What if they gave an election and nobody came?
The Democrat would go to Congress!
That's the way it works in Chicago, and tomorrow won't be any different.
The polls for the contest to replace Rahm Emanuel as the representative of Illinois' 5th congressional district don't open until Tuesday morning but the votes are already in: Mike Quigley is the winner.
In fact, the media and political class have already moved on to speculating on who will replace Quigley on the Cook County board.
That doesn't mean everyone isn't going through the motions. Quigley actually debated Green candidate Matt Reichel at the City Club on Friday. Republican nominee Rosanna Pulido declined to participate.
Appearing on Good Day Chicago this morning, Pulido said she was "excited" and "hopeful" and claimed to have the backing of a lot of police officers and firefighters in the district. Right.
Local
As the Tribune pointed out recently, Pulido "does not have the wholesale backing of her party. One ward committeeman is encouraging Republican voters to write in Abraham Lincoln as a protest against her."
For his part, Reichel has won the endorsement of former presidential candidate Mike Gravel.
That and $1.75 (boy, times have changed) will get Reichel a cup of coffee in the 5th. Quigley gets the seat.
Steve Rhodes is the proprietor of The Beachwood Reporter. You can subscribe to his NBCChicago.com RSS feed here.
