And the Winner Is…
Toni Preckwinkle.
The Alderman made a great showing in the polls with garnering 53% of the vote in the suburbs and 47% in the city. This illustrates something we’ve consistently touted in that a strategy that takes into account the diversity of the county is a winning strategy.
Todd Stroger’s focus on the media and race proved to be his undoing. Not only did Stroger have a difficult time overcoming the tax hike, he had no answer to the “ick factor” that many voters associated with him. As someone stated to me last night, ‘people just didn’t like Todd Stroger’, and his campaign never addressed that reality.
His disconnect was evident to the end. In his concession speech, Todd Stroger state:
“At some point we’re going to have to realize that every time an African-American male is being fought and trying to be pulled down we’ve got to look at it, we’ve got to take a hard look at it and see what’s actually happening,” source
What Toni Preckwinkle shows is that old fashion grassroots campaigning is still the best political strategy to have. To gain more insight on that, you should read John Presta’s book, Mr. and Mrs. Grassroots: How Barack Obama, Two Bookstore owners, and 300 Volunteers Did It. She also took a page from Obama’s playbook and broadened her base of supporters.
The conspiracy theorist will tell you that Dorothy Brown was injected into the race by Mike Madigan to take votes away from Todd Stroger and that Toni Preckwinkle is a puppet of Mayor Daley. I’ve even heard people state that the County Clerk deliberately placed Todd Stroger’s name last on the ballot (although that is easily refuted here)
These people overlook the fact that in a field of four, Toni Preckwinkle doubled the number of votes of her closest opponent. Ordinary Chicago-style campaigning does not produce those type of numbers unless the Democrat machine is fully operable, which it hasn’t been in some time.
Toni had the best campaign team with the best campaign strategy. She talked to voters, she courted donors and she explained her plan for the county in a clear and concise manner. This is what made her the best candidate in the race and this is why she won.
Now the work begins for the November election. Hubris will make many believe that the race is in the bag; that a Republican cannot compete for a countywide office. Martha Coakley sets a prime example of what can happen when you take an election for granted.
There are still doors to knock on, phone calls to make, and voters to engage. This is not the end road, only a hurdle. But we’ll savor this victory because it was earned not only by the candidate but by those who worked on her behalf and especially by those that entrusted her with their vote.
Congratulation, Alderman Preckwinkle.
Well done.