Parade and Charade

It was a gorgeous day for our 10k neighborhood race, and the race was followed by a Memorial Day Parade which is a very small neighborhood affair - with just one band this year. Our alderman was in the parade, as was our congressman.

Well, most of us knew our alderman, this being Chicago. But few of us recognized our congressman, Dan Lipinski, who became our congressman in a very special way.

You have to understand that our congressional district is solidly Democratic. Once you have the Democratic nomination, you have the general election in the bag.

Dan's father, Bill Lipinski, was our existing congressman. Bill won the Democratic primary in 2004. But then he announced he was retiring before the election. So local Democratic bosses needed to appoint someone as their new candidate.

They picked Dan, who hadn't lived in the Chicago area for 15 years. They picked him unanimously, after 15 minutes of formal consideration. (More details here and here.)

In matters of Chicago Politics
Never underestimate the Fix.