Free Republic

Vote of Confidence A huge black turnout in November 1992 altered Chicago's electoral landscape—and raised a new political star: a 31-year-old lawyer named Barack Obama. By Gretchen Reynolds A huge black turnout in November 1992 altered Chicago's electoral landscape-and raised a new political star: a 31-year-old lawyer named Barack Obama. In the final, climactic buildup to November's general election, with George Bush gaining ground on Bill Clinton in Illinois and the once-unstoppable campaign of senatorial candidate Carol Moseley Braun embroiled in allegations about her mother's Medicare liability, one of the most important local stories managed to go virtually unreported: The...

Barack Obama's chief campaign strategist David Axelrod, once worked for a man who was an identified member of the Communist Party USA, a registered agent of the Soviet Union and a paid disseminator of Soviet black propaganda. This man went on to become a key Chicago political fixer who helped elect communist linked politicians including the late Chicago mayor Harold Washington and former US Senator Carol Moseley Braun. This man knew Barack Obama and was a key member of an organisation which endorsed Barack Obama in his 2004 US Senate race. Barack and Michelle Obama were active members of this...

Some Cook County employees are treating their workspaces like a pigpen -- and that's why they've got rodent problems. That's the essence of a news release issued Tuesday by Chicago's Streets & Sanitation Department that set off a war of words with Cook County Clerk David Orr. On Monday, the Sun-Times reported complaints from clerk employees working in the basement of the City Hall/Cook County building who said they've been seeing rats in the office. But a surprise city inspection Tuesday turned up no sign of rats. Instead, city officials said, they found mice feces as well as "open food"...

On Wednesday, Cook County election officials moved five polling sites out of an Orland Park church because of controversial comments made by that church's pastor. On Friday, Chicago election officials followed, moving three polling sites out of a Chicago church run by the same pastor. Ashburn Baptist Church, near 83rd and Kedzie, won't be the polling site for three 18th Ward precincts this year, Chicago Board of Elections spokesman Tom Leach said. Though a new polling site hasn't been selected yet for the Nov. 2 general election, he said board members were unanimous in deciding to move to a new...

County responds to voters' complaints of intimidation. Fearing that a minister's strong opposition to a planned Orland Park mosque would create an "unwelcome" environment for some voters, the Cook County clerk has forbidden a village church from serving as a polling place. In an unprecedented move, Clerk David Orr has barred Ashburn Baptist Church, 153rd Street and Wolf Road, from being used as a poll. More than 3,000 voters from five precincts have voted at the church for more than a decade. The church's father-son preacher team, Vernon and Sam Lyons, were among the most strident opponents of the 22,700-square-foot...

As same-sex marriages continue to be performed in the other parts of the country, Chicago activists plan to push the issue here. Alderman Dick Mell's daughter, Deborah Mell, was arrested on Thursday during a midday protest. She is also Governor Rod Blagojevich's sister-in-law. Mell, a lesbian, wants equal rights for same-sex couples. "I just feel like I want to do what I can, you know, and since I have this powerful family, we can talk about it and bring it out more," said Deborah Mell. "Because I feel that that is a way to publicize this whole situation." Mayor Richard...