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Dreams of Obama "On the eve of Obama's inauguration as 44th president of the United States, an exploration of who he is and what has brought him to his historic moment." Online Presentation Video of "Dreams of Obama" PBS Frontline will broadcast this program on January 20th.

As a social conservative, I never thought in the space of one calendar year I would have been defending soon-to-be Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and beleaguered Illinois Democratic Governor Rod Blagojevich. But sometimes fate can lead us to strange places. I supported Hillary Clinton's doomed Democratic presidential primary bid against Barack Obama though I didn't have a vote in the matter. At the time, I felt that even the Clintons would be better for America than President-elect B. Hussein Obama and, for the record, there has been nothing to change my mind. Indeed, my opinion on the subject is...

Patrick Fitzgerald, the U.S. attorney for Illinois' Northern District first achieved national prominence when he was appointed special prosecutor in the investigation of the so-called "outing" of CIA operative Valerie Plame. Fitzgerald brought charges against White House insider Scooter Libby, but most would agree the call for the prosecution of Libby was driven by politics and Fitzgerald was simply doing the job he was given. Fitzgerald, who was first appointed to his position in Illinois by then-U.S. Senator Peter Fitzgerald (no relation), has done an outstanding job rooting out political corruption for nearly a decade, no matter in what Party...

Chicago has gone quiet this weekend. Investigative journalists, having spent the last few months in Alaska and shadowing plumbers in Ohio, are finally starting to turn their attention to the newly elected president. As the Obammunist camp draws their wagons into a circle and become more defensive with a press that is showing signs of slowly waking up.

Last Sunday night, President-elect Barack Obama’s three closest friends — Valerie Jarrett, Martin Nesbitt and Dr. Eric Whitaker — sat down in the study of Mr. Nesbitt’s house in Chicago for one of their increasingly frequent heart-to-hearts. *snip* In the presidential campaign, the Obamas had a “no new friends” rule, surrounding themselves with a coterie of familiar faces. Even if the Obamas lift that rule in Washington, newcomers are unlikely to replicate the intensity of this group’s ties, formed over more than a decade by births and deaths, Scrabble games, barbecues and vacations, but also by shared beliefs about race,...

President-elect Barack Obama's 3 million campaign volunteers got re-enlistment notices this week. Campaign manager David Plouffe, in a mass e-mail sent Wednesday to former workers, asked how much time they can spare for four missions integral to Obama's effort to transform his victory into a broader political movement. The volunteers' options are, Plouffe wrote: -Campaign for progressive state and local candidates -Undertake grassroots local efforts to advance Obama's agenda -Train others in Obama's organizing techniques -Focus on local political issues. "Obama's building a political machine," said Stephen Hess, a presidential scholar at the Brookings Institution, a center-left Washington research group.

Dick Durbin, the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate said in the Democrats' weekly radio address Saturday that "honest leadership will help all Americans." He also said there is "a culture of corruption that is preventing government from dealing with the real needs of our nation." Durbin was directly referring to the Republican Party, which has controlled the legislative branch of the federal government since 2003, and the executive branch since 2001. Of more recent vintage is the Jack Abramoff Scandal: The crooked ex-lobbyist had ties to both parties, but his GOP connections were more extensive, and for Republican politicians on...

CHICAGO, Jan. 5 - Mayor Richard M. Daley was explaining away $48 million in overruns for renovation of a terminal at O'Hare International Airport when a regular at his daily news conferences asked if the mayor would be reciting a similar refrain, five or 10 years hence, for busting the budget in his $15 billion expansion of the airport. I'm coming back in five or 10 years?" Mr. Daley replied. "Thank you!" It used to be that no one (let alone the mayor himself) questioned the longevity of Mr. Daley, the country's longest-serving big-city mayor whose staggering margins in four...

The Chicago Park District awarded a 20-year lease to run the swanky restaurant at Millennium Park to a businessman who got a top Park District official pregnant during negotiations, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned. What's more, the businessman, Matthew A. O'Malley, lined up a host of investors for the Park Grill that included some of Mayor Daley's friends and neighbors. On Thursday, after inquiries by the Sun-Times, the Daley administration announced it would force the key players at Park Grill to renegotiate their deal with the Park District. "They've been essentially told that you must change the terms of this...

CHICAGO (CBS 2) Mayor Daley Thursday signed a historic executive order prohibiting city contractors from giving him any more campaign cash. And now Gov. Blagojevich is feeling the heat on the same issue after a potential candidate for governor issues an ethics challenge. DuPage County Republican Joe Birkett is calling on the governor to follow the mayor's lead. Birkett is accusing Blagojevich of collecting millions of dollars in campaign contributions from those who do business with the State of Illinois. The mayor said why he signed the ban on contractor contributions. “I want to make it clear that there is...

CHICAGO (CBS 2) Mayor Daley took new steps Wednesday to try to end the epidemic of embarrassing scandals inside City Hall. He is proposing increased prison time and other penalties for those who try to corrupt city programs. The mayor offered a few more details on changes he wants in the way if City Hall hires private trucks. It’s a program federal prosecutors say was hijacked by crooks. But sill some aldermen disagree with Daley’s proposal. When he pounds the gavel hard enough, Rich Daley almost always gets what he wants from the City Council. But the possibility that the...

The mayoral challenger Richard M. Daley fears most took another baby step toward City Hall on Friday. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) came out swinging about the seemingly endless parade of City Hall contracting scandals under Daley and about the deafening silence coming from a City Council Jackson views as under Daley's thumb. What set Jackson off this time, apparently, was James Duff's bizarre attempt to plead guilty for an alleged minority business fraud scheme that deprived legitimate black-, Hispanic-, and women-owned businesses of $100 million in contracts. But that clearly was not the only scandal on Jackson's mind during...

January 7, 2005 — Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich shut down a landfill in Joliet run by a distant relative. The move ignited a family feud between the governor and his father-in-law, Chicago Alderman Dick Mell. The governor would not discuss the dispute, but Alderman Mell had plenty to say, calling the governor's decision a "political power play." Alderman Dick Mell is not only the governor's father-in-law, he is the architect of Rod Blagojevich's political career. The powerful democratic ward boss's money, manpower and muscle carried Blagojevich from City Hall to the state legislature to Congress and finally to the governor's...

CHICAGO (CBS 2) Chicago's building commissioner apologizes for what he calls embarrassing hires. Now the two young former building inspectors could face fines. Both 23-year-old Kevin Sexton and 19-year-old Andy Ryan are sons of high-ranking officials in the carpenter's union. They quit this week after questions were raised about their qualifications. The hiring of Ryan sparked public outcry, and the city is vowing to send a message to other potential hires: that lying on job applications will not be tolerated. Sources say Building Commissioner Stan Kaderbek’s job is on the line. Kaderbek can't afford any more such "embarrassments," not after...

Daley Declines To Answer Questions About Carol Marin's Column. City officials responded Wednesday to a Sun-Times column by NBC5 contributor Carol Marin about the 19-year-old son of a top Carpenters Union official being hired as a building inspector. Asked about the employment of Andy Ryan, son of Local 13 Secretary-Treasurer Tom Ryan, Daley said he was unaware Andy Ryan had been hired and referred questions to Buildings Commissioner Stan Kaderbek. "He's the man," Daley said. "He can answer it, that's his job." Marin reported that Andy Ryan's hiring was questioned because the city requires building inspectors to complete an apprenticeship...

CHICAGO (CBS 2) He's done it again. The outspoken Republican running for U.S. Senate is making news with his remarks. This time he's calling Mayor Daley a "troll." Since moving here last month, Alan Keyes has said little about Illinois issues. But his provocative name-calling got attention, including claims that opponent Barack Obama has a slave-holder mentality and has the same disregard for human life as a terrorist. Today's target: the mayor and his political machinery. “We have a future but we're not going be allowed to get to that future because a troll is sitting under the bridge saying...

Sources: SW Side congressman considering retiring U.S. Rep. William Lipinski, Chicago's bread-and-butter congressman, is moving closer to retirement and likely will tap his son to replace him, sources told the Daily Southtown on Tuesday. The 66-year-old Lipinski — who has represented the Southwest Side for 22 years — is considering withdrawing his name from the November ballot sometime this summer, depending on progress made on a massive transportation bill Lipinski is shepherding through Congress. The bill represents six years of transportation projects nationwide, and Lipinski won't step aside until he is certain the legislation is safely on its way to...

May 21, 2004 — Alderman Arenda Troutman was questioned by the FBI about her relationship with an alleged gang member after a letter from the Chicago Police Dept. to Troutman was found during a raid. Now, Troutman's brother tells ABC 7 that the 20th Ward alderman had a romantic relationship with fugitive Donnell Jehan. According to Troutman's brother, Arenda and Jehan spent a lot of time together last year and were lovers. Arenda was not available for comment today. Troutman's South Side office at 59th and South State was closed Friday morning so the Reverend Andre Smith -- who owns...

CHICAGO (AP) Former Commerce Secretary William Daley, who resigned last week as president of SBC Communications Inc., was named Midwest chairman of J.P. Morgan Chase on Monday. William Harrison, chairman and chief executive of J.P. Morgan Chase, and James Dimon, CEO of Bank One Corp., announced the appointment. The two banks are in the process of merging. Daley will be the face of J.P. Morgan at the senior levels of the bank's clients in the Midwest and will serve on the combined firm's executive committee. He will report to Harrison and work from Chicago. The merger, which is awaiting regulatory...

McCormick Place is called the nation's largest convention center, but reputed Outfit guys, ex-cons and criminals have another name for it: A haven. The kind of guys who populate a prison yard have been getting work at McCormick Place for decades, especially through the small but politically powerful riggers union that sets up some of Chicago's biggest trade shows, including the Chicago Auto Show. There's a man working there who has ties to reputed organized crime figures and who helped run a heroin ring while locked up in Leavenworth. There's also a mobster's son, a convicted felon, who beat a...

Mach 25, 2004 — Volunteers and city workers say they've counted 958 people living on Chicago's streets. Hundreds of volunteer counters and city employees went out yesterday between midnight and 3 a-m to conduct a census of the Chicago's homeless population. Carmelo Vargas is head of the city's Department of Human Services, and was in charge of the census. He says the workers probably missed a "couple hundred" people. Critics say the number is a gross undercount. Chicago Coalition for the Homeless spokesman Samir Goswami says as many as 80-thousand people are homeless in the city during the year. Vargas...

Three sisters, including one who flunked a teacher certification exam seven times, were paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in overtime to produce a set of Chicago public schoolteacher manuals that turned out to contain simple math errors and have since been scrapped, officials say. One of the sisters, Judith Branch-Boyd, turned a hallmark school reform effort into an overtime gravy train that helped boost her 2001-2002 pay to $164,400 -- the highest of any public school teacher in the state that year, records indicate. At the time, Branch-Boyd also supervised her two sisters, Toni Branch and Brenda Hambright, in...

Democrats in a Nutshell Friday, October 25, 2002  - by George Kocan, editor of TAPROOT, a Republican newsletter Saul Alinsky was the founder of a new type of politics -- do whatever it takes to win. His book, Rules for Radicals, was dedicated to Lucifer. Corrupt ethics has a long tradition in the Democrat Party. Vote fraud, bribery, ghost pay-rolling and extortion are just a few of the tricks in the Democrat's black bag. So, when Republican Jim Ryan, an experienced prosecutor, asks for an investigation of allegations that Democrat Rod Blagojevich had a city job for which he never...

Let's put Republican Jim Ryan back on top! Here is the question: Who do you think won the gubernatorial debate? Rod Blagojevich 51.9% (802 responses) Attorney General Jim Ryan 48.1% (742 responses) 1544 total responses