There is a moment on certain Friday afternoons and the Cubs are playing at home when, thanks to the quaint weirdness of MLB scheduling, they are literally the only game in the country. When you can ease back in your seat, smile, take a quaff from your cold one and know for a fact that you're watching the only big league baseball being played in North America.
That's the nice part.
The not-so-nice part is that you're watching the Cubs, and so odds are you're watching them get spanked.
And so it was in Illinois' 5th Congressional District which yesterday was the site of the only political game in the country: a busload Democratic and Republican candidates competing in special primaries where the number of candidates threatened to end up being greater-than-or-equal-to the voter turnout.
That was the nice part.
The not-so-nice part was that it was a Chicago race, so odds are you're going to watch the Progressive candidate take a beating.
And so he did.
Netroot's darling and ace labor lawyer, Tom Geoghegan, ran a decent and honorable campaign came in seventh in a 12 candidate race, which was a tossup among the top three candidates -- Sara Feigenholtz, John A. Fritchey and Mike Quigley -- almost from the beginning.
Because for all the love and support Tom earned from the progressive blogosphere, in the end what mattered is what always matter: money, organization, name recognition and key endorsements, all of which help build your most important asset -- your ground game (especially for this way-off-cycle/special/primary election being held while everyone's attention is fixated on the plummeting housing market, the plummeting financial market, the plummeting job market and the plummeting thermometer.)
Tom did as fine a job as anyone could have expected; he ran a good-if-doomed campaign, burnished his national reputation, laid the groundwork for future forays into the political process and made no horrible mistakes.
But, in the end, (from the Pioneer Press):
Quigley wins Dems race in 5th District
March 3, 2009
By PATRICK BUTLER
County Commissioner Mike Quigley, considered one of the three front-runners for the 5th District Congressional nomination, won the Democratic vote in the primary election Tuesday.
As of 10 p.m. Tuesday, Quigley had 10,977 votes with 95 percent of the district’s 486 precincts reporting. State Reps. John Fritchey, D-11th, and Sara Feigenholtz, D-12th, trailed with 8,670 and 7,908, respectively. Quigley spokesman Billy Weinberg cautiously claimed victory at about 8 p.m. — an hour after the polls closed.
“Things are looking very, very good. It matches what we were seeing earlier: People responding to his message of reform and change,” Weinberg said.
And while Quigley’s willingness to “stand up to Stroger” contributed to his popularity, “it’s less about standing up to John or Todd Stroger for the past 10 years than standing for a certain set of ideas and principles, the ideas of honest and open government, transparency and accountability,” he added.
Also running in the Democratic race for the seat vacated by Rahm Emanuel, now President Barack Obama’s chief of staff, were three doctors — Paul Bryar, Carlos Monteagudo, and Victor Forys; Chicago Ald. Patrick O’Connor, labor lawyer Tom Geoghegan, former Navy pilot Jan Donatelli, economist Charlie Wheelan, and newcomers Frank Annunzio, grand-nephew of the longtime North Side state representative, and Gary Capparelli, son of retired state Rep. Ralph Capparelli.
...
For you quant jocks out there who just have to know the stats, here are some unfinalized-but-pretty-accurate numbers as the looked a little after 8:00 p.m. last night (h/t to the estimable Windy Citizen for pointing the way to The Daily Daley's terrific Live Election Blog here)
Jan H. Donatelli 653 1.51%
Frank Annunzio 517 1.20%
Carlos A. Monteagudo 339 0.78%
Victor A. Forys 4,440 10.28%
Charles J. Wheelan 3,009 6.97%
Sara Feigenholtz 7,171 16.60%
John A. Fritchey 7,553 17.49%
Mike Quigley 9,961 23.06%
Patrick J. O'Connor 5,460 12.64%
Cary Capparelli 502 1.16%
Paul J. Bryar 873 2.02%
Tom Geoghegan 2,714 6.28%
Sorry you lost Tom, but as the tattoo all Cubs fans are legally obligated to have inked onto the inside of their eyelids says: "Just wait 'til next year."
Update: The Fighting Liberals have the text of Tom's concession speech here.
2 comments:
a chicago friend and i used to trade off going to each other's home openers at wrigley and the murf.
one gorgeous spring day at wrigley, in the 7th inning stretch, while harry was leading the crowd in song, the folks in the left field bleachers hoisted up the "wait'll next year" sign.
as a padres fan, i understood.
The District just isn't ready for Tom who speaks of himself as being one of the first post-meltdown candidates. He believes it was just a little too early in the downward economic trajectory for his New New Deal, European-style social democracy message to really connect with people.
Also (too) this is, after all, Chicago and ethic and machine politics, while somewhat wounded, still manage to carry the day. I pollwatched two precincts in the 47th Ward and the regular organization had their goons out en masse for Fritchey. I really, really, REALLY wanted Tom to win and I worked hard on his campaign but I take some cold comfort that Fritchey was denied the seat. And thanks to all that is just, King Richie's flunky O'Connor even with all his connections went into epic fail mode.
We'll just have to pry the levers of power out of the machine's cold dead hands and the sooner, the better. Money talks, bullshit walks, same as it ever was. Welcome to the Stinking Onion!
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