Andy Shaw close, but ...

WLS TV's Andy Shaw reported tonight that David Axelrod was probably playing basketball with Barack Obama tonight waiting for the election results ... close Andy -- weren't you the guy who once said Ed Vrdolyak would never be convicted? You were close. He wasn't convicted. He pled guilty to a kickback scheme today.

Actually, I stopped at Manny's Deli on Roosevelt Road after being turned away from the celebration for Barack Obama at Grant Park. And while chomping on a corned beef sandwich, potato latke and bowl of matzo ball soup, who do you think came up and said hello? David Axelrod. Axelrod, one of the real stars behind the rise of Barack Obama, was sitting with political consultant colleagues awaiting the results coming in. Axelrod and I covered Chicago City Hall together. He worked for the Chicago Tribune, before moving on to launch his very successful political consulting firm.

Congratulations to Axelrod. He deserves the accolades for managing the Obama campaign. There's no question that Obama's very successful efforts are the direct result of Axelrod's guidance.

As for Vrdolyak -- he once vowed during the Cicero battle in 1996 "I'll bury that Hanania" when he was manipulating the greedy Betty Loren-Maltese. When Maltese was accused of corruption, and she refused to answer my questions about the subpoenas, I quit/she fired me ... and she went on to jail, thanks to Vrdolyak's manipulation of the town. Who buried who Ed? Vrdolyak was one of the smartest politicians in Chicagoland history, but also one of the sleaziest. Sources say there were some terrible FBI recordings of him bragging about things that were extremely embarassing to his family. If it's true, it's out of his character to do the right thing! but he did.

-- Ray Hanania
http://www.radiochicagoland.com/