Two big election wins

Another bad day for Madigan and the machine. Big wins for Kim Foxx and Marie Newman.

People are crazy and times are strangeI'm locked in tight, I'm out of range -- Bob Dylan, (Things have changed)

After nearly two weeks in COVID lockdown, I needed an emotional lift last night and I got one. In fact, two. The IL primary wins by Kim Foxx and Marie Newman had me grinning like a pothead last night while pedaling my damn stationary bike and watching the results come in.

Yes, Bernie Sanders did get trounced by 30 points as expected. Plus a couple of other local down-ticket progressives were knocked off. But the Foxx/Newman wins were big, big, big. Kim ran up the score on three great-white-hope opponents including billionaire's son Bill Conway who tried to ride the "bullshit" Jussie Smollett case to victory a la Bush and Willie Horton.

Both Foxx and Newman were backed by Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot who also endorsed Biden.

The icing on the cake for me was watching Eddie Burke get beat in his own ward race for committeeman by freshman State Rep. Aaron Ortiz. 

As the song goes: It's hard out here for a pimp. 

Marie pulled an Ocasio-Cortez by narrowly defeating 8-term incumbent Dan Lipinski whose family has ruled the district for 38 years. Lipinski was backed by many old-guard Democrats, AFL-CIO leaders and party boss Michael Madigan.

She did it even while calling on Madigan to step down and backing Bernie Sanders.  Yes, that's right. The same 3rd-district voters who overwhelmingly chose Biden over Sanders chose progressive Newman over Lipinski.

Lipinski pitched himself as in line with the district’s voters and cast Newman as too extreme, citing her support for "Medicare for All" and the Green New Deal.

I shouldn't be surprised though. All over the country polls are showing voters who overwhelmingly support progressive issues like Medicare-for-all, voting for Biden because they think he can beat Trump.

Bernie lost big. But with nearly the city's entire black leadership endorsing Biden, and with the Chicago left, including the teachers union, badly divided and unable to turn out Sanders voters, he had no chance to stall the Biden momentum.

And now that it's clear that Bernie has no real pathway to the nomination, he and his team may decide to pack it in and actively work for Biden. Whether they do or not, Bernie will still have lots of influence at the convention. This mainly because Biden and the DNC know he can't win without support from the party's progressive base.

I say all this without a clue how or even if a real election campaign can be carried out under the conditions of COVID.  But I'll take victories when and where I can find them.