Field Notes: Andersonville

From Jeff Ruby:

Alarm went off at 5:40, jumped out of bed, wanted to beat the line at the polling place in Andersonville, which is about as Obama-heavy as it gets. Then Sarah let it slip to our kids that I was going to vote, and Hannah, now 3 1/2, starts whining. “I wanna vote! I wanna vote too! Obama! Biden! Palin! I wanna vote! Can I go?”

It was a fair request. She has raised $110 for Obama by selling cookies, and went with us to canvas in Indiana on Sunday. But I didn’t want to get stuck in a long line with a grumpy kid. Still. History . . . civic duty . . . A lesson about the importance of voting . . . Etc.

I took her with me. She was so psyched. When we walked in, the guy behind the desk says to Hannah, “Who are you voting for?”

“Obama,” she responded shyly.

He didn’t even smile, the heartless bastard. Then I realized that he was the token Republican worker, which is a lot like being an Ohio State fan in Ann Arbor.

The Pepsi President?

It took Pepsi five months and an estimated $1 million to come up with this new logo, according to Advertising Age. I could have ripped it off from the Obama campaign for free!

Obama’s Grade Inflation

I don’t think Barack Obama has ever said he was under sniper fire in a war zone, but he certainly has his own long list of exaggerations. Lynn Sweet returned to one of them over the weekend: his perpetual claim to professorhood. Not so.

Wright’s Reward

Controversial Obama pastor Jeremiah Wright is receiving a nice parting gift as he makes his way toward retirement: a $1 million home complete with a whirlpool, butler’s pantry, elevator, and four-car garage.

God bless America!

Foreclosure City

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”