley, brother of former Chicago Mayor Richie Daley, has decided not to seek the Democratic nomination for governor of Illinois:
“It’s a combination of things,†Daley said. “I felt very strongly that as I began to look at this over the next five to nine years, which would be needed to straighten out the situation, that commitment, that need that energy for that stage was probably not going to be there.â€
Daley said he had a change of heart in the last few weeks following his 65th birthday and the amount of time it would take to invest in a state drowning in debt and pension obligations. Daley repeatedly railed against Quinn’s leadership during his brief campaign.
In essence, Daley, who’s never won an elective office in his life, is saying that he just doesn’t want to work that hard. He’d rather have a job like Secretary of Transportation or Midwest Chairman of JPMorgan Chase, where you just need to show up every once in a while and they’ll mail you your check.
I think there’s probably a grain of truth in that. I also think that there’s no chance that Pat Quinn will stand aside for him so getting the governor’s nomination would be a fight to the end and a bruising primary fight might increase the likelihood that the next governor of Illinois would be a Republican. Daley’s a good party guy so stepping aside for the good of the party is completely in character. And preserves the family brand.
How likely is a Republican governor? I think that Pat Quinn is a good guy but neither a good campaigner nor a good governor. If the Illinois Republican Party settled on a green eyeshades sort of candidate who breathed absolutely no fire of any sort (something like Jim Edgar), they’d have a pretty good chance of winning. Never underestimate the ability of the Illinois Republican Party to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
BTW, Bill Daley used to live about two block due north of me. Nice house. I’ll show you a picture of it some time. At one point I had three Daley siblings living within a five block radius of me.
Daley is not so good a party guy as to rule out endorsing a Republican for governor. (No, I don’t think he will) The whole thing is pretty odd, he’s been throwing bricks at the Governor, convincing everybody that he was a real contender while everybody waited to see if Madigan would run. Pretty strange — I think ultimately Daley is risk adverse (the polls strongly suggest that he would lose w/o an African-American in the race) and has a bit of a glass jaw for a brick thrower.
BTW/ I was in line behind Governor Edgar at my neighborhood video store a few months ago. He was checking out some artsy foreign movie and seemed to be stumbling on method of payment. His license plate was either the number 3 or 4, and I was trying to figure out what that could refer to. Perhaps he’s three or four governors ago, depending on whether you count governors still in jail?
Although Daley and Quinn come from very different branches of the party, I don’t think that Daley hates Quinn enough to endorse a Republican.
I am Vladimer Putin. I am ruler of world. Time to loosen your jockstraps and have a cavalier moment. Stop with such seriousness and open a bottle of Bordeaux.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eabefjsJsAQ
Enjoy, if just for the 80’s laughs.
If you don’t like the genre, you will hate it. If you do, you will love it. The Stones will always be first and foremost in my heart, if only because they were first, and my blues brand, and, when I lived out east in CT, I met Keith a couple times. The blues actually make me happy. This song is hypnotic and inward……….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73dvrir5kig
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6L4GixccLU
Sorry, Dave, one of those days. But its cathartic.
“..need a woman, hold my hand, won’t tell me no lies make me a happy man…”
I don’t mind the genre, but I don’t think The Politics of Dancing is good. This one with a Star Trek angle is a better song from the era, though it does have a cheap shot at Reagan:
http://youtu.be/TpmdHPEmca0
PD
Its just joyful memories…
Back to the action….
As I say, the Stones are in my bones. But watch this for pure testosterone, pure rock and roll energy driven music.
I’m back in the day, making steel in the mill by day, porkin’ chicks by night and energized on pure rock and roll.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlNhD0oS5pk
Dave’s gonna shut me down, but these were the glory years…….
OK, I’m weak. One more.
Enjoy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqgyD_yTWCU
While we’re on this digression… I was never much for popular music but there was some I did like
Ain’t Too Proud To Beg
Papa Was A Rolling Stone
Hold On I’m Comin’
Memphis, Tennessee (better than Chuck Berry’s original)
and if you insist on white folks’ music
AACBRSCTA
Runaround Sue
Runaway
I don’t think it’s my imagination. Popular music was a lot more fun in my day.
Bush Fire. so many meanings so little time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmQYJRNG5bM
…..my minds been going places without me lately
Kate Pierson is one of the most under rated singers ever. One more. Candy duet…..Iggy Pop with Kate Pierson of B52s. She sings like a bird.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bLOjmY–TA
Johnny Cash Sunday morning coming down
Patsy Cline I fall to pieces
Never cared much for Johnny Cash. I do like Patsy Cline, though.
It’s odd that I don’t much care for Johnny Cash or Elvis considering that just about all of the popular music I like is either rockabilly, soul, or white soul.
Most folks respond that Stairyway to Heaven is the best song on Zep IV. It is not. Levee is.
Illinois. Why bother. If you live there and have a remote chance of moving out. Do it. Now.
@Dave Schuler
I never cared for Elvis, but years ago, I purchased the album “Rocker” on cassette. It is his early work, and it does rock.
“Most folks respond that Stairyway to Heaven is the best song on Zep IV. It is not. Levee is.”
Balls. Its Black Dog or Rock’nRoll……then Levee ……………..if the levee breaks, got no place to go……..
I’ve been blessed. I can openly and unashamedly weep at great opera. Crumble listening to early Miles Davis or John Coltrane. See the pure joy and bombastic parallels in crescendos in Beethoven’s 9th………or Led Zeppelin’s Rock’n’Roll. They were both rocking their xalls off. Acknowledge that Mozart was simply the most brilliant composer of all time. Be a devout fan of Robert Johnson. (I have recordings of everything he ever did, and everything people have done about him. He’s the unit root for the genre.) And move viscerally with Muddy Waters every note. Well, well, well.
I recently made a donation and bought a video from WTTW here in Chicago of Mick, Keith and Ronnie playing with Muddy Waters at either the Checkerboard or Buddy Guys. Can’t remember.
Doesn’t get any more fascinating than that.