- Joshua Lott/Getty Images
- Rahm Emanuel got lots of love from lakefront voters.
Among the casualties in Tuesday’s runoff election—along with my short but brilliant career as a political prognosticator—was the concept of the lakefront liberal.
Bolstered by youthful idealism, many of these young boomers rose up against the machine politics of Mayor Richard J. Daley.
Who were sort of like the Scott Waguespacks and John Arenas of their day.
Last year, Governor Bruce Rauner won over 49 percent of their vote, compared to the 20 percent he got citywide.
Consider the aldermanic race. In that election, Alderman Michele Smith was on the ropes against challenger Caroline Vickrey in large part because she had upset so many people with her heavy-handed zoning practices.
In fairness to Alderman Smith, she was one of five aldermen who voted against Mayor Rahm’s proposal to raise the minimum wage.
