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[ksquared]

Speaking of soviets and useful idiots...
Ex-Whitehouse Weasel Wins Chicago.

Emanuel beats rivals to become next Chicago mayor
By DEANNA BELLANDI and TAMMY WEBBER Associated Press The Associated Press
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 1:16 AM EST

CHICAGO (AP) — Former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel was elected mayor of Chicago on Tuesday, easily overwhelming five rivals to take the helm of the nation's third-largest city as it prepares to chart a new course without the retiring Richard M. Daley.

Emanuel trounced all opponents with 55 percent of the vote — a margin that allowed him to avoid an April runoff. He needed more than 50 percent to win outright.

It was the city's first mayoral race in more than 60 years without an incumbent on the ballot and the first in more than two decades without Daley among the candidates. Daley and his father have led Chicago for more than 43 out of the last 56 years.

Emanuel called the victory "humbling" and said the outgoing mayor had "earned a special place in our hearts and our history."

But he added: "We have not won anything until a kid can go to school thinking of their studies and not their safety. Until the parent of that child is thinking about their work and not where they are going to find work, we have not won anything."

Reginald Bachus, the 51-year-old pastor of a West Side church who voted for Emanuel, said the next four years will be "a very critical time for Chicago.

"We really need a mayor who has vision. It's my personal opinion everyone else would have been a manager, and I think Rahm has vision," Bachus said.

The other major candidates — former Chicago schools president Gery Chico, former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun and City Clerk Miguel del Valle — had hoped to force a runoff that would have extended the campaign for six more weeks. But they were no match for Emanuel's momentum and money.

Chico had 24 percent of the vote compared with 9 percent for both del Valle and Braun. Two lesser-known candidates got 1 and 2 percent each.

The campaign began last fall when Daley — with an ailing wife, six terms under his belt and a future in which Chicago's fiscal challenges loomed large — announced he would not seek re-election.

Emanuel, a 51-year-old married father of three, will be the city's first Jewish mayor when he takes office on May 16. He's a well-known figure in national Democratic politics, having worked for two presidents and represented Chicago's North Side in the House of Representatives for three terms.

(There are two more pages if you can stomach them.)
http://www.centurylink.net/news/read.php?rip_id=%3CD9LI6TBO4%40news.ap.org%3E&ps=1018&_LT=HOME_LARSDCCL1_UNEWS