Mayor Rahm Emanuel, shaking hands and complimenting babies, made his way through the pre-parade crowd at Balbo and Columbus before noon today.
Asked, "Are you felling Irish, mayor?", Emanuel smiled and replied, "If you're not, that would be really insensitive."
Marching in a sea of green were politicians of every stripe.
Governor Pat Quinn and Senator Dick Durbin stepped off with Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny.
But a second phalanx of political types were those candidates on the Tuesday's primary ballot including two of four Democratic contenders of Illinois Supreme Court, Mary Jane Theis and Aurelia Pucinski.
Also marching and waving to the crowds were Clerk of the Circuit Court Dorothy Brown and Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez.
The only Republican in the whole shebang was Illinois Comptroller Judy Barr Topinka.
And noticeably missing were any GOP presidential candidates who were either off campaigning in the more Republican -friendly environs of Downstate (Romney and Santorum) or somewhere else (Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul).
Was it possible, I asked the mayor, that the absence of any Republican parade floats suggested they were banished by mayoral decree, the mayor turned, laughed, and only said, "That was good!".
