A Salute to Our Political Brett Favre

Chris Kennedy in, out

Hey Chris Kennedy: Your No. 4 jersey is on the way.

Congratulations! You've just won NBCChicago.com's first annual Favre-y award,  given to the Illinois politician who wavers the most when considering a run for office.

And boy did you set the bar high!

We certainly don't expect future contestants to engage in championship-caliber hemming and hawing for TWO DIFFERENT OFFICES.

And might we say, as we look back on the monthly highlights, that it couldn't have been done without Sun-Times columnist Michael Sneed.

April 28: Sneed learns Kennedy is "this/close" to running for the U.S. Senate. A "top Kennedy source" tells Sneed there is an 85 percent chance.

May 8: Kennedy is "weighing his options" while "top Dems" predict he'll run and Rahm Emanuel says he may be the strongest candidate for the U.S. Senate seat formerly held by Barack Obama.

June 4: While at a Navy Pier event, Ted Kennedy Jr. says "my cousin, Chris, is running."

July 21: Carol Marin reports that Kennedy is considering a run for governor instead. Evidence surfaces that Kennedy is field-testing messages against Pat Quinn in phone surveys. A spokesperson tells Marin "Chris is keeping all of his options open."

August 7: Sneed reports that Kennedy broke four ribs while water skiing in Hyannis Port. He is still undecided on his political future.

August 18: Sneed "hears" Kennedy has "gone underground." Reports that he is throwing footballs in Mississippi cannot be substantiated.

August 18: Kennedy bows out of both races. "He honestly didn't have the stomach or the heart to run," a source tells Sneed.

August 19: After a 9-year vacancy, the Tribune fills its editorial cartoonist post and Kennedy is the new guy's first subject. "Some people look at things as they are and say 'Why?'' Kennedy is depicted as saying. "I look at things that never were and say, 'I don't wanna . . . '"

And for all of you kids out there who hope to be like Chris one day, and perhaps win a Favre-y of your own, remember that he didn't get here without a lot of hard work - and many, many years of yanking political chains long before this one.

Bravo, Chris Kennedy. This Favre-y is for you.

Steve Rhodes is the proprietor of The Beachwood Reporter, a Chicago-centric news and culture review.

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