It wasn’t very hard for us to fill the Logan Square house with people to hear CTU President Karen Lewis speak. We could have doubled the invite list. We were only limited by the size of Mike and Susan’s living room.
“This is not an announcement,” Karen said.
That was said with what I detected was almost a wink.
I’m not part of any inner-circles or kitchen cabinets. So I have no inside information.
I don’t think I’m going very far out on a limb by saying that Rahm will have a progressive opponent this coming Spring.
My young friends tire of me making references to Harold and the race for mayor in ’83 – the last time a progressive mayor was elected in this town.
I’m the old geezer talking about how it was in the old days.
The kids are right of course. That was then and this is now. Politics is different today.
They claim there’s a science to it. There are the metrics of the game.
I won’t argue that point. Just as I know that they won’t argue that substance, passion, courage and people matter too.
Rahm is a political professional with millions of dollars at his disposal. Karen is a high school teacher and union leader.
In spite of what the corporate education reformers want, teachers hate working from a script. “Rahm never goes off script,” a person knowledgable in the art and science of campaigning told me.
When Karen speaks, she speaks in teacher talk, generally following a lesson plan, but blowing it off now and then – swerving into tangents, references to personal experiences, jokes, sudden thoughts and give-and-take responses.
“This is not about Karen standing at the top and cussing folks out. Even though I’m good at that,” she laughed.
Will this serve her well as a candidate?
Time will tell.
That time is coming soon, as sure as I’m writing this. Petitions start circulating at the end of this month.
“What can we do?” came the standard question from someone in yesterday’s crowded living room on Logan Boulevard.
“Make a spreadsheet and put everybody you know on it. We will need it,” said the former teacher from Lane Tech.
I never heard Harold mention spreadsheets.
Times change.
But The Teacher just gave us our homework assignment.
Fred Klonsky 
If we rely on the metrics of the game, it will depend on which metrics are chosen. Are we going to look at $$$ or are we going to look at people? If voters were scared off by the power of the pocketbook, then there are a few progressives that would not be in office today. Teachers ought to be super aware these days of the power of metrics poorly used.
For anyone so worried about the almighty $$$, I would suggest reading Diane Ravitch’s Blog to check out numerous wins that have occurred for the Davids against the $$$ Goliaths–on school boars (LAUSD), in cities (NYC, Newark), in states (Florida) & probably many other places that I hadn’t read about–after all, the only place to access REAL news these days is courtesy of our knowledgeable & thorough bloggers (like Fred & Mike).
So–like our good & wise friend Duane Swacker, a frequent commenter on Diane’s blog, I say NO!!!! We are NOT going to look at $$$ (although we should definitely pony up whatever we can!!!)–we are looking at the POWER of the 99% of the PEOPLE, as in government BY the people (as it is written), NOT government BUY the people (corporations)!
Run, Karen, run! And, my usual–yes WE can…and yes we WILL!!!
Oh–& what I also meant to say–VERY IMPORTANT–START making your contact lists NOW, as per Karen’s spreadsheet recommendation. We all know many people who know many people who belong to groups with many people…
We CAN make this happen.