Shuffle 'em Up

Obligatory Disclaimer - I wish nothing but a speedy and complete recovery for John Stroger. My interactions with him were limited to going to the same gym for a while, but he was never less than warm and jovial to me every time we saw each other. His son Todd was my seatmate for a while down here and I consider him a good friend. I spoke with Todd over the weekend to wish the family well and we talked about how recent events really serve to put in perspective those things that are truly important.

That having been said, completely ignoring the possibility that there might be a need for a replacement is turning a blind eye to the elephant in the corner of the room. There have been countless scenarios tossed about, some plausible, some just bizarre. But I want to throw two out there, solely for the purpose of giving people something to think about. Let me be clear that these theories are based upon nothing concrete, and are more a product of me having too much time on my hands as I drove downstate. And in the interest of avoiding diving into the middle of a potential firestorm, I will, for these purposes, accept the presumption that the replacement would need to be an African-American.

Theory one - The committeemen appoint Emil Jones as the Board President nominee. He is a known and trusted commodity by the powers that be, and has the experience needed to run what can be a contentious body. This would allow him to get away from the ongoing grief down here, let him be home with his new bride, and increase his salary and pension while he's at it. It also allows for the installation of a new Senate President, which creates some very interesting possibilities, and has little impact on any other ticket considerations. Personally, I think that this is one that's got to be considered.

Theory two - The already much talked about appointment of Jesse White to the position. Personally, I don't see why he would want to do it. He's universally loved right now and would have to take the reigns of a Board that's under intense scrutiny and pressure to fix itself. BUT, if it did happen, I would look for the State Central Committee to move Dan Hynes to the SoS slot, and fill the Comptroller position with the much-coveted downstater candidate. My pick for that would be Sen. James Clayborne, giving the party a downstater, a minority, and a qualified candidate all in one fell swoop. Both Hynes and Clayborne would fare very well in the General, making for a real strong ticket across the board. But again, I just don't know why Jesse would want to do it.

Anyway, I have to go off to committee. I may toss a couple more ideas up here later. But for now, you've got a couple things to think about and discuss.