Friday, December 20, 2002 :::
26 years ago today Mayor Richard J. Daley had a routine check-up, during which an arythmia was noticed, after which he had a heart attack; he was dead within two hours of going to the doctor for a routine check-up. The city would have to endure 11 years without a Richard Daley in charge before the sudden death of another mayor (15 years ago last month) resulted in his son's long tenure in office. Richard M. Daley is up for reelection in two months; he has a couple of challengers, in some sense of that word, but will have no trouble being reelected, in spite of a contempt-worthy response to the suggestion that he was interested in his family holding the post ad infinitum.
The mayor of Chicago has been Richard Daley for about 37 of the last 48 years, by my count. And, in case you're wondering, mayor Richard Daley of Chicago, son of mayor Richard Daley of Chicago, and President George Bush, son of President George Bush, apparently like each other personally quite well.
::: posted by dWj at 11:42 AM