February 22, 2011

 
    
     Chicagoans decide who their next mayor will be today.  The only question seems to be whether former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel will win a majority outright or be forced into a runoff in April with the second-place finisher.  I'd bet on the flat-out majority, I think.
 
        He has opponents, of course;  Former Senator Carol Mosely Braun is one. She's African-American and so are many other Chicagoans, but Emanuel seems to get along with them just fine, as he does with everyone else.  He has raised much more money than anyone running and is spending it on what reporters in the city describe as an efficient, well-run campaign.
 
     Reports say he's toned down his abrasive White House style some--less use of the F-word, for instance.  But he seems very at ease.  He is, after all, Chicagoan--as Chicago as good beer and good steak.  Opponents tried to keep him off the ballot because he'd rented out his Chicago house when he went to work at the White House. That failed.  Emanuel has paid his dues in the city. Early on, he worked for the retiring mayor, Richard M. Daley, who's been running City Hall since 1989--and oh yes, his father, Richard J., had the job before that (1955-76).
 
     This usually impartial column wishes him well.