Back to Politics: IL-5

(updated at 12:25pm) I heard last week that Tom Geoghegan was considering a run for Rahm Emanuel's seat and chuckled a bit at it. Tom is the author of Which Side Are You On?, which inspired me to become a labor lawyer. I also worked for Tom during law school as a fact checker on his book The Secret Lives of Citizens, which he wrote while practicing law and staging his play Aurora. Aurora is about a labor lawyer torn between love and the movement (or something) and was staged at the Amalgamated Clothing Workers hall in probably 1997. Tom rocks, in his own way.

But you can sort of see why I thought his run for Congress might be a bit quixotic. I am glad to see, however, that Tom is getting lots of great press, which may set him apart from a very crowded field. Tom Frank writes about him today in An Unrepentant New Dealer Runs for Congress, Howie Klein gives him a shout-out at Huffington Post, and Hendrick Hertzberg speaks of him glowingly (comparing him to Obama) on his New Yorker blog. Tom Geoghegan announced his candidacy on Daily Kos yesterday. Joe Trippi writes him up there today (better link here) and Geoghegan has his own op-ed in the NYT today.

It seems like a long shot, but if there's a moment when Tom Geoghegan can do it, this is that moment, when voters want decent men and women to represent them. I don't know anything about the other candidates (I've been out of Chicago for almost 9 years, sadly) but Geoghegan definitely has a great mind and moral core. I hope IL-5 learns that too.

Learn more, and donate or volunteer, at www.geogheganforcongress.com.