On Election Night, Tuesday, February 2, 2010, I was at the W Hotel City Center. US Senate candidate David Hoffman (keep in touch!) was there in a ballroom with friends and supporters. He lost the election, but it was a very strong showing.
Across the sleek modern carpet on the second floor ("Plateau Level", in Wspeak), there was another event. This one was held by supporters of Todd Stroger, the current Cook County Board President. He lost that night, mightily. Unless some crazy shit happens, it was the end of a remarkable run of county control for the Strogers.
You might call it "The Tale of Two Great Rooms":
Hoffman had the smaller room– Great Room II– on the right. Stroger on the left. The X's are the elevators that provided succor in post-speech retreat for Stroger.
Here are some notes on the Stroger room:
The room was pretty bare, save for the media row and clumps of people talking amongst themselves as Stroger spoke.
Stroger characterized the defeat as a "bump in the road". I'm not sure if anyone in the room agreed with this highly optimistic take on the results, except for the guy who said, "Todd for Mayor!". Stroger responded by saying, "thank you for that sentiment".
Stroger defended his leadership of the County and said he was proud that there were few layoffs, as opposed to other government bodies. He further stated that "I know county government better than anyone… in this room". I'm not sure if this was correct or not.
He congratulated the Democratic primary winner Toni Preckwinkle, and said that he would take the opportunity to tell her "how the county works" in the coming months. I'd like to be a fly on the wall at that session.
People very much liked the mini-burgers:
Board member Bridget Gainer was there in the room, standing by the door. I do not know why she was there.
Here's Stroger giving his lonely speech. This image is by David Schalliol, the genius photographer who was covering the event for WBEZ.
Finally, Stroger was hustled out of the ballroom immediately. I love photographer crush scenes.
Todd Stroger in Photographer Crush, After Conceding Defeat from Daniel X. O'Neil on Vimeo.