by Christi Parsons

In an elegant high-rise apartment overlooking the Chicago Loop Monday night, Michelle Obama ascended a spiral staircase to address a private party of campaign contributors as they dined on sushi and sipped wine.

But as she spoke she frequently gestured toward the wall of glass windows and to the streets beyond the downtown business district, talking of the problems that face residents on the city's South Side and in other struggling neighborhoods around the country.

"Do we settle for the world as it is?" she asked. "Or do we work for the world as it should be?"

It was a familiar theme for the wife of the Democratic presidential candidate, who took the "world as it should be" phrase from a speech she heard her future husband give in a church basement on the far South Side when they were first dating.

On Monday, she employed it in a pitch for Dan Seals and Debbie Halvorson, two Illinois Democrats seeking congressional seats currently held by Republicans. Michelle Obama was the featured guest at the fundraiser in the home of real estate magnate Neil Bluhm, who hosted the event along with Rep. Rahm Emanuel.

Sen. Barack Obama and Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, Friday, June 6, 2008, during an unscheduled stop at the Chicago 2016 Olympic Rally in Chicago at Daley Plaza.(Chicago Tribune photo by Heather Stone)

by Amanda Erickson

Chicago's taking a political backseat to the likes of likes of New York, Los Angeles, Boston, and Little Rock no longer. Thanks to Barack Obama, it's back in the spotlight as the headquarters of the Democratic Party.

In a Politico article, David Paul Kuhn writes that the city has become central to American politics and the Democrats' efforts to retake the White House this year. "Chicago," Kuhn writes, "is the new capital of the Democratic Party."

It's only fair. The city has a storied history of painting the town blue. According to Kuhn, it has hosted 25 nominating conventions. It's where Abraham Lincoln was nominated by the new Republican Party in 1860. And it controversially "delivered" just enough votes in 1960 to squeeze John F. Kennedy past Richard Nixon for the White House. It's where where Bill Clinton accepted renomination in 1996.

But in the last ten years, Kuhn writes, Chicago has played a bit part in the national presidential election drama. It's been more than a decade since Dems met in Chicago, and more than 50 years since a nominee had broad Chicagoland roots.

Not anymore. The city's political scene features a 33,000 square foot Michigan Avenue campaign office for Obama and vital Democratic National Committee operations, as well as Richard M. Daley, who the article considers one of the nation's most influential Democratic mayors.

by Frank James

There's certainly some irony in the conviction of Antoin "Tony" Rezko, Sen. Barack Obama's former ally and campaign contributor, one day after Obama made history by becoming the first African-American to clinch a major political party's presidential nomination.

Rezko, a Chicago businessman and wheeler-dealer, saw Obama's gifts early, even before the Democratic presidential nominee officially entered politics. As he faces years in prison on his conviction on corruption charges, Rezko at least has the satisfaction of knowing that he's a keen judge of political talent.

For Obama, Rezko's conviction means the all-but-official Democratic presidential nominee can expect to face dark Republican ads, likely featuring a narrator whose voice conjures up something sinister, that refer to the senator from Illinois's one-time relationship with the convicted businessman.

Expect to see, for instance, ads with Obama South Side Chicago house and that infamous side yard he purchased from Rezko's wife. Indeed, the GOP just put this new site up.

It will all be part of an effort to dull Obama's sheen of novelty and portray him as a regular Cook County Democratic politician, as someone with the requisite dirty laundry that comes with that territory.

If there are any saving graces for Obama, they would be that the trial didn't reveal much more about his relationship with Rezko than we already knew.

Also, the conviction probably surprised no one. The evidence against Rezko was fairly strong.

Here's a link to the Chicago Tribune story by Bob Secter and Jeff Coen.

by Bob Secter and Jeff Coen

The name of former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert was added Monday to the roster of political heavyweights linked by witnesses to an alleged plan to dump Chicago's top federal prosecutor and kill a criminal investigation into a top fundraiser for Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

A witness at the corruption trial of Blagojevich insider Antoin "Tony" Rezko testified that Rezko told him in February 2005 about an effort under way to fire U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald and replace him with someone more compliant to be hand-picked by Hastert, then the top Republican in the House.

Rezko said the Hastert designee would then "order the prosecutor to stop the investigation," recalled Elie Maloof, a former Rezko business associate who also testified that Rezko had told him to keep Rezko's name to himself if he were questioned by authorities because it could damage Blagojevich.

See the rest of the story in today's Tribune.

Chicago Tribune Photo by Candice C. Cusic.

by John McCormick

INDIANAPOLIS -- Sen. Barack Obama said he spoke with Mayor Richard Daley today about the increasing gun violence in Chicago.

"He's going to have a summit this afternoon and so I wanted to get an update on his plans and find out how I can be helpful at the federal level," Obama said. "A lot of the emphasis is going to be on more effective community policing. A lot of the emphasis is going to be on how we are working together to give young people more constructive things to do and to give them more perspective in terms of why violence is unacceptable."

The Illinois Democrat said the federal government should work with state and local governments more to "crack down on illegal handguns that are flooding the community."

by Aamer Madhani

Chicago-based Boeing Co. just announced they will formally protest the Air Force decision to award a $35 billion contract to a consortium led by Northrop Grumman and the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co. to overhaul the service's aerial refueling tanker fleet.

Boeing officials had until Wednesday to file the appeal that would compel the Government Accountability Office to review how the Air Force went about granting the contract.

"Our team has taken a very close look at the tanker decision and found serious flaws in the process that we believe warrant appeal," Jim McNerney, Boeing chairman, president and chief executive officer said in a statement. "This is an extraordinary step rarely taken by our company, and one we take very seriously."

by Aamer Madhani

Union leaders are steaming over the Air Force’s decision last week to award a $35 billion contract to build 179 airborne refueling tankers to a partnership of Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman and the French-owned Aerospace company, EADS.

Richard Michalski, the vice president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, was particularly angry at Gen. Arthur Lichte, the commander of the Air Force’s Air Mobility command. Lichte downplayed the partial outsourcing at a Pentagon news conference to announce that the Northrop-EADS group was the winner over Chicago-based Boeing Co.

"This is an American tanker," Lichte said on Friday. "It's flown by American airmen. It has a big American flag on the tail, and every day it'll be out there saving American lives."

Michalski stopped short of calling Lichte a brie-eating, beret-wearing frog, but the union boss wasn't holding much back.

“To see this Air Force and that Air Force general say that the economics of this country and jobs in this country was not a factor that they even figured into this bidding process just is outrageous,” Michalski said. “To be able to have a general talk like that…That general should look at where his paycheck comes from. The last time I looked it was the U.S.A....That general in particular, with the rude comments he made, should quit his job, move to France and join the French Foreign Legion.”

Michalski said that his organization and others would lobby Congress to introduce legislation that would prohibit the U.S. government from doing business with foreign companies that receive anti-competitive subsidies.

The U.S. Trade Representative has accused the parent company of EADS, Airbus, of receiving such subsidies. The European Union has made similar complaints about Boeing.

by Aamer Madhani

Any day now, the Pentagon is expected to announce the winner of a long-awaited $40 billion contract to build 179 air-to-air refueling tankers for the Air Force.

The two competitors, Chicago-based Boeing Co. and a team from Northrop Grumman and the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co., are vying for the lucrative contract to replace a decrepit fleet that dates back to the Eisenhower era.

But the forthcoming announcement may just mark another chapter in the ongoing battle for the mammoth military contract that has the potential of ballooning to more than $100 billion in sales for the winner.

Boeing would make its version of the KC-767 tanker at Everett, Wash., and then fly them to Wichita, Kan. for the final conversion. The Northrop-EADS group would build its version, a KC-30 tanker, in Mobile, Ala.

Many defense analysts expect the losing company or Congressional delegation to appeal the decision with the Government Accountability Office, a move that would further delay a process that date backs to 2001.

Boeing had previously won the contract, but Congress scrapped the offer after it learned that Boeing hired a former Air Force acquisitions official who gave the company preferential treatment before leaving the Air Force.

Boeing is the heavy favorite to win the contract again, according to defense analysts. But Northrop-EADS has put up a spirited fight, and the Alabama Congressional delegation has lobbied hard to win the project.

Earlier today, Gen. T. Michael Moseley, chief of the Air Force, called on the loser to consider what a drawn-out appeal would mean to the service.

“This is not about lawyers and companies,” Moseley said “This is about operational capability and fielding capability for the country. So if it we get a long, drawn out protest, we still operate 44-year old airplanes longer. To me that’s a big deal. It’s a big deal for the people I ask to get in the airplane. It’s a big deal for the people that I ask to take the airplane to combat….From a service chief’s perspective, I would ask them to think about the country and think about the people that fly the plane.”

By Michael Martinez

LOS ANGELES – Turnabout is fair play when Oprah stumps for Obama on Super Bowl Sunday.

Normally, Lucille “Miss” Evans, 54, a south Los Angeles community activist, is something of a football widow to her boyfriend, Ray Lewis, on Super Bowl day.

But when Oprah was scheduled to come to the University of California at Los Angeles to rally for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, Evans told Lewis that he would have to give up the NFL’s biggest game – or at least a good part of it – to hear Oprah, Caroline Kennedy and Michelle Obama on Sunday afternoon.

Lewis thus became something of a widower to a rival event on Super Bowl Sunday.

President Bush visits third graders at Horace Greeley Elementary in Chicago, Illinois, Monday, January 7, 2008. (Chicago Tribune photo by Heather Stone/Chicago Tribune/MCT)

by Matthew Hay Brown

Visiting a Chicago elementary school today, President Bush said he was open to increasing flexibility in the No Child Left Behind Act – but threatened to veto any changes that would weaken educational accountability, and said he was prepared to reform it himself if Congress didn’t cooperate.

“Look, I recognize some people don't like accountability,” Bush said today at Horace Greeley Elementary School. “In other words, accountability says if you're failing, we're going to expose that and expect you to change. Accountability also says that when you're succeeding you'll get plenty of praise.

“I know No Child Left Behind has worked. And I believe this country needs to build upon the successes. The philosophy behind No Child Left Behind was in return for money there ought to be results. It's pretty commonsensical it seems like to me.”

Bush’s signature domestic policy, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002, which requires public schools to show improvements in student achievement in reading and math or face sanctions, comes up for reauthorization this year. The sides are establishing their positions for the debate to come.

Critics say the law has turned schools into test preparation centers that focus on reading and math to the neglect of other subjects. They also say the law has never been funded to the levels needed for it to work.

“When Congress joined President Bush in 2002 to usher in a dramatic reform of our nation’s schools, we were hopeful that increased accountability and performance standards, together with a significant increase in the federal investment in education, would raise student achievement levels,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said today in response to Bush’s comments.

Andrew Zajac

Mayor Richard M. Daley clearly wanted somebody with an FBI pedigree to run his scandal-plagued police department and he got his man in J.P. "Jody" Weis, the Special Agent in Charge of the bureau's Philadelphia office.

But Weis wasn't Daley's first choice and probably not his second, third or fourth either, according to sources familiar with the talent hunt here in Washington.

by William Neikirk

The coach quit today.

Rep. Dennis Hastert of Illinois, who served as House speaker longer than any other Republican, announced that he's leaving the House and will be gone by the first of the year.

The former high school wrestling coach leaves on a sad note for his party, having lost his job as speaker when the GOP lost control of the House in last year's elections. .

The quiet, unassuming Hastert, 65, bowed out with a gracious speech on the House floor and received standing ovations from both sides of the aisle. His wife was in the gallery, and also was recognized.

Now there will be a special election in his district in suburban Chicago, which includes Aurora and Elgin--and Yorkville, where he was the wrestling coach. The district leans Republican, although Democrats are expected to compete for it.

by John McCormick

It must be city elected official endorsement day over at Obama campaign headquarters.

First, the announcement arrived earlier this morning of an endorsement by the mayor of Durham, North Carolina, where the Illinois senator is expected to campaign and raise money tonight.

Now, the campaign says a large group of Chicago aldermen are following the lead of Mayor Richard Daley and also endorsing Obama. The news release says the endorsement represents a unanimous endorsement of Obama by the city council's African-American aldermen.

The names of the alderman endorsing Obama, as provide by the campaign, are listed below the jump.

by John McCormick

We don't know yet whether Sen. Barack Obama will be smiling or frowning following his performance in tonight's Democratic presidential primary debate in Philadelphia, where all eyes will be on him as he tries to cast himself as a more confrontational candidate.

No matter how the battle with Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York goes, we do know that he is expected to wear a mask the next day. It turns out that the Illinois Democrat is a big Halloween fan.

He is not expected to make any public appearances Wednesday while spending a rare day at home in Chicago. He may, however, be on the city's streets, going door to door with his two children and his Secret Service detail.

"I am, by the way, going to be home to do trick-or-treating, although I've got to wear a mask, so that I don't scare the children," Obama told an audience Saturday at a high school in Perry, Iowa. "'It's a presidential candidate, oh no.'"

Small children in Iowa are used to seeing presidential candidates. But for those in Illinois, it is a significantly less common experience.

Inset photo: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama at the July 23, 2007 Democratic presidential debate. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, file)

by John McCormick

Gathered in a Chicago hotel ballroom, the 100 or so students had come from across the nation to learn from some of the top names in the business: Solomont, Kearney, Barzun.

While not household names, they are some of the top players in the presidential money game, where the bundling of contributions by elite fundraisers is an essential part in financing the growing cost of national campaigns.

The three instructors, plus others, spoke at "Obama University." The training program is designed to expand an already massive fundraising operation that raised $79 million during the first three quarters of the year for Sen. Barack Obama, keeping him competitive with Democratic frontrunner Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York.

With titles like "Hunting vs. Farming," "Segmenting your Donors," and "Four Ways to Raise Money," the sessions offered tips of the trade for bundlers, who ask friends, family and business associates to contribute to their candidate. They also were briefed on Obama's central speaking points, as well as upcoming fundraising initiatives like one called "Project Give Again."

The Tribune was offered an exclusive glimpse inside the one-day session earlier this week. As the veterans spoke to the rookies, it at times felt like a motivational meeting for a sales group, sort of Amway goes to Washington.

See the story in this morning's Tribune.

by John McCormick, Updated at 1:25 p.m. Eastern

Sen. Barack Obama maintained his fundraising advantage over Sen. Hillary Clionton in his home state of Illinois, but the gap was smaller than in previous quarters.

Detailed Federal Election Commission reports filed overnight show Obama raised $1.66 million in Illinois during the period from July through September, while Clinton netted $1.13 million. Clinton held several large fundraisers in Chicago near the end of the reporting period.

Illinois was Obama's third biggest fundraising state, behind California and New York. It was Clinton's sixth largest state, if the District of Columbia is included in the rankings. The nation's capital was her top location for donations during the quarter.

At the city level, Clinton raised about $541,000 during the quarter from those listing Chicago addresses, compared to about $809,000 for Obama. In New York City, Clinton raised $2.7 million, compared to $1.1 million for Obama.

Including non-itemized contributions, a type that cannot be inspected in the public records, Obama's campaign says it raised $2.19 million during the third quarter from Illinois, bringing its year-to-date amount raised in the state to $11.5 million.

by John McCormick

Sen. Hillary Clinton is expected in Chicago today for two fundraising events which organizers say are expected to net about $750,000.

The New York Democrat's arrival comes just days after her presidential campaign announced that she raised more money during the third quarter than Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois.

Jay Robert "J.B." Pritzker, a Chicago billionaire who is a national co-chairman for the Clinton campaign, said it is starting to get easier to raise money in Obama's home city.

"I wouldn’t call it hedging their bets," he said. "It's still a tough environment, but the purse strings for her have loosened here."

Collecting $750,000 in a single day from Chicago is an impressive sum for Clinton, although it is still smaller than the $1.5 million to $2 million Obama collected in the city by attending four back-to-back events in June.

Pritzker's sister, Penny Pritzker, is Obama's national finance chairman. "It's not a competition," he said, when asked about his sibling's fundraising efforts.

Pritzker said he was not prepared to criticize his favorite candidate for her recent answer in a debate about whether she would root for the Cubs or the Yankees, should the teams ever find themselves in the World Series.

"That is a tough one for her," Pritzker said.

by John McCormick

Marking the five-year anniversary of his first speech in opposition to the invasion of Iraq, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama today boosted his efforts to differentiate himself from other candidates who voted to support the war.

"The American people weren't just failed by a president," he told several hundred students and others at DePaul University in Chicago.

"They were failed by much of Washington. By a media that too often reported spin instead of facts. By a foreign policy elite that largely boarded the bandwagon for war. And most of all by the majority of a Congress – a coequal branch of government – that voted to give the president the open-ended authority to wage war that he uses to this day," he said. "So let's be clear: without that vote, there would be no war."

Although he did not name Democratic frontrunner Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, Obama made several less than subtle references to votes made by others to authorize the use of force in Iraq.

"Some seek to rewrite history," he said. "They argue that they weren't really voting for war, they were voting for inspectors, or they were voting for diplomacy. But the Congress, the administration, the media and the American people all understood what we were debating in the fall of 2002. This was a vote about whether or not to go to war."

Obama's 2002 speech, delivered in the Loop's Federal Plaza, became a pivotal moment in his political career and remains a centerpiece of his presidential bid.

(Sen. Barack Obama at DePaul University today. Tribune staff photo by Michael Tercha)