Free Republic

Jesse Jackson Jr. announced Wednesday that he is exploring a run for mayor of Chicago and said it is "more likely than not" that he will enter the February contest. While he complimented Mayor Richard Daley, a fellow Democrat, for doing an "extraordinary" job in some ways, Jackson said: "What I'm hearing from the people is that it's time for a change." The 41-year-old son of civil rights leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson said he would make up his mind after the November congressional election. He is up for re-election to the seat he has held for 11 years. Daley...

Mitch Landrieu parody

Detroit Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings said Wednesday that she is justified in asking for a new $743,000 urban assault vehicle to replace an old, broken-down one -- even at a time when the department and city are in tough financial straits. To do otherwise, she said, could put her officers at risk. The Detroit City Council put the purchase request on hold Wednesday, a day after Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick went before the council saying drastic layoffs of municipal employees could be needed if unions don't accept concessions. Bully-Cummings accused the council of playing politics with her request.

San Diego Councilwoman Donna Frye and former Police Chief Jerry Sanders will face questioners under the sponsorship of California Common Cause in a two-hour forum on September 30 hosted by the University of California, San Diego. Co-sponsor of the event is the League of Women Voters of San Diego and the entire proceeding will be televised by UCSD-TV in a production to be repeated numerous times right up to election day, November 8. The debate at UCSD marks the first major engagement between the two candidates of the final election season. A focus of the forum will be the reform...

Cobbeldick aims his sights on town's top office Thursday, August 04, 2005 By CAROLYN STEIGMAN BAY VILLAGE _ If Bruce Cobbeldick isn't elected mayor of Bay Village in November, it won't be for lack of trying. He has been campaigning at a feverish pace since first announcing his plan to run for the position in March 2004. No one goes door to door like me, tries this hard to be accessible to people, or takes the initiative to have Web sites and campaign headquarters in place for the convenience of citizens, Cobbeldick said. What other candidate has rented out the...

SAN DIEGO – Steve Francis, the San Diego businessman who came in third in Tuesday's mayoral primary, announced Thursday that he was endorsing former police chief Jerry Sanders in the runoff election. Francis encouraged the 56,800 voters who supported him to pick Sanders over Councilwoman Donna Frye in November. Frye came in first place in the primary with 43.3 percent of the vote. Sanders earned 27 percent. Francis got 23.5 percent. During the primary campaign, Francis had staked out a strong no-taxes stance and had criticized Frye and Sanders over their positions. On Thursday, he said he and Sanders "don't...

"The Mexicans are coming! The Mexicans are coming!" Sometime early (or late) this evening, we'll know whether the future actually got here. Antonio Villaraigosa, a charismatic city councilman with movie-star looks, goes into the runoff as a slight favorite to defeat the one-term incumbent, Jim Hahn, to determine who will be the mayor of the nation's second city for the next four years.

Los Angeles -- THE LOS Angeles mayor's race has a haggard, been-there-done-that feel -- as if the City of Angels were approaching the end of politics. The March 8 primary pitted Mayor Jimmy Hahn against two former Assembly speakers -- Antonio Villaraigosa and Bob Hertzberg -- as well as the police chief Hahn fired, Bernie Parks, a prominent African American who was replaced by the popular Bill Bratton. The top candidates were all Democrats, with some lesser-known hopefuls added in. All that talent and yet the turnout was a measly 26 percent of registered voters. The end of politics? It's...

More people voted in the San Diego mayor's race for write-in candidate Donna Frye than for Mayor Dick Murphy, according to a review yesterday of disputed ballots, but it would take court action for her to be declared the winner. At the end of a full day of ballot examination, county elections workers ... had reviewed 4,854 ballots cast for Frye that were not included in the official results of the Nov. 2 election. Those numbers alone, likely to rise as the ballot review continues today, would put Frye 2,746 votes above Murphy's official total. The ballots were disqualified because...

Republican overcomes underdog status Seizing momentum as the campaign wore on, Republican Danny Jones romped to victory as Charleston’s next mayor Tuesday night, capturing more than 57 percent of the vote over Democrat Chris Smith. Jones, energized by $75,000 worth of television ads and $17,000 in mass mailings in the last few weeks of the campaign, overcame Smith’s substantial primary campaign momentum to win. Jones said he knew he would be victorious on election night after seeing the first precincts tabulated from the West Side, where he won handily. He promised to stick with the job, in response to...

Republican overcomes underdog status Seizing momentum as the campaign wore on, Republican Danny Jones romped to victory as Charleston’s next mayor Tuesday night, capturing more than 57 percent of the vote over Democrat Chris Smith. Jones, energized by $75,000 worth of television ads and $17,000 in mass mailings in the last few weeks of the campaign, overcame Smith’s substantial primary campaign momentum to win. Jones said he knew he would be victorious on election night after seeing the first precincts tabulated from the West Side, where he won handily. He promised to stick with the job, in response to...

Editorial 7/14: A C Wharton for Shelby County mayor July 14, 2002 The Commercial Appeal editorial board today begins its recommendations in contested races on the Aug. 1 general election ballot in Shelby County. NEXT MONTH'S election for Shelby County mayor is effectively a contest between two candidates who have never held elective office. But that is where the similarity ends, for while Democrat A C WHARTON appears well qualified to lead the government of Tennessee's largest county, Republican George Flinn seems essentially unprepared for the job. Eight-year GOP incumbent Mayor Jim Rout, who will retire at the end of...