FatherGarage.com

Charles Rex Arbogast/Associated Press Rahm Emanual, candidate for Chicago mayor, met with voters on Friday.

CHICAGO — With an Illinois Supreme Court ruling in his favor and a phone call from President Obama (presumably congratulatory), Rahm Emanuel declared the back-and-forth battle over his qualifications to be mayor of this city over. But as Chicago awoke to a newly clear ballot picture, a question remained: For the candidates, what will be the fallout from this peculiar chapter, one in which, in a dizzying week, Mr. Emanuel was ordered off the ballot, then back on again?

Some Chicagoans suggested that the incident might tarnish Mr. Emanuel’s campaign, repeatedly reminding voters that there had been a question about Mr. Emanuel’s legal status as a resident of this city — and, perhaps, a more psychic question about whether Mr. Emanuel was really as fully steeped in Chicago as, say, Richard M. Daley, the departing mayor, who was nothing if not a Chicagoan. Mr. Emanuel, who was born in Chicago, lived in the suburbs during some of his youth and, as a congressman from Chicago, spent time in Washington even before he worked there as White House chief of staff.

A state law requires those running for mayor to have resided in Chicago for at least a year before the Feb. 22 election. In a ruling late Thursday, the Illinois Supreme Court unanimously found that Mr. Emanuel did not give up his residency status when he worked at the White House. Mr. Emanuel returned to Chicago in October, but a majority of the justices found that his intent had always been to come back, leaving his residency status in tact.

But others said the residency fight would, in the end, help Mr. Emanuel, who was already leading in polls. The chapter drew enormous attention to him, including supportive headlines in newspaper editorials all over the state. The situation also seemed to recast Mr. Emanuel, who has led in polls and in fund-raising, as an underdog — in a country that likes underdogs.

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Another poll — this one by McClatchy/Marist Institute — has weighed in on President Obama’s 2012 re-election prospects and found that 48 percent of registered voters say they’d cast their ballots against him while 36 percent would support him for another term, with 16 percent undecided. The poll was conducted Nov. 15-18. It comes on [...]

Two presidents, two traumatic crises, two half-terms judged by what didn’t happen instead of what did. The two presidents are George W. Bush and Barack Obama, who respectively prevented further terrorist attacks on American soil and a repeat of the Great Depression. And that’s where the similarities end. When the nation is attacked or at [...]

ORLANDO, Fla. — Almost obscured by Florida’s high-profile races for governor and U.S. Senate, voters passed two amendments to the state’s constitution Tuesday intended to radically limit the ability of the Republican-controlled legislature and governor’s mansion to gerrymander state and congressional districts.The measures, which barely crossed the required 60-percent threshold, mandate that: “No apportionment plan [...]

Much has been written about the anger and disillusionment of voters this year. Pollsters are predicting a “throw the bums out” wave that could sweep hundreds of new candidates into office on Tuesday. The Tea Party has manifested much of this anger on the right but what is particularly striking and has been much less [...]

Dude. Whether the pro-marijuana initiatives on four state ballots pass or go up in smoke Tuesday, pot as a sticky political issue isn’t going away, as progressives hope to use it to lure young people to the polls in 2012 and beyond. Residents of Arizona, Oregon, and South Dakota will consider medical marijuana measures with [...]