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When Daley I died, Daley II was otherwise occupied in public office and wasn't ready to take over yet. It was a wild scene, since it was quickly found that there was no clear line of succession defined in Chicago law. Eventually the Aldermen agreed upon an "Intermim Mayor" (one of their own). Then, at the next regular election, the maverick Jane Byrne ran against the machine's candidate. The machine made a huge mistake, though. It snowed like hell the day before election day, but only the politically favored areas got dug out by the city. Mass transit stops in the white areas somehow got cleared out right away, but mass transit stops in minority areas didn't. Many stories of people walking to the polls intending to vote machine, slipping and falling, and getting up and voting for Jane.

Jane was interesting, and I personally thought she provided great entertainment. There was actual debate in the City Council (not that any of them were comfortable with that). But, she didn't do a great job running the city. At the next election, she faced two challengers; Harold Washington and Daley II. Daley II and Jane split the white vote and lost (Daley I lost one of his early attempts for office as well) ran against her, he won. He was a) black, and b) reasonably articulate. He's have been re-elected, but towards the end of his term, he died of a heart attack. I remember watching Dr. Stern, the Coroner of Cook County, give a press conference about his autopsy findings. He let people know, in crude detail, that Harold's body was shot through with fat everywhere, and that he basically ate himself to death.

Anyway, at the subsequent election, Daley II ran. This time he had all his ducks in a row, beat the black candidate, and has been Mayor ever since. He'll be Mayor for life, just like his dad, because his father taught him well the lesson that Mike Royko well documented that he himself had learned: don't touch the money. Let your friends feed at the trough. Then, when the feds show up, they follow the money. The people who take money get burned, but if you stay single-minded in your pursuit of power over money, you'll stay clean.