Something in the air?

It's early, I know. But there is starting to be a little stir. You can see it in the way the Trib and Sun-Times are playing it. The opinion pieces posing their what-ifs. And the way Mr. Daley's eyes are more furtive than usual. Still, it's early. But there are questions: is Jesse Jackson Jr really a viable candidate - does he even want the run and what it will cost him financially and otherwise? Is there anyone else who could even come close?

The city has a very different dynamic than it did when Harold Washington ran and won in 1983.

I worked on that election - doing canvassing in the precincts and working a polling place on election day. But what I remember most vividly is waiting for a bus on the Northwest side. I was wearing my blue Washington button (which I think I still have). When the bus pulled up and the white bus driver opened the door, he looked down and saw my button. He shook his head, and then he closed the door leaving me to wait for another bus.

It's a different city - in many ways a better city, and more than a little of the credit goes to Mr. Daley. Except the smell of rot coming off city hall is getting stronger every day, and Mr. Fitzgerald is not going away. So let's wait and see. It just might get interesting again.