Division Street

Barack Obama is moving the Democratic National Committee to Chicago and essentially absorbing it into his campaign, Politico reports.

Could that give the GOP more ammunition to attack Obama for his Machine ties?

Well, consider:

“The move to Obama’s headquarters puts the Windy City squarely at the center of American politics for the first time since it was the scene of a Democratic Party meltdown at the 1968 convention,” Politico says. “Then and now, it’s a city whose central political feature– top-down machine control – is one legacy Obama has taken from his allies in the reigning Daley family.”

In a strategic sense, it seems like a smart move, though not everyone is happy about it.

“Barack Obama’s move to merge key elements of the Democratic National Committee into his own campaign’s Chicago headquarters appears aimed at the goal of a centralized and united Democratic Party.

“The shift of the DNC’s political and field organizing operations to Chicago will consolidate the Democratic presidential campaign apparatus more than in either of the last two cycles, when staffers at DNC headquarters overlapped – and occasionally competed – with aides to Al Gore and John Kerry . . . it also left no doubt about where the new center of power lies: On the 11th floor of an undistinguished office tower on Michigan Avenue.”

The move also gives the Obama campaign a chance to merge its organizing efforts into Howard Dean’s 50-state strategy - a strategy once mocked by Rahm Emanuel, who nonetheless was credited in some corners of the media with using it to recapture Congress in 2006.

A bigger irony, though, is that there apparently is one state not cooperating in the strategy: Illinois.

Why?

Because the chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party is Michael Madigan, and as we all know, his agenda is his own.

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On the other hand, with Obama taking closer control of the DNC than John Kerry did, his campaign - despite its rhetoric - may reel in Dean’s 50-state strategy and make sure resources go where they want them to go. After all, Obama is Dean on the outside and Emanuel on the inside.

Mike Madigan kickstarts the Impeach Blago movement with an extraordinary memo.

* The original AP exclusive.

* Rich Miller has extensive coverage at Capitol Fax.

* I’ve got a few things to say myself over at the Beachwood.

* There’s always this.

* And here’s actual memo, edited ever so slightly for spelling and an occasional formatting glitch:

Talking Points on Beginning Impeachment Proceedings Against Governor Blagojevich

* Today, I call on the Illinois House to begin impeachment proceedings against Governor Rod Blagojevich. Let me be clear that I am not calling for the governor’s immediate impeachment. I am instead asking that the House fulfill its constitutional responsibility to investigate possible wrongdoing by the governor to determine if there are grounds for impeachment.

* There are three bases for which the House should consider impeaching Blagojevich:

1. The ongoing federal criminal investigations of his administration, including his role as Public Official A, have significantly impaired his ability to do his job as governor. With Ali Ata’s guilty plea, the governor has been directly implicated in a bribes-for-jobs scheme -the latest revelation of malfeasance in the governor’s office. The conviction of Tony Rezko on 16 or 24 federal corruption counts related to Blagojevich administration activities also suggests something is seriously amiss. Using common sense, and the totality of what has been learned so far about these investigations, prudence demands that lawmakers act. Already, six
individuals associated with his administration have pled or been found guilty of federal criminal charges in connection with their roles in corrupt activities. Criminal activity in the Blagoievich administration is no longer theoretical -it is proven.

Blagojevich is clearly not an innocent victim of circumstances. Legislators have a responsibility to do what is in the best interests of the state and not depend on the federal government to save us. One thing we learned from the George Ryan case is that we should excise a tumor when it is first discovered; not leave it in the body to continue to spread and do further harm.

(more…)

“[S]ources said Zell has rejected the state’s proposed terms because it relies on a novel and untested financing plan: the sale of individual seats at Wrigley as if they were condominiums.”

Which would make Cubs fans feel right at home.

* “The [Chicago City] Council’s Human Relations Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing today on a resolution ‘opposing any U.S. attack on Iran,’” Steve Huntley writes this morning. “The full Council could vote on it on Wednesday. The results are a foregone conclusion. Today’s hearing features among its witnesses the anti-war figure Scott Ritter and John Mearsheimer, a University of Chicago professor known for seeing ‘Israel lobby’ machinations behind U.S. foreign policy.”

So that’s why the city council doesn’t have time to hold hearings on the various scandals emanating from City Hall; it’s too busy overseeing America’s foreign policy!

* And unspinning Sneed on Puerto Rico.

All in The [Tuesday] Papers at The Beachwood Reporter.

She’s the bane of old-school alderman who say she “doesn’t have a clue” and the mayor calls her most recent actions “silly.” Is she an idiot, or is she fearlessly taking on the Machine? Find out tonight when federal hiring monitor Noelle Brennan is interviewed by Carol Marin on Chicago Tonight, 7 p.m., WTTW.

And after Brennan, a look at the top ten most endangered places in the state according to Landmark Illinois.

Chicago Tonight: They’re in my head!

The news about home foreclosures just gets worse by the day.

The city council’s Housing Committee was presented with data on Wednesday that showed that home foreclosures in Chicago soared 46 percent between 2006 and 2007, to 14,250. Among the neighborhoods cited, according to a Sun-Times report: Logan Square, where foreclosures went up 108 percent in the last year, and West Englewood, which had 223 forceclosures per square mile, the city’s highest concentration.

And the numbers from the first two months of this year are even worse, according to Crain’s, which reports that foreclosures throughout Cook County are “on pace to smash last year’s record.”

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You can find a great collection of stories and links at the Chicago Bubble Blog.

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From the campaign trail:
- “McCain Rejects Broad U.S. Aid On Mortgages”

- “Obama Criticizes McCain On Mortgage Crisis”

- “Clinton Details Mortgage Plan”