Toni Preckwinkle's Buying the Rounds At Keegan's Pub! Terry O'Brien Who?

Here's a question - How do you get Alderman Toni Preckwinkle off your front porch?

Answer: Pay for the Pizza!


Yep, Progressive Panjandrum Preckwinkle is Movin' On Up! - To the 19th Ward! The brilliant Laura Washington, a graduate of Academy of Our Lady on 95th Street and one of Chicago's most accurate political journalists - Washington predicted the defeat of Barack Obama by Bobby Rush years ago - sees hope for the 4th Ward Alderman.

Toni Preckwinkle just might be in the mood to drop by Keegan's Pub and announce - "Bernard! Get a round for the folks from the Street to the Shithouse! How's about some Bumps and Beers? Who's up for some Shooters? Come on, you Coppers like nothing better than that - Shooters? Just kiddin'!"

Today, Laura Washington decided to test the waters around my raised ranch on Rockwell, after seeing a Poll conducted by the Tribune that puts the Honaorable Dorothy Brown -Pearls and All at Number one and Toni "Two Shoes" Preckwinkle at Numero Dos.

White voters, particularly along the lakefront, are ripe for Preckwinkle's 21st century-style "Washington coalition." She has picked up nods from progressives such as U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Evanston and officeholders such as Aldermen Helen Shiller, Joe Moore and Mary Ann Smith.

Ald. Tom Tunney (44th), the city's first openly gay alderman, is still on the fence, but he says voters in his Lake View ward are split 50/50. "If the election were held today, the race would be between Toni and Terry," he told me Wednesday. Tunney adds that Stroger has gotten an unfair rap on the county tax issue, but concedes "people want to see a change from Todd."

Talk about change. Another reality check: A recent Chicago Sun-Times report that Preckwinkle may be breaking ground in -- gasp -- the white ethnic enclaves on the city's Southwest and Northwest sides.

Matt O'Shea is an O'Brien backer and committeeman in the "heavily Irish" Southwest Side 19th Ward. "Everybody thinks that if the ballot remains the same, it'll be a walk for Terry O'Brien, but I don't think so," he told the Sun-Times. "Toni Preckwinkle has the ability to reach out to a lot of white voters."

Toni might do a Western Avenue Death March and announce naming a street after Saul Bellow.

Losers have potential! Keep Hope Alive and watch out for open manholes!