Richard Daley’s loss in the 1999 mayoral election only made Rod Blagojevich’s job that much easier. The evidence was very straightforward and very damning. There were e-mails galore; alderman Balcer had already confessed and confirmed that they were authentic. There was more than enough evidence to establish a credible motive. Getting people to testify against Daley was also very easy, especially since he had made quite a few enemies during his time in politics. And, to top it all off, Daley wasn’t the mayor anymore, meaning he had no position of power from which to threaten them. The Chicago political machine that his father had built was no longer under his control. Because the job was so easy, and there was so much evidence, Blagojevich had the upper hand. It would be revealed in later years that Blagojevich had met with Daley before the trial was set to start and bargained with him. The deal was simple enough. In exchange for Daley pleading guilty, the state would go easy on him and give him a lighter sentence. With the only other alternative being required to spend even longer in prison, Daley agreed. He pleaded guilty to charges of political corruption, and was sentenced on the same day to five years in prison. This was good news for Blagojevich’s legal career, having just put away a corrupt former mayor who was also in charge of Chicago’s equally corrupt political machine up until then. It would also turn out to be even better for his political career. The Daley scandal had made headlines and news of it was being broadcast on national TV. Blagojevich was hailed as a hero for putting Daley behind bars, and gained national fame for the deed. He was thrilled by how much attention he was getting, and enjoyed every minute of it. He enjoyed it so much, that it bolstered his own image of himself. Consequently, that also revived his self-confidence and his hopes for a future in politics.
-Wikipedia Entry: Rod Blagojevich: The Daley Corruption scandal: Victory and Political Revival
The 2000 United States House of Representatives election for the 1st district in Illinois took place on November 7, 2000. The race was a rematch between Republican Marlene White Ahimaz and incumbent Democrat Barack Obama. Obama had only been serving for about a year in the House of Representatives and was still attempting to establish himself and learn the ropes. The rematch was a very simple contest, with Ahimaz being re-nominated due to running unopposed in the Republican primary.
-Wikipedia Entry: Illinois's 1st congressional district election, 2000
Representative Barack Obama (D-IL) delivered the convention's keynote address on August 15, 2000. Obama was, at the time, the youngest African-American elected to the United States House of Representatives. Prior to the convention, he was unknown to much of the public outside his adopted home state. At the convention, however, he delivered his immortal speech entitled “Millennium”, which was enthusiastically received by the delegates, who waved blue-and-white campaign signs and chanted his name.
As the keynote speaker, Obama set the tone for the party platform. His speech, proclaiming the unnecessary and artificial divides in American culture and politics, was a smash hit. Obama emphasized the importance of unity, and made veiled jabs at the news media's perceived oversimplification and diversionary use of wedge issues. Obama noted his interracial and international heritage: he was born in Honolulu, Hawaii to a Kenyan immigrant father and a white mother from Kansas. He emphasized the power of education, recounting the privilege of attending the exclusive Punahou School and Harvard Law School despite his family's poverty, and criticized the perception that poor black youths who read books are "acting white." He went on to describe his successful career in law and politics while raising a family in Chicago. "In no other country on Earth is my story even possible," Obama proclaimed. Towards the end of his speech, he emphasized the importance of hope in the American saga, and he illustrated how that hope manifested itself in the lives of Al Gore, Joe Lieberman, and even his own personal life, as "a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him too."
Obama's performance led to much speculation as to his place in the party and the nation's future. After Obama had left the stage, media commentators, panels of historians and political scientists on the major television networks began explicating what many began calling the "Obama phenomenon" — in Illinois and elsewhere in the country.
-Wikipedia Entry: 2000 Democratic National Convention: Barack Obama’s Keynote Address
(D) Barack Obama- 90.6%
(R) Marlene White Ahimaz- 9.4%
-Results of the 2000 General Election for Illinois 1st Congressional District