County Board President Election
Claypool declared in December that he would run for the Democratic nomination for County Board President in 2006. John Stroger, who was a Democrat, announced earlier that he would seek a fourth term, setting up a race among Claypool, Stroger, and Quigley for the Democratic nomination. Quigley dropped out in mid-December, saying "I am throwing my full effort and support to help elect Forrest Claypool as the next County Board President."
Claypool raised more campaign funds than every other candidate in 2005, ending the first half of the year with over $900,000. Most pundits agreed that the Democratic primary was the real election, as Cook County is one of the most Democratic counties in the entire nation. Claypool won the support of many newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times, Crain's Chicago Business, the Daily Herald, the Daily Southtown, and others. In addition, he was endorsed by Rep. Rahm Emanuel and Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn.
Despite the endorsements, and the fact that Stroger suffered a stroke a week before, Claypool still lost to Stroger in the primary. The Cook County Democratic Party appointed Stroger's son Todd Stroger as the nominee to run against Tony Peraica in the general election. Todd Stroger won the election. Claypool refused to endorse Stroger and was chastised heavily by Democratic politicians and stalwarts including Mayor Daley.
Read more about this topic: Forrest Claypool
Famous quotes containing the words county, board, president and/or election:
“It would astonish if not amuse, the older citizens of your County who twelve years ago knew me a stranger, friendless, uneducated, penniless boy, working on a flat boat—at ten dollars per month to learn that I have been put down here as the candidate of pride, wealth, and aristocratic family distinction.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
“Midway the lake we took on board two manly-looking middle-aged men.... I talked with one of them, telling him that I had come all this distance partly to see where the white pine, the Eastern stuff of which our houses are built, grew, but that on this and a previous excursion into another part of Maine I had found it a scarce tree; and I asked him where I must look for it. With a smile, he answered that he could hardly tell me.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I thought my razor was dull until I heard his speech and that reminds me of a story that’s so dirty I’m ashamed to think of it myself.”
—S.J. Perelman, U.S. screenwriter, Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby, and Norman Z. McLeod. Groucho Marx, Horsefeathers, as a newly-appointed college president commenting on the remarks of Huxley College’s outgoing president (1932)
“The election makes me think of a story of a man who was dying. He had only two minutes to live, so he sent for a clergyman and asked him, “Where is the best place to go to?” He was undecided about it. So the minister told him that each place had its advantages—heaven for climate, and hell for society.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)