Call It A Comeback
Harold Washington won the Democratic Primary for Mayor of Chicago.
Barack hasn’t won yet, but I think Harold has a big smile looking down tonight. Right over his shoulder is probably Paul Simon.
Update: That’s technically minus 2 days, but I’m still in Tuesday mode. He won on February 22, 1983.
Today. I kid you not. At 2:30 AM CST it’s at 486,567. That’ll be over 500,000 by 10 AM I’d bet. Are they up for 1 million by the 4th?
Long enough for Lynn Sweet to give Obama’s speech a satirical fisking
If you read her comments-first, it’s quite funny. Second, the 45 minute speech is what everyone else gets for saying he doesn’t know substance.
In the Illinois Senate he was a policy wonk. In the US Senate, he’s a policy wonk. Now, you are all going to be subjected to hearing it until the meme that he doesn’t know policy is dead. Congratulations. Maybe we can get Bill Clinton to deliver another State of the Union speech too.
Given the Clinton campaign’s descent into bad 1988 Democratic campaigns, I’m finding some problems with their messaging. Beyond the fact that it’s all about process at this point and not about what she would actually do other than adamantly talking about facts.
Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign failed to file a full slate of convention delegate candidates for Pennsylvania’s April 22 primary.
This despite the possibility the primary proves critical and despite Clinton owning the full-throated support of Gov. Rendell, state Democratic Party leadership, Mayor Nutter and, presumably, the organizational skill all that entails.
And despite a Rendell-ordered extension of the filing deadline that could be viewed as more than just coincidental.
Supporters of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton are worried that convoluted delegate rules in Texas could water down the impact of strong support for her among Hispanic voters there, creating a new obstacle for her in the must-win presidential primary contest.
Several top Clinton strategists and fundraisers became alarmed after learning of the state’s unusual provisions during a closed-door strategy meeting this month, according to one person who attended.
What Clinton aides discovered is that in certain targeted districts, such as Democratic state Sen. Juan Hinojosa’s heavily Hispanic Senate district in the Rio Grande Valley, Clinton could win an overwhelming majority of votes but gain only a small edge in delegates. At the same time, a win in the more urban districts in Dallas and Houston — where Sen. Barack Obama expects to receive significant support — could yield three or four times as many delegates.
The entire reaction from Clinton’s campaign seems to be of the same line of who could have thought this would happen thinking that brought us Iraq. Who could have known the nomination would be messy? Who could of known that a nation divided on ethnic lines could lead to a long civil war. Who needed to prepare for the primary season to go on this long? Who needed to prepare for the rebuilding of Iraq since we’ll win the the war in a few weeks?
And if you point out the incompetence, you are the problem, not the people actually screwing up.
Clinton had been growing on me as a candidate for a while. Not that I’d switch allegiances, but I could have been comfortable with her being the nominee.
But I’ve seen this play before and I didn’t like it the first time.
Points Confirmed
Burton said a campaign adviser discussed the sale with Wondisford by phone and followed up with an e-mail to Wondisford repeating his points. Wondisford responded: “I confirm that the three points below are accurate,” according to the e-mail, provided to Bloomberg News and authenticated through records shown by the adviser.
The e-mail says that the sellers “did not offer or give the Obamas a `discount’ on the house price on the basis of or in relation to the price offered and accepted on the lot.” It also says that “in the course of the negotiation over the sales price,” Obama and his wife, Michelle, “made several offers until the one accepted at $1.65 million, and that this was the best offer you received on the house.”
Wondisford has declined to talk directly about the matter.
The Obamas submitted three bids: $1.3 million on Jan. 15, 2005; $1.5 million on Jan. 21; and $1.65 million on Jan. 23, according to a copy of the sale contract shown to Bloomberg News. Obama received more than $1.2 million in book royalties and a book advance in 2005, the year he was sworn in to the U.S. Senate, his financial disclosure statement shows.
The e-mail between Wondisford and the campaign adviser also says that the sellers had “stipulated that the closing dates for the two properties were to be the same.” In January 2006, Rita Rezko sold the Obamas one-sixth of the lot, for $104,500, to expand their yard. She later sold the rest of the land.
I’ve never printed Wondisford’s name up until now because of a presumption of privacy for the guy, but he is an endocrinologist at Johns Hopkins. He moved there after being on staff at the University of Chicago’s Medical School faculty.
Also, if you look at the records in the Recorder of Deed’s web site, you will see he and his wife paid $1.65 million when they bought the house with the lot being around $400,000.
Jim Cauley, Obama’s 2004 Senate Race Campaign Manager:
“Why would we? We could be king makers.”
KY Gov. Beshear CoS Jim Cauley, a superdelegate, on endorsing Clinton or Obama, Lexington Herald-Leader, 2/12.
Mike Henry, Blair Hull’s 2004 Senate Race Campaign Manager:
Apparently warmed over opposition research doesn’t knock off opponents the second time either.
I believe there is a fund set-up to buy Cauley’s vote with bourbon. Or at least try….
Brilliant
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/3gwqEneBKUs" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
Sitting on the Commission of Chicago Landmarks board, Michelle knew of a permit, waiting for review and approval to sell, for a designated Historical Georgian revival home built in 1910 with four fireplaces, glass-door bookcases fashioned from Honduran mahogany, and a 1,000-bottle wine cellar owned by a doctor in Kenwood. The Commission is supported not only by donations and taxes but also by charges for permits. It’s a pretty extensive process, and they want a complete history of the house and property when a permit is requested. Once the Board approves a permit, the application goes to the city planning or zoning commission if more than a simple sale is involved.
This isn’t true. Landmarks does not approve sales at all. They only approve changes to the property and have no control over the zoning or ownership. They would have some influence over what is built on the new lot, but they are not capable of blocking a sale of property that is listed as two separate lots.
From Landmarks FAQ
Q.Q. When is a building permit required and for what kind of work?When is a building permit required and for what kind of work?
A.A. No additional City permits are required for Landmark buildings. The Commission simply reviews permits as part of the normal building permit process. The Commission annually reviews more than 1,800 permits for Landmark properties, most of which are approved in one day. Routine maintenance work, such as painting and minor repairs, does not require a building permit. Under the City’s Rehabilitation Code, there is also a special historic preservation provision that allows for greater flexibility in applying the Building Code to designated landmarks in order to preserve significant features of such buildings. More information on getting a permit is available from the Landmarks Division.
Q.Q. How does the Commission evaluate proposed changes to How does the Commission evaluate proposed changes to existing buildings or the design of new construction?xisting buildings or the design of new construction?A.A. The Commission has established criteria to evaluate permit applications for both renovations and new construction. These criteria and the Commission’s review procedures are published as part of the Rules and Regulations of the Commission of Chicago Landmarks (pages 27 through 33). The basis for the criteria is the U.S. Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation. The Commission also has adopted policies regarding many aspects of rehabilitation work, and these polices are detailed in Guidelines for Alterations to Historic Buildings and New Construction, available from the Landmarks Division.
Q.Q. Does the Commission have jurisdiction over zoning?Does the Commission have jurisdiction over zoning?
A.A. The Commission has no jurisdiction over zoning. The Commission can, however, recommend reductions in the depth of required setbacks in certain instances to ensure that the character of a Landmark District is maintained.
Q.Q. How does landmark designation affect property values?How does landmark designation affect property values? Will landmark designation affect property taxes?Will landmark designation affect property taxes?
Both of the above are frequently asked questions. As far as the value of property is concerned, the factors affecting value are quite varied and depend on the individual property, its location, etc.; in the eyes of some buyers, landmark designation is regarded as an asset, and both real estate advertisements and real estate agents often tout this as a selling point. Studies on the effect of landmark designation on property values have generally shown that it does not have a negative impact on property values. As far as real estate taxes are concerned, neither the valuation of property by the Cook County Assessor’s Office nor the tax rate is affected directly by landmark designation.
Somehow this crap keeps coming up at different sites.
It helps to have friends at City Hall. Among other positions, Michelle was appointed twice to sit on the board of the Commission of Chicago Landmarks for two consecutive terms. Michelle maintained this board seat from 1998 to March 2005, although normally a member only serves one 4 year term.
Flush from the success of Barack’s speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, the Obamas decided it was time to find a residence more fitting for their anticipated new status. Barack’s 1995 autobiography Dreams of My Father soared, and they knew Alan Keyes was no threat to their future success in the US Senate elections.
Sitting on the Commission of Chicago Landmarks board, Michelle knew of a permit, waiting for review and approval to sell, for a designated Historical Georgian revival home built in 1910 with four fireplaces, glass-door bookcases fashioned from Honduran mahogany, and a 1,000-bottle wine cellar owned by a doctor in Kenwood. The Commission is supported not only by donations and taxes but also by charges for permits. It’s a pretty extensive process, and they want a complete history of the house and property when a permit is requested. Once the Board approves a permit, the application goes to the city planning or zoning commission if more than a simple sale is involved.
The doctor who owned the Kenwood home wanted more than the Obamas could afford. As Barack has stated in numerous press interviews, buying the home would be a stretch. Barack contacted his patron Tony Rezko, despite knowing he was under investigation at the time, in order to see what could be done so the Obamas could afford their dream house. Sub-division was likely the agreed-on solution. In order to divide the lot, which the doctor purchased as one entity, he would have to:
There are several problems with this including that the properties were listed separately before they ever went on the market.
More than that, if one looks at the Recorder of Deeds records, one finds that the two lots were sold at the same time to the University of Chicago physician, but have two distinct property identifiers. I’m not listing those here because it makes finding the property a little too easy given the concerns over a Presidential candidate and his family’s safety. The lot in 2000 appears to have been sold for $414,00 and the house sold for $1.65 million which is as the reports in the Sun-Times and Trib have reported given that the owners wanted to sell the house for what they paid for it.
It also means that the selling price of $414,000 in 2000 indicates that $625,000 for the vacant lot 5 years later in that neighborhood is pretty reasonable.
The two lots have been sold together going back to at least 1985, though they were separate lots.
The person pushing this story is making it up wholecloth and needs to STFU.
Don’t take them very seriously.
Copied from Open Left, but they are all over
Here you go. I have no idea how reliable these are.
The Obama victories are bolded. If these are real, Obama has thrashed Clinton today.
Georgia: Obama 75, Clinton 26
Connecticut: Obama 52, Clinton 45
Illinois: Obama 70, Clinton 29
Alabama: Obama 60, Clinton – 37
Delaware Obama 56, Clinton 42
Massachusetts: Obama 50, Clinton 47
Missouri: Obama 50, Clinton 45
Tennessee: Clinton 52, Obama 41
New York: Clinton 56, Obama 42
New Jersey: Obama 52, Clinton 47
Arkansas: Clinton 71, Obama 26
Oklahoma: Clinton 61, Obama 30
Arizona: Obama 51, Clinton 45
1st wave:
New Mexico: Obama 52, Clinton 46
Utah: Obama 60, Clinton 40
California: Clinton 50, Obama 46
Don’t take them too seriously. These are unweighted and raw and ultimately just samples.
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