The [Tuesday] Papers

Election Day Notebook:

* Mary Schmich has a "wacky fantasy" that after the election, Rahm and Chuy can work together. Let me tell you something, Mary: That will only happen if Chuy wins. That's the point of his campaign - that he'll work with everybody and give everybody a voice and a seat at the table. Rahm doesn't work with anyone. So if that's what you want, there's only one way to vote.

* The Tribune editorial board posits that Chicago is choosing its "crisis manager" today, and supports the candidate allied with the folks who created the crisis and whom the board vigorously supported for decades. And yes, the board makes the obligatory Detroit reference. I have a feeling that the day after Chicago was incorporated as a city, a politician and an editorial board warned that it would become Detroit if we didn't pay heed. I mean, the scare tactic is just about that old. It's also racist code - like the idea that Chuy Garcia isn't "financially sophisticated" enough to run the city. Richard M. Daley was?

* I still want to know who is on the list of journalists that Rahm's office suggested Columbia Journalism Review talk to about its story on the mayor's relationship with the press. My guess: Greg Hinz, Neil Steinberg, Mark Konkol, Shia Kapos, Michael Sneed, Jay Levine, Bruce Dold, Phil Ponce ... am I missing anybody?

* "Virtually all of Emanuel's public appearances have been held in controlled venues with invited supporters," the Tribune reports. I thought he'd changed ...

The campaign briefly switched that approach after the first round of voting, inviting reporters to watch Emanuel greet voters at the Clark and Lake "L" stop. The mayor was only at it for a few minutes before a woman stopped and began loudly telling him he should be ashamed for closing schools and mental health clinics.

The mayor shook hands for another 10 minutes, ignoring the woman as she continued to challenge him. Soon after, the campaign stopped publicizing his "L" stop visits.

And:

Emanuel's campaign says the mayor frequently wanders shopping aisles to meet voters in what he calls "Wal-Mart walkabouts," "Target town halls" and "Mariano meetings." Aides also say the mayor visits several churches every Sunday and holds scores of other events with voters, but only the occasional picture posted to Emanuel's Twitter account serves as proof.

In the last six weeks, various campaign aides and the mayor himself have rejected more than a dozen requests from the Tribune to accompany Emanuel while he engages in such retail campaigning. Emanuel has opted to tightly control when the public can see him have extended conversations with the very voters he seeks to persuade, and how those voters respond to him.

By contrast, Garcia regularly opens such events to reporters and has held far more public events. Asked about that difference recently, an Emanuel aide retorted, "Well, they don't have to worry about Chuy being protested everywhere he goes."

That's kind of drawing the wrong lesson, isn't it?

P.S.:

The mayor didn't have to worry about being protested or booed when he held a debate party last month at Lizzie McNeill's in Streeterville. Dozens of campaign volunteers and elected officials packed the bar, where blue "Rahm for Chicago" signs were plastered to the beer taps and windows.

At one point Emanuel asked the TV crews to turn off their cameras, but they continued to trail him outside the bar. As reporters and photographers tried to follow the mayor back inside, an Emanuel spokesman asked a campaign aide if there was any way to keep them out.

"We can't do that," the staffer responded. "We asked them here."

An absolute desire to not only govern in secret, but campaign in secret too.

* "Rahm Emanuel's re-election depends on whether the mayor can boost turnout along the North Side lakefront, which rewarded him with commanding vote totals four years ago," Crain's reports.

Maybe, but I tend to buy into the idea that the South Side will determine the winner, not the North Side.

"Despite a large lead in the polls over challenger Jesus 'Chuy' Garcia, a Cook County commissioner, several insiders predict a tight race. They say the surveys likely undercount minority voters and don't adequately factor in the intensity of support for Garcia, which increases the chances that his voters will come to the polls on April 7."

True, but even a CTU poll that oversampled Latinos showed Rahm with a 15-point lead. Now, if intensity was the determining factor, Chuy would win in a landslide; the enthusiasm among his supporters is palpable. Not so Rahm. Nobody loves the guy, despite the "Rahm Love" campaign. But I fear there are more voters in Chicago who can't stand Rahm and will still cast a ballot for him than love Chuy deeply.

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The Political Odds
The Beachwood Bookmaking Bureau weighs in.

The Beachwood Radio Hour
Re-Electing Rahm.

Songs Of The Runoff
A six-pack of fun.

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I Choo-Choo-Choose Chuy.

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Chuy speaking at Harold Washington's funeral: https://t.co/q2Wsi3jYgE

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) April 7, 2015

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.@davidsirota @breezydayz @IBTimes @RahmEmanuel I'd say the key line is his lie that his office obeys FOIA. Reporters know that isn't true.

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) April 7, 2015

.@40thWard Can I bring 1,500 e-mails? Asking for a friend.

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) April 6, 2015

#RahmsSecretEmails are protected by Mayor-Donor privilege. #runoff

— VoldemortForMayor (@Voldemort4Mayor) April 6, 2015

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"The incumbent mayor received a $100,000 contribution a Silicon Valley company founded by the widow of Apple patriarch Steve Jobs ...

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) April 7, 2015

I'm sure she's deeply concerned about Chicago and has studied all the issues.

... Rahm also received 11th hour donations from Gibson's Steakhouse, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft & Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf."

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) April 7, 2015

Ditto Robert Kraft, and fuck Gibson's and Jerry Reinsdorf.

*

Duke and Rahm winning it all in the same week would be a lot to take.

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) April 7, 2015

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The Beachwood Tip Line: The polls are open.

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