Rahm Emanuel's candidacy - on again, off again, ...

It seems that Rahm Emanuel is back on the ballot for Mayor of Chicago — one court allowed it, another said no, the final court said yes. The board of elections, which had begun to print ballots without his name, then had to print new ones with his name on. It all seems to depend on whether owning a home in Chicago but being more of the time in the capital area is being "resident in Chicago." And let's face it, Emanuel's ties to Chicago are pretty deep. Lots of political types do the same kind of thing. John Kennedy, for example, while in the White House, had a Boston address he used as his voting address. He may never have set foot there for long stretches of time, but nobody challenged hes right to vote in Boston.

But Chicago is like New York City, where I grew up. It is a common thing to challenge someone's eligibility to throw them off the ballot, justly or unjustly. (Remember how President Obama got into the Illinois State Senate?) So it was not that big a surprise. But I think the people of Chicago are the ones who should be allowed to decide on Emanuel's suitability for the Mayor's office. So — without passing any judgment on Rahm Emanuel — I think it is a good thing that the final decision was to have him on the ballot. I'm not saying I'd vote for him if I lived in Chicago — nor am I saying I would not vote for him if I lived in Chicago — but only that I think that Emanuel, a candidate more truly tied to Chicago than were Robert F. Kennedy or Hillary Clinton to New York State, deserves to have the citizens of Chicago express their decision on whether he should be Mayor.