AP – Former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel smiles at the crowd after winning the mayoral race Tuesday, …
Yep. It happened. It's what we expected.
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."
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Miguel del Valle reaches over Rahm Emanuel to shake hands with William "Dock" Walls during the Chicago Defender-sponsored mayoral debate Wednesday at the DuSable Museum. All six candidates were at the debate, including Gery Chico, left, Carol Moseley Braun and Patricia Van Pelt-Watkins. (Chris Sweda, Chicago Tribune / February 9, 2011)
Emanuel agreed with most candidates in supporting reparations for descendants of slavery, but said that all citizens need to keep in mind that the city has a significant budget deficit to tackle.
Watkins, a community activist and one of three African-American candidates, said she was offended by Emanuel's comments because the nation was built "on the backs" of slaves.
Excuse me? Who are these morons that keep talking about slavery reparations? This is utterly absurd. Can you name anyone that was a slave, that's alive today?
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The Illinois Supreme Court ruled that Rahm Emanuel can stay on the ballot for Chicago mayor.
"The voters deserved the right to make the choice of who should be mayor. And I think what the Supreme Court said was basically, in short, that the voters will make the decision who should be mayor. Nobody else should make it for them,” a victorious Emanuel said after slapping backs and shaking hands with commuters at the Clark and Lake elevated train stop near his downtown headquarters. “Some will vote for me, some will vote against me and that’ll be true for all the candidates. But that, ultimately, this decision about who should be the next mayor is for the voters to decide.”
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Attorneys for Rahm Emanuel late today asked the Illinois Supreme Court to prevent Chicago elections officials from printing ballots for the Feb. 22 mayor's election without his name.
Emanuel's legal team also said they will ask the state's highest court on Tuesday to hear their appeal of a decision by an appellate court today to knock him off the ballot on the grounds he doesn't meet residency requirements.
AP Photo/Paul Beaty
A second trial is coming. This one may include additional drama by prosecutors calling more witnesses and, by the defense putting up Rod himself.
Rahm Emanuel and Tony Rezko were not originally called to the stand in the first trial. This is because, they are not terribly credible witnesses however, they are key witnesses within the case and, this next time around, the prosecutors may consider putting them on the stand.
Another problem the prosecution had was the confusion of the trail. Many of the jurors were confused, and said it was difficult to follow.
Blago appears to be tapped out, and may be unable to keep his team of lawyers. A second trial may require public defenders.
During this first trial, it appears as though a lone juror was the one who had dug their heels in, refusing to see the obvious- that Blago is a corrupt politician. I had a feeling it would be just one juror and, it wouldn't surprise me if Blago, or someone from his team is behind this. That is how truly corrupt I believe this man to be.
I am not surprised by the fact that most this jury found Blago guilty. The man is guilty. Let's hope they might even be able to show that he tampered with this one juror. That would be another charge for him.
