I was a Chicago ward heeler; tearing down posters, packing press kits, and other campaign adventures

Washington Monthly, March, 1988 by John Eisendrath

The only tangible evidence that we were moving forward was the growth of the volunteer operation--the fourth leg of our campaign strategy. Faced with the two coldest months of the year, people were actually coming forward and volunteering to knoc on doors: accountants, people who were unemployed, lawyers, doctors, policemen, bankers. Out of nowhere came a real estate broker who, in addition to becoming a terrific precinct captain, managed to get the waitresses at a popular neighborhood restaurant to wear sweatshirts with Edwin's name on them. Another precinct captain who would have done the Boss proud was a bus driver who, whenever his bus took him through the ward, laid out Edwin's campaign literature on all the seats.

The DINKS deliver

We had little to offer these people except ideas. No money, no jobs, and certainly no glamour. And neither during nor after the campaign did any of our workers come asking favors. Yet most of those who got involved (measured either in time or money) were the young urban professionals so often bashed by pundits for having no vision beyond the edge of the nearest bond pit. Of the more than 400 people who helped out, only a handful had ever been involved in a campaign before. Together we learned the tricks of the campaign trade: how to canvas neighborhoods to find out where people stand; how to "run voters" on election day to make sure the people who said they would vote for Edwin actually went to the polls. For a group that will be remembered for making the eighties a decade of avarice, it was a moving display of selflessness. The new generation of precinct captains may never be as dogged as their machine predecessors, but in the clutch they were no less enthusiastic. There are 72 precincts in the 43rd ward. On election day, each captain had to be at his or her precinct by 5:30 a.m. When I called at 5 a.m. to make sure everyone was getting ready, not a single one was still in bed.

Edwin beat The Opponent. They raised and spent about the same money, matched endorsements coattail for coattail, and got an equal amount of publicity. The Opponent is four years older and his resume--which includes a stint as counsel to the local Better Government Association and as a legislative aide to former Rep. Abner Mikva--would do George Bush proud. Yet Edwin got 65 percent of the vote.

Why the rout? One reason was The Opponent's association with Harold Washington. Washington's lack of popularity in the 43rd ward and The Opponent's association with him hurt. The Opponent also suffered fromt he where's-the-beef phenomenon. His resume was so gold-plated that he decided to run on it. Edwin, by contrast, ran on an agenda: school reform and city finances. Voters received equal amounts of literature from the candidates, but the messages couldn't have been more different. The Opponent talked about what he had done; Edwin talked about what he was going to do.

Another reason was thta, despite my urgings to the contrary, cooler heads did prevail. In debates and in the literature we distributed, Edwin was monotonously positive. In community forums he talked about what he planned to accomplish. The Opponent, by contrast, was negative. For months he thumbed Edwin more times than a lousy club fighter. Six days before the runoff election The Opponent mailed out an "Urgentgram" to most ward residents. In it he accused Edwin of "desperation tactics. . .a vicious whisper and smear campaign. . .'Hit' pieces in local media." Mistaking an overzealous reporter for one of our campaign workers, the Urgentgram declared: "Days ago, two people were caught ransacking garbage at my house, taking pictures through my mail slot." Yet onelection day, Edwin won 71 of the ward's 72 precincts.