A Black Mayor for Chicago?

By Susan Tifft

Congressman Washington divides the opposition, and conquers

When Harold Washington went to city hall last month to film a television commercial for his mayoral bid in Chicago's Democratic primary, he found his crew unceremoniously ejected from the building by police for failing to have a film permit. It was an incident typical of his campaign. Running for office in a city known for its deep racial divisions and financially outflanked by more than 10 to 1, Washington was the decided underdog. His opponents in the three-way race were Incumbent Jane Byrne, a protegee of legendary Mayor Richard J. Daley, who ruled Chicago for 21 years until his death in 1976, and her patron's eldest son, State's Attorney Richard M. Daley. After Washington's upset win last week, however, it appeared the twice-elected Congressman and his staff might not only enter city hall but own it. "You want Harold?" he cracked to a chanting throng of jubilant well-wishers in his South Side hotel in the wee hours following election day. "You've really got him now."

And so, it seems, does Chicago, where the Democratic primary nomination has been tantamount to election since 1931. Should Washington win the April 12 general election, he would be the first black mayor in the city's 150-year history, and Chicago, its 3 million-plus population second only to New York City's, would be the nation's largest municipality with a black chief executive.

In a tough town fabled for the lock grip of its Democratic political machine, Washington campaigned vigorously against the party organization and sought to write its obituary. "By today's vote the Democratic Party has been returned to the people," he said. "It is all over for the machine," agreed Don Rose, a Democratic strategist who worked for Byrne in 1979. "Washington is not going to rebuild it."

As recently as late January, Gallup poll figures showed Washington a staggering 22 points behind the front-running mayor. Small wonder. Byrne had the imprimatur of incumbency and Daley had hand-me-down celebrity. But Harold Washington was hardly a figure of renown, despite 16 years in the state legislature, one full term as a U.S. Representative from Illinois' First District, and re-election to Congress last fall. His $1.1 million war chest left him a comparative pauper in a municipal election touted as the most expensive in American history. (Byrne's campaign cache was about $10 million; Daley's fund was roughly $2 million.)

What turned a seemingly quixotic quest into conquest was a confluence of election-day mathematics, an uncommon surge of black bloc voting and the highest turnout ever in a Chicago primary. "He was creeping up on us very fast," conceded Byrne, "better than a point a day." Washington's fast-closing victory was based on a strategic assumption that by election day he could evenly split his opponents' white support, take 75% or better of the black vote and between 8% and 14% of the white vote. He did better than his blueprint. An Associated Press-WMAQ-TV exit poll showed that Byrne and Daley divided the white support 47% to 46%, and that Washington captured 84% of the black vote, though only 6% of the white. Of the 1.2 million votes cast, Washington received 36.3%, Byrne 33.5%, and Daley 29.8%. "When you divide the numbers three ways," said a chastened Byrne the morning after her defeat, "it gets tough." Commented Elections Analyst Richard Scammon: "Happiness is a divided opposition."

By comparison, the black vote was solidly behind Washington. The support started to build last summer; an intensive voter registration drive, spearheaded by local civil rights leaders, added 100,000 black voters to the rolls in time for the November elections. By last week's primary, another 100,000 had been added, making blacks 40% of the 1.6 million Chicago residents registered, a figure reflecting their representation in the city's population.

Behind the high turnout was black antipathy toward Mayor Byrne, which thoroughly overshadowed a spot on Washington's record: in 1972 he spent a month in jail for failing to file tax returns for four years (because of withholding, he owed only a small amount in unpaid taxes: $508.05). Voters seemed to remember more clearly that in her 1979 challenge to Michael Bilandic, Byrne railed against the entrenched machine, but promptly embraced it once in office. She replaced black members of the Chicago housing authority with white cronies, installed and removed budget directors and comptrollers in rapid succession, and ran the city with a feisty flamboyance that was not always attractive. Coupled with a 12.8% jobless rate that has fallen unevenly on minorities, her policies cost her the backing of the once machine-loyal black community.

Aided by New York Media Consultant David Sawyer, the redoubtable Byrne underwent a political facelift. Slickly produced television spots portrayed her as uncharacteristically mellow and calm, and solely responsible for righting the city's careening fiscal course--an arguable claim. Meanwhile, the Washington campaign bided its time. When a Jan. 8 poll, conducted by Washington's consultant Paul Maslin, showed Daley's support stagnating, Washington produced a series of simple, well-crafted media spots that were aired during the last weeks of the race. Many were targeted at the mayor, who was ridiculed as a poor administrator and a captive of the machine. Equally valuable were locally televised debates that provided Washington with a free audience and a forum to demonstrate his oratorical superiority over his opponents.

As Washington passed Daley and closed in on Byrne in the campaign's final days, the issue of race, always an undercurrent, appeared for all to see. Byrne's campaign workers told voters that a vote for Daley was a vote for Washington. Exploiting fears of a black victory, Democratic Committee Chairman Edward Vrdolyak warned party members that the election was "a racial thing."

Many blacks outside Chicago exulted in the outcome. "That registration effort and spirit could bring new hope to black communities across the country," said California Assemblywoman Maxine Waters, who organized a registration drive in Los Angeles County last year to support the city's black mayor, Tom Bradley, for Governor. Bradley, a Democrat, lost to Republican George Deukmejian by 1%, in part because of black voter apathy and some white prejudice against having a black Governor. Said Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young: "The registration message has not been missed. We get the point."

Washington, 60, plans to run all out in the general election campaign. "He'll take nothing for granted," said Adviser Bill Zimmerman. "It's not going to be a cakewalk." In fact, the April showdown may be the closest thing in decades to a real two-party contest in Chicago. Washington's opponent, former State Legislator Bernard Epton, 61, received only 12,000 votes in last week's uncontested Republican primary. But now, with the possibility of Democratic white flight to the Epton camp, the Republican Party is dispatching some of its bigger guns to the fray. James Fletcher, who engineered Illinois Governor James Thompson's first gubernatorial victory, has signed on with the Epton campaign. Nevada Senator Paul Laxalt, chairman of the Republican National Committee, is scheduled to speak this week on Epton's behalf at a $200-a-plate fund-raising dinner. Epton hopes for an initial $200,000 from the committee. Said a hopeful Epton last week, noting that Washington won with only about 37% of the total vote: "I will appeal to disenchanted Democrats." Counters Washington: "If the Republicans think they can beat me, they've got holes in their heads." After last week's unexpected outcome, however, some experts are cautious. "Democrats in Chicago start with enormous advantages," said Washington's pollster, Pat Caddell. "But there is always the danger of movement."

Both candidates say they will work to eliminate the racism that flared in the primary. Speaking before the Women's National Republican Club of Cook County last week, Epton said he did not want ballots cast for him just because he is white. "I want neither money, help nor conversation from those people," he declared. "Tell them to get lost." Despite the specter of substantial white crossovers to Epton, Washington remains the clear favorite. Wrote Chicago Sun-Times Columnist Mike Royko after the upset: "Eeek, the next mayor of Chicago is going to be a black man. Let's all quiver and shake. Oh, come on. Let's all act like sensible, adult human beings."-- By Susan Tifft. Reported by Christopher Ogden/Chlcago

With reporting by Christopher Ogden This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.