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To be among the truly elite, you must be on the platform with Daley and Obama(s)
Melissa Harris CHICAGO CONFIDENTIAL

September 27, 2009

Whenever powerful people gather, a certain hierarchy takes shape, and the show of support for Chicago’s bid in Copenhagen will be no exception.

For starters, the International Olympic Committee limits Chicago’s official delegation to 60 people. Ten of those people, plus the two U.S. delegates to the International Olympic Committee, will be on the platform during Chicago 2016’s presentation to the IOC. The remaining 50 people will be on the floor of the Bella Center.

The rest will be tucked away in a viewing room.

Chicago 2016 has been guarding the list of the 60 people as if it were the ignition code to a nuclear weapon. But Chicago Confidential is going to take an educated guess at identifying the 10 VIPs who’ll grace the platform.

Patrick Ryan, Michelle Obama, President Barack Obama (if he shows) and Oprah Winfrey are shoo-ins. (Oprah isn’t going to travel halfway across the globe to sit in the audience or a viewing room.) Mayor Richard Daley and Lori Healey, Daley’s former chief of staff and president of 2016, also will be up there.

My hunch is that the remaining four spots will include someone involved in the Olympics year-round, such as U.S. Olympic Committee acting CEO Stephanie Streeter, and someone with political prominence, such as presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett.

The group also needs a former Olympian; Edwin Moses ‘ name has been floated. And it needs a Paralympian; Linda Mastandrea, a Chicago attorney and longtime wheelchair athlete, would be ideal for that spot.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-sun-confidential-0927sep27,0,3531124.column