Lisa Madigan Sits in Mayor Daley's Chair: Fantasy? Maybe Yes, Maybe No.

I wasn't born here, but I did grow into adulthood here, growing up in neighborhood and women's politics and organizing from the very start. Consequently, it came clear to me early on that being Mayor would be the best.

Why?

Well, you could see it every day: Chicago is just so juicy in so many ways.

Chicago is big-city big and diverse; small-town in feel, yet important on the American and world stages; strife-ridden, but eternally optimistic in a peculiarly American way; and the American homeplace among our big cities in a way that New York and Los Angeles aren't. Besides, Chicago embodies the homegrown glory of American culture, and the triumph of its spirit, in its very streets: Think the blues, the jazz, the food, the sports.

So, what aspiring young and ambitious politician wouldn't one want to be Mayor of all this, say, as opposed to being governor of yet another middling Midwestern state veering into bankruptcy?

But, back in that day, when I started out, in the day of the first Mayor Daley, the thought that a woman, much less a pro-choice, pro-women woman could be mayor -- well, I daresay it never crossed anyone's mind, at least anyone who experienced the politics of these streets at that time.

Heck, we were left to begging for a "women's advocate" back then, begging just for some lowly staffer to talk to.

And, a few years later, if, for some reason, you thought this could happen because a woman, Jane Byrne, had become mayor; well, it still would have been completely unrealistic. Why, well because Jane Byrne's mayoral victory wasn't a victory for a pro-choice, pro-women politician. Indeed, when some of us asked Mayor Byrne to make serving the city's women a focal point of her campaign, and then her administration, she said "no."

A few days ago, it was reported that the state's most influential woman elected official, a pro-choice and pro-women woman, Attorney General Lisa Madigan, might be considering a run for Mayor. However, later that morning, in a direct answer to a question from Alison Cuddy, on WBEZ's 848, the Attorney General said "no," she's not running.

I don't have any inside information about this, but I do know that officials sometimes, so to speak, change their minds. Think, for starters, about our President. He wasn't running for President, and then he was.

In any event, here is how I see the Lisa Madigan running for Mayor scenario.

Read on

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Rebecca Sive began her career as a community organizer in Chicago. Now a nationally recognized expert on issues affecting women and girls, Rebecca combines grassroots knowledge and boardroom expertise. www.rebeccasive.com