Chickens dancing, roosting in 5th District

Chicago Tribune By John Kass January 9, 2009

With the eyes of the nation on the saga of Tombstone Burris—and our Illinois politicians hopping predictably toward impeaching the governor like those dancing chickens at the state fair—don't forget another vacant congressional seat of prime importance to the Obama White House.Until last week, it belonged to U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Tomczak), now chief of staff to President-elect Barack Obama, who ran on the platform of bringing reform to American politics.With so many new readers from strange lands finally getting interested in how Chicago works—and by this I mean the editorial boards of many American newspapers—you might start by learning about Emanuel's 5th District.It is dominated by the shadow governor of Illinois, state Sen. James DeLeo (D-How You Doin'?), the state central Democratic committeeman, the fellow who'll decide who gets slated by the party, the guy behind the guys. Story continues here...