Overwhelming, He Said

Chicago voters last week re-elected potato-shaped Mayor Richard Daley to a third term. That in itself was hardly a surprise: Daley (TIME cover. March 15) was figured to be a sure winner from the start. But surprise the election brought, nonetheless: though the mayor chirruped about his "overwhelming victory." his margin was narrow by Chicago standards.

Daley got 55.6% of the votes, beating Republican Benjamin Adamowski by 137,531. Against a formidable opponent that would have been a creditable showing, but not against Adamowski. An exDemocrat who had been a notably unsuccessful state's attorney, Adamowski had a sure-loser aura about him. even established his campaign headquarters in the Casualty Building. He carried on a drab campaign, failed to win the support of any of Chicago's newspapers (all of them Republican, more or less), stirred no enthusiasm in many G.O.P. ward leaders. Then why didn't Daley wallop Adamowski good? Apparently, a lot of Chicagoans were restive about Daley's tax increases, the latest of which was a 3% boost in real estate taxes. Adamowski's fellow Republicans could well ponder what might have happened if they had put up a stronger candidate.

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