Chicago’s Political Dogs Walking Stiff-Legged Into Mayoral Race

Years ago when I first began covering Chicago politics–first for The Daily Calumet (America’s oldest community newspaper)– we had a wild dog problem in the South Chicago neighborhood.

The Cal had offices at 91st and Baltimore. From the corner window near my desk, you could smoke–the smoke drafting out through bullet holes in the window–and look down upon my favorite lunch place, Sonny’s Inn restaurant–great burgers and beer and tips on the horse races.

And from that window you could see the packs of feral dogs.

Sometimes only three or four, sometimes more. Sometimes big-headed pit bulls, raised to guard drug houses, prone to kill kids and bred for fighting. Sometimes yellow dogs wild for generations, some well-fed pets that escaped from their backyards. All did the same thing before fighting. They presented by walking in circles, sniffing, tails up, stiff-legged, the way candidates for mayor of Chicago present themselves.