New York election victory points the way in Chicago

De Blasio's overwhelming win in yesterday's NY primary gives hope and new confidence to teachers and others who would like to see a similar outcome in the next Chicago mayoral election. De Blasio's stand on school issues seems closest to that  of some members of the City Council's Progressive Caucus.and other potential anti-Rahm candidates.

De Blasio is a strong advocate for public education; opposes charter school expansion and Bloomberg'a (read Emanuel's) corporate-style reform; wants to increase taxes on the wealthiest to solve the budget crisis; and says that inequality is the central issue of our times.” His strong stand against Bloomberg's racist stop-and-frisk policies resonated with many black and Latino voters. Sounds like a strong platform for a 2015 anti-Rahm candidate.

With his own poll ratings sinking like a stone, I'm sure that Rahm kept a close eye on the New York election. What he saw must have shaken him and his corporate backers, many of whom are expressing a lack of confidence in the mayor. While de Blasio's victory was making headlines, here's what Chicagoans were reading about their own mayor, all within the last 24 hours:

The clock is ticking for Mr. Emanuel (Crain's)
Rahm settles Police torture cases settled for $12.3 million (Sun-Times)
Mayor: 'Sorry' for Burge torture era (Tribune)
First-grader’s hair gets caught in fan handed out by CPS (Sun-Times) 
Rahm checkmates school chess teams (Reader)
Rahm's Midway privatization deal crashes and burns (Crain's)

Is it any wonder then, that this headline followed those above?
Rahm offers olive branch to Karen Lewis (Sun-Times) 

De Blasio's primary win must have also shaken Arne Duncan who has made mayoral control of urban public schools the centerpiece of the DOE's "reform" agenda. I'm anxious to see what he says about de Blasio and if he threatens to punish the nation's biggest school district for de Blasio's likely election.