by Cal Skinner
When the Rev. and State Senator James Meeks was threatening to run for governor as a third party candidate and courting conservatives as running mates,
I suggested that he might very well be running for Mayor of Chicago instead.
The summer before Harold Washington won the office, Chicago blacks were energized through numerous demonstrations about Chicago Fest, I think.
I figured running for governor and losing would serve a similar purpose of uniting blacks around Meeks, not to mention the necessary job of registering many who are currently unregistered.
Meeks said some pretty energizing words in Springfield before he sold out to Governor Rod Blagojevich's lottery fantasy.
After looking at television news Friday night and seeing the front page of the Chicago Sun-Times Saturday, I’m wondering if Meeks might be thinking about reaching for that goal again.
He would pretty much be the ideal black candidate—much less threatening to ethnic whites than Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr.-- first, because his name is not Jesse Jackson, and, second, because he is a social conservative.
Am I completely off base?