Sun-Times has a bead on Baby Stroger, with (a) this on the 1,300 hires since Daddy got sick and (b) Mark Brown’s column on being Republican in Chicago:

Everybody knows Chicago is a Democratic town, but you forget sometimes just how bleak the landscape can be for Republicans.

My most recent Wednesday Journal column addresses the matter of deciding to vote Republican even if your daddy and other forebears were “Dimmycrats,” to use the Mr. Dooley pronunciation, where I ask:

[H]ow are all you Oak Park and River Forest Democrats doing today, as you face the Ides of November, when Todd Stroger turns up on your ballot? You went big for supposed reformer Claypool in April. What now? There’s this guy from Riverside, a supposed reformer, which Todd ain’t. You went for supposed reform in April, now you face a stark choice: non-reform or, God save us, a Republican.

“It’s not easy,” I say.

Counselling may be in order. “How could you?” a former Democrat was asked by someone near and dear when he said he had become a Republican. If he had said he’d become a Methodist, she would have understood, because we are all ecumenical these days. The best people are.

Oh, the trials of democracy.

Egad, the New Orleans city council president, Oliver Thomas, did not show up for his Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, nor did he show for a briefing on Hurricane Ernesto, which is headed for his city.  “He apparently overslept,” said Wallace at 10:20 or so Eastern time. 

A bad day indeed for one who is thus described officially:

Caring for others is a way of life for Councilmember Oliver M. Thomas, Jr. Whether working with youth in our community, or working to advance economic development and neighborhood revitalization, Mr. Thomas strives to enhance the quality of life for citizens of all ages of the City he calls home.

That’s not the half of it.  He “ founded the Boys-To-Men Program for youth ages 8 to 18, who primarily reside in single parent households.”

He recruited role models, who tutored, counseled, and accompanied these young men to ball games and other activities, leading them on a positive, hope-filled path toward adulthood.

For this and more, he

has received numerous honors, including the Legislator of the Year Award from the Alliance for Good Government, and the Jefferson Award for Community Service from WDSU-TV.

and

is a Fellow of the Loyola University Institute of Politics.

Busy guy, all tuckered out, apparently.

Later:  Not so, apparently, per this from Mr. T, whom I asked if he’d overslept:

No was at there studio and he wouldn’t let me go on because he had [Jefferson conty

] sheriff [Harry] Lee on , so I went to WDSU and did my report there .
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