Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) made his first set of decisions on Friday about how he will proceed in picking a replacement for U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who will step down next month.

Durbin takes the lead because he is a Democratic senator with a Democratic president in the White House.

In Springfield on Friday, Durbin said a new U.S. Attorney would likely not be confirmed until after November. Sun-Times Springfield Bureau Chief Dave McKinney has the story HERE.

The ins and outs and politics of replacing Fitzgerald with President Obama facing a November election: Sun-Times Washington Bureau Chief Lynn Sweet and Sun-Times Political Writer Abdon M. Pallasch have the story HERE.

Durbin will:

*launch an "open, transparent and nonpartisan" search.

*work with Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) to establish the search process. Bringing in Kirk early in the process is more than a cordial move--it is needed because both senators from Illinois must agree before the Senate will take any steps towards confirmation.

below, from Sen. Dick Durbin....

DURBIN STATEMENT ON CHOOSING THE NEXT US ATTORNEY FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) released the following statement regarding the process for choosing the next U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois:

"I'm committed to conducting an open, transparent and nonpartisan search for the next U.S. Attorney for the Northern District and, over the next few weeks, I will work with Senator Kirk to establish a formal search process to fill the vacancy left by Patrick Fitzgerald's resignation. We will announce that process once it is established."

"I've spoken to Attorney General Eric Holder and he assured me that, in consultation with Patrick Fitzgerald, he will name a strong and competent Acting U.S. Attorney to serve until an eventual nominee is confirmed by the Senate. I'm completely confident that the U.S. Attorney's office will continue its important work during this transition process."

"The Northern District of Illinois deserves a U.S. Attorney beholden only to the law of land. We will find a successor who will continue Patrick Fitzgerald's good work."

Traditionally, the senior Senator of the President's party, in consultation with the junior Senator, makes recommendations to the President for a nominee for the position of U.S. Attorney. In this case, Senator Durbin will submit recommendations to President Obama after consulting with Senator Kirk. The approval of both home state Senators is required for the Senate Judiciary Committee to take up and consider any U.S. Attorney nominee. On average, it takes between 2-4 months to confirm a U.S. Attorney once that nomination is sent to the Senate.

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By Lynn Sweet and Abdon M. Pallasch

Speculation about potential successors to U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald started as soon as he announced Wednesday he was stepping down.

But an initial hurdle is for the Illinois senators -- one Democrat, one Republican -- to agree on a nominee or risk never getting a confirmation vote in the Senate.

Sen. Dick Durbin has the lead in making a recommendation to the White House because there is a Democratic president and Durbin is a Democrat. But because of how the Senate operates, Sen. Mark Kirk, the Republican, has the power to block a nomination.

When the job was last vacant, former Republican Sen. Peter Fitzgerald bucked pressure from his own party to select a Chicago lawyer and instead sent the name of a New Yorker -- Patrick Fitzgerald (no relation) -- to former President George W. Bush, insisting on an outsider to lessen the potential of conflicts of interest.

The choice "put the blindfolds back on justice in Chicago," the former senator told the Chicago Sun-Times.

"I would hope that Sen. Kirk and Sen. Durbin would recommend someone who is not connected to the political class in Chicago or Springfield. And that they also look for someone who could not be pressured or controlled," Peter Fitzgerald said Wednesday.

While many lawyers in Chicago are smart with "great experience," Peter Fitzgerald argued that the next federal prosecutor here should be someone who "the politicians in Chicago and Springfield don't have something on."

This is the first U.S. attorney opening that Durbin and Kirk -- who was elected in 2010 -- have been confronted with.

The last two U.S. attorneys in Illinois -- in the southern and central districts -- were confirmed earlier in 2010, when former Democratic Sen. Roland Burris affirmed Durbin's recommendations. Before that, Durbin worked with fellow Democrat Barack Obama -- then a senator -- who replaced Peter Fitzgerald.

The process of finding a replacement may get caught up in election year politics -- where control of the White House and the Senate could change after November.

Because U.S. attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president, Durbin and Kirk could just wait until after the election to forward a name.

Durbin's spokesman said the senator has yet to decide on how he will proceed.

After Durbin sends a name to the White House, it could take some time for the person to be vetted. Once the president taps a nominee, the name is sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee, of which Durbin is a member.

The nominee then is vetted again by both Republicans and Democrats on the committee, but only if both senators from the home state give a green light to proceed.

"It's very hard to find somebody that you would really have confidence has no connections with the political class. I would hope the press would thoroughly scrutinize the names that are floated for U.S. attorney," Peter Fitzgerald said.

Among the names surfacing Wednesday:

† Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Collins, who convicted former Gov. George Ryan and headed up Gov. Pat Quinn's Reform Committee. Collins would not comment Wednesday on his interest in the position. However, when he left the U.S. attorney's office in 2006, Collins' going-away gift was a jacket embroidered with the words "Assistant U.S. Attorney." Even then, Collins put his finger over the word "Assistant," then smiled wide.

† Former Assistant U.S. Attorney David Hoffman, who occasionally butted heads with Mayor Richard J. Daley as his inspector general. Hoffman's 2010 Illinois Senate Democratic primary bid may taint him as too partisan.

† Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Tarun.

† Assistant U.S. Attorney Reid Schar, who convicted former Gov. Rod Blagojevich

† City of Chicago Inspector General Joe Ferguson.

† Former U.S. Attorney Dan Reidy, who convicted Cook County Circuit Court judges in the Operation Greylord investigation.

† Attorney Ann Tighe, wife of former Cook County Assessor Jim Houlihan, was a finalist in consideration for the post back when former U.S. Attorney Scott Lassar was chosen for the job.

† The names of three highly regarded African-American attorneys -- former Assistant U.S. attorneys Z. Scott and Andrea Zopp and Cook County Circuit Court Judge William Hooks -- were floated by Ald. Howard Brookins, chair of the Chicago City Council's Black Caucus. Brookins urged consideration of minority candidates for the post.

† Attorney Ronald Safer, who is among the rare defense lawyers to have won cases in the federal courthouse over the last several years, including for clients in the Conrad Black case.

† Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez or Sheriff Tom Dart.

Or it could just be a player not on the radar. Said Rep. Mike Quigley, "My assumption is we don't know who this person is. If they're smart, they'll be like the current one."

Contributing: Natasha Korecki

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) is threatening to stop Metra "in its tracks" unless more African-Americans firms get work from a massive railroad construction project in his congressional district called the "Englewood Flyover."

"There is no way that this contract will fly," Rush told me in an interview.

Last October, Rush put on a hardhat and joined Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.), Gov. Pat Quinn and Mayor Rahm Emanuel at a groundbreaking ceremony at 63rd and State Street.

As LaHood wrote in his blog on Oct. 11, "the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago features one of the most hopelessly tangled railway bottlenecks in North America." Construction of the "flyover" bridge will "quickly put 1,500 men and women to work." Once built, the "flyover" will, LaHood said, "eliminate construction and backups" for 78 daily Metra commuter trains, 14 Amtrak trains and 46 freight trains.

Much of the money for the "flyover" comes from President Barack Obama's stimulus package -- the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act -- designed to pump money into the troubled U.S. economy by creating jobs on infrastructure projects.

Rush is quoted in an Oct. 10 press release from LaHood's shop about what he wants from the project: "The potential construction jobs and contracts from the Flyover arrive right on time" for residents of the impoverished Englewood community.

The total price tag for the "flyover" is $133 million, and Metra on April 10 accepted bids for the major portion of the construction -- worth, Rush said, about $86 million.

Metra is in the process of analyzing the bids and Rush told me when I interviewed him Thursday in his Rayburn Building office here that he got a tip from a Metra source on Wednesday that none of the major bidders included African Americans -- except for a security contract worth about $110,000.

Rush wanted to sound an alarm now, he told me, before Metra board members vote on the contract. While there is no date for a vote, Metra next meets May 11.

"I want Metra to rebid this contract. There is no way that this contract will fly," Rush told me.

"And there is no way that Metra's trains will run in the City of Chicago if this is the contract. We will stop Metra in its tracks, OK, on the tracks, cause we are not going to sit back and allow this mega-million-dollar project to come into our neighborhood, where unemployment is sky high," he said.

Englewood will get "all the dust, the delay, the dirt but none of the dough. We are not going to let it happen," Rush told me.

Metra spokesman Michael Gillis declined to comment on the accuracy of Rush's tip because, he said, the bidding process is not complete.

Gillis told me the transit agency did all it could to encourage minority bidders, working with Rush for two years to find companies that could be part of the project.

Metra held five events in Englewood to "educate" firms from the community and "team them up with prime contractors who could be bidding on the project," Gillis said. Metra also teamed with the state to help Englewood residents train for construction apprentice positions.

"We have done everything we can within the constraints of the law" and federal guidelines.

Said Gillis, "We cannot do more to create geographic, race or ethnic preferences under the law."

President Obama returned home for two fund-raisers on Friday, taking aim at GOP rivals stumping in Illinois in advance of the Tuesday primary as contenders who hardly measured up to another president from Illinois--a Republican, Abe Lincoln.

In his speech, Obama said he wants the U.S. to be as competitive as other nations. "I don't want to ride on a road in Germany and see a better road than Lake Shore Drive," the famous roadway that runs along, mostly, Lake Michigan.

Obama headlined two events in Chicago on Friday before flying to Atlanta for three more events, a day that will raise millions of dollars for the combined Democratic National Committee/Obama 2012 re-election drive.

The first Obama event--a "Lawyers for Obama" luncheon at the Palmer House Hilton was open to press coverage; a roundtable for major donors after that was not. The roundtable feature Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Gov. Pat Quinn, former White House chief of staff Bill Daley, strategist David Axelrod, business executive Penny Pritzker and former Senate president Emil Jones.

At the start of the luncheon, Axelrod introduced a video released Thursday night the Obama campaign is calling a "documentary," which recounts the accomplishments of the Obama administration.

Obama was introduced by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who was his seatmate when they both served in the Illinois Senate.

"Now, you might have noticed that we have some guests in Illinois this week," Obama said at the luncheon. Without mentioning their names, he was referring to Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum--campaigning in the Chicago northwest suburbs today, and Newt Gingrich, in the area on Wednesday and Thursday.

"Apparently things haven't quite wrapped up on the other side. So, so there is actually some interest in the primary that we have here on Tuesday. And -- and my message to all the candidates is, welcome to the land of Lincoln.

"Because I'm thinking, maybe some Lincoln will rub off on them while they are here," Obama said, recounting that Lincoln--even during the Civil War, was able to build a trans-continental railroad and establish land grant colleges."

Obama, continuing to aim his remarks at his GOP rivals, said Lincoln "understood that we are a people that take great pride in our self-reliance and our independence, but that we are also one nation and one people, and that we rise or fall together.

"So I hope that while my counterparts on the other side enjoy the outstanding hospitality of the people of Illinois and spend some money here to promote our economy --- I hope they also take a little bit of time to reflect on this great man, the first Republican president."

Obama addressed what is sometimes called the "enthusiasm gap," the challenge in the 2012 campaign to recreate the "hope and change" euphoria that swept through many of his supporters in 2008.

The crowd--supportive but reserved--the room was full of lawyers--shared his "vision," Obama said, recalling the heady days of 2008.

"That's the change we believed in. That's why you got involved. You didn't get involved because the odds were that a guy named Barack Hussein Obama was going to be president," Obama said.

"Yes you can," someone shouted out--recasting a famous 2008 slogan.
"And we knew it wasn't going to be easy or that it would come quickly. We knew it was going to be hard. But as you just saw in that video, just -- just think about what happened over the last three years because of what you did in 2008.

Because of your efforts, your commitment not to me, but to the country and to each other, we started to see what change looked like."

Obama filled Grant Park the night he was elected in 2008. Recalling that he said, "As much as 2008 was exciting, and -- as much as all of us, I think, saw that night at Grant Park as -- as the culmination of something, it was actually just the beginning of what we're fighting for. "

FOOTNOTE: According to Mark Knoller of CBS News--the unofficial statistics keeper of presidents, the Chicago fund-raisers were the 104th and the 105th since Obama filed for re-election with the Federal Election Commission on April 4, 2011.
At this point, former President George W. Bush had done 54. By the end of Friday, Obama will have headlined 108 fund-raisers.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the ailing Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), recovering from a stroke, and the Illinois congressional have urged President Barack Obama to come through for his adopted home state and provide disaster assistance to five southern Illinois counties.

Durbin and representatives from Kirk's office said in a statement they "will meet with Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator (FEMA) Craig Fugate and, TOMORROW, March 14, 2012 at 11:15 AM EDT. The meeting will take place in room S-321 of the Capitol. Durbin called for the meeting following FEMA's announcement on Sunday that aid would be denied in order to discuss the State of Illinois' appeal of this decision. Members of the Illinois Congressional Delegation and Illinois Governor Pat Quinn are expected to join the meeting by phone."

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said Monday the GOP White House hopefuls were "at war with Islam" during an interview on CNN's Starting Point with Soledad O'Brien.

Durbin said, "And understand, just go back to history a little bit to 9/11, President George W. Bush, I sure had my differences with him, but I thought he got it right, and he stuck with it through his presidency. He said our war is not with the religion of Islam. Our war is with those who would distort it and turn it into terrorism. And I think that was a bright spot kind of a guiding principle. It was adopted by President Obama. Now, listen to these Republican candidates for president. They're at war with Islam."

CNN Contributor Will Cain counters, "Senator Durbin, I haven't heard one thing that backs up what you suggest. Just give me an example, how are they at war with Islam?

Referencing the Quran burnings, Durbin replies, "Newt Gingrich saying that the president is guilty of appeasement.... What you listen to is incendiary rhetoric coming out in a very delicate situation. Lives are at stake here. The president is showing leadership. The president is stepping up, trying to calm a situation. These three candidates are coming on television doing the opposite."

WASHINGTON---The Obama campaign is tapping six from Chicago to be national co-chairs: Bill Daley, Sen. Dick Durbin, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Penny Pritzker, Rep. Jan Schakowsky and Alan Solow.

Daley was announced as a co-chair after he submitted is resignation as President Barack Obama's chief of staff. Emanuel, who was Obama's first chief of staff, business woman Pritzker and attorney Solow already serve as advisors to the campaign.

Illinois Democrats Durbin and Schakowsky as were Pritzker and Solow were among Obama's earliest backers when he launched his 2008 White House bid.

National co-chairs will serve as campaign surrogates helping fund-raise; they will also help to engage and mobilize voters. The campaign will have about 30 co-chairs.

Not on the list--Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., (D-Ill.) who was a co-chair of Obama's 2008 campaign. Jackson is locked in a re-election primary battle with former Rep. Debbie Halvorson (D-Ill.) where Obama is backing Jackson.

The White House launched a messaging drive this week that $40 dollars a week buys a heck of a lot for a lot of people--and that's what is at stake for a lot of wage earners if the Social Security payroll tax cut was not extended. A small break adds up, that's the message of "Seven and a Half Cents" from the musical "Pajama Game." That's Doris Day (above) in the 1957 movie version. Lyrics below.

WASHINGTON -- President Obama, bothered by comparisons to Star Trek's unemotional Mr. Spock, pushed back on that narrative -- as he scored a win Thursday over Republicans who botched handling one of their core issues -- tax breaks.

Obama told ABC News' Barbara Walters -- in an interview to be broadcast on Friday's "20/20" show -- that the biggest misconception about him is that he is "detached, or Spock-like, or very analytical."

"People who know me know that I am a softie. I mean, stuff can choke me up very easily. The challenge for me is that in this job I think a lot of times the press or how you come off on TV people want you to be very demonstrative in your emotions. And if you're not sort of showing it in a very theatrical way, then somehow it doesn't translate over the screen," Obama said in the interview taped Dec. 15.

So it was something to see Obama lose his Spock on Thursday as he vented at a White House event whipped up to pressure House Republicans over the Social Security payroll tax cuts, due to expire Dec. 31. A few hours later, there was a deal.

Obama wanted House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to persuade his hard-line GOP colleagues to go along with a Senate stopgap measure to extend the Social Security payroll tax cut another two months. This latest episode of Washington gridlock was remarkable because Obama and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) were in rare agreement.

Said a frustrated, unusually emotive Obama, "This is an issue where an overwhelming number of people in both parties agree. How can we not get that done? I mean, has this place become so dysfunctional that even when people agree to things we can't do it? It doesn't make any sense."

The Senate on Saturday -- in an 89-10 bipartisan roll call -- passed a compromise bill to extend payroll tax breaks and unemployment benefits and advance the controversial Canada/U.S. Keystone pipeline.

(Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) voted yes on extending the tax break. Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) voted no.)

The problem was getting the House Republicans to go along. The White House cranked up a publicity and messaging campaign coordinated with the Democratic National Committee and Democratic lawmakers.

Anyone who receives a paycheck got a break in 2011 by paying less Social Security tax. For someone who earns $106,000, the cut was worth about $2,000; for a $50,000 earner, about $1,000.

In order to make the argument more populist, the White House calculated that the break was worth $40 "for a typical American family." And in doing what they do best, the White House collected stories from thousands of people these past days about what $40 meant to them.

The what-does-$40-buy gambit was evocative of lyrics in a famous song from the 1950s Broadway musical "The Pajama Game," where workers in a pajama factory were seeking a 7.5-cents-an-hour raise:

I figured it out

I figured it out

Backed in a corner, the House Republicans finally figured it out.

WASHINGTON--House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) wants Congress to pass a one-year renewal on the Social Security payroll tax hike and was critical of the Senate bill that punted with just a two month extension.

What will likely happen is the House will pass its version Monday night then go to conference with the Senate to try to hammer out the differences. Time is an issue; the Senators have gone home for winter break and the tax break expires on Dec. 31.

The Senate two-month fixed passed on an 89-10 vote Saturday. Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) voted against extending the tax cut and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) voted for it. (post on Kirk vote is HERE)

At a Monday morning press conference, Boehner said, "Americans are tired of Washington's short-term fixes and gimmicks, which are creating uncertainty for job creators at a time when millions of Americans are out of work. Democrats and Republicans agree that the payroll tax cut needs to be extended for a full year. And to provide the kind of relief that Americans need in this struggling economy, the House last week passed a bill to do just that.

"But instead of passing the House bill or another bill which extended the payroll tax credit for a year, the Senate Democratic leaders passed a two-month extension of punting the problem into next year. We opposed the Senate bill because doing a two-month extension instead of a full-year extension causes uncertainty for job creators.

"I used to run a small business. I met a payroll. I hired workers. A two-month extension creates uncertainty, and will cause problems for people who are trying to create jobs in the private sector.

"The idea that tax policy can be done two months at a time is the kind of activity we see here in Washington that's really put our economy off of its tracks. Last week both chambers worked together to pass a full-year bill to fund our government, and I don't think this issue is any different. It's time to -- for Congress to do its work. No more kicking the can down the road.

"Tonight the House will vote on the Senate-passed bill. This is a vote on whether Congress will stay and do its work or go on vacation. I expect that the House will disagree with the Senate amendment and instead vote to formally go to conference, the formal process in which the House and Senate can resolve differences between the two chambers and between our two bills. And I expect the House to take up legislation that reinforces the need to extend the payroll tax relief for a full year rather than just two months, again to provide certainty for job creators.

"And I think the best way to resolve the difference between the two-month extension and a full-year bill is to follow the regular order here in Congress. When there's a disagreement between the two chambers, we sit down at a conference and resolve those differences. And that's exactly what I believe the House will do.

"The president has said repeatedly that no one should be going on vacation until the work is done. Democrat leaders in the House and Senate have said exactly the same thing. So I think it's time for the Senate Democrat leaders to follow the president's example, put their vacations on hold and work in a bipartisan manner to finish the nation's business."

The White House makes the case for the tax break.

WASHINGTON--Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) are at odds over whether a temporary paycheck tax cut due to expire at the end of the year -a break on Social Security payroll taxes--should be extended: Durbin is for continuing the break and Kirk is against it.

Congress is headed to a showdown on the issue. President Barack Obama is pushing for what was originally a one-year break to be continued.

The House, with GOP votes on Tuesday passed a measure to continue the Social Security payroll tax cuts--but only by packaging it with a mandate to build the controversial Keystone Canada-to-Texas pipeline. Senate Democrats are likely to reject the House linkage and Obama has threatened a veto.

Kirk, during a C-SPAN interview on Sunday said he is against using "Social Security as a cash cow for an economic stimulus." He is prepared to let the cuts expire because he does not want the U.S. to issue more debt to replace cash in the Social Security Trust Fund that was lost when folks in 2011 were able to pay less into it.

KEYSTONE: Kirk and Durbin are also potentially split over Keystone. Kirk is for construction of the pipeline because it will produce jobs. Durbin is against Keystone being included in a Social Security payroll tax bill. He backs Obama's position that a review of the pipeline is necessary--and will wait to see what that review concludes.

Everyone who gets a paycheck got to keep more of their own money in 2011 due to Social Security payroll tax cuts Obama pushed through. Those breaks expire at the end of December. Obama earlier this year proposed continuing the paycheck tax cuts and giving a break to employers who have to pay taxes for each employee. Now he has a battle just getting Congress to let the breaks live for another year.

Under a bipartisan deal Obama made with Congress in 2010 and starting in 2011, the deduction on your paycheck for Social Security -- often called a payroll tax -- was cut by 2 percent for a year. The rate workers kicked in dropped to 4.2 percent from 6.2 percent. The employers' contribution stayed the same -- 6.2 percent.

What does this mean to you? If you make $106,800 a year, the maximum saving is $2,136. (Social Security taxes are applied to only the first $106,800 of earnings.)

Let's look at it another way: If you make $500 a week, you get a $10 weekly tax cut. If you make $1,000 each week, your break is $20; a $1,500 weekly salary earner pays $30 less in payroll taxes.

WASHINGTON--Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn hits Washington Thursday to meet with federal officials and the Illinois congressional delegation.In the morning, Quinn appeared on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" where he said the 14-year sentence for former Gov. Rod Blagojevich on corruption charges was "stern."

"It is a very stern sentence....It is a sad chapter and it is closed, the book is closed. "Illinois has to make sure that the world knows we have a reform governor who believes in honesty and integrity at all times," Quinn told "Morning Joe." Noting that former Gov. George Ryan was also in jail on corruption charges Quinn said, "we want to make sure this never happens again."

The office of Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said in a statement, "during the informal meeting with delegation members, Quinn will discuss various Illinois priorities including the extension of unemployment insurance. Without quick action by Congress federal unemployment insurance will expire at the end of the year."

Earlier in the week, Quinn was in Los Angeles for a meeting of the Democratic Governors Association, where he serves on the leadership team.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) praised Chicago's former first lady Maggie Daley, who died Thanksgiving eve, in a speech from the Senate floor on Tuesday. Watch Durbin's tribute HERE. Durbin attended Mrs. Daley's funeral on Monday at St. Pat's and talked about the mass in his remarks.


Excerpts from Durbin's Senate floor speech: "Maggie Daley was an adopted daughter of Chicago, but no native-born Chicagoan could have loved the city more or served it better. Last May, as her husband Rich prepared to step down at Chicago's mayor, the Chicago Tribune ran an article about what Maggie Daley had meant to Chicago. The first paragraph put it well. It read: 'There has never been and may never be a Chicago First lady of greater impact, influence and inspiration as Maggie Daley.'

"Maggie Daley was smart, funny, tireless, amazingly modest and deeply compassionate. She was also an intensely private person. Yet she managed to touch so many people with her work and her example. The love Chicagoans feel for Maggie Daley was reflected in the faces of the people who waited in a line a block long to attend her wake at the Chicago Cultural Center, a public treasure she helped to restore."

WASHINGTON--The day before game one of the World Series, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and other senators are asking Major League Baseball to ban players from using tobacco products at games, especially smokeless or chewing tobacco.

"Tomorrow night, an expected 15 million viewers, including many children, will tune in to watch the first game of the series. Unfortunately, as these young fans root for their favorite team and players, they also will watch their on-field heroes use smokeless tobacco products," wrote Durbin and other senators to MLB executive director Michael Weiner.

"During the upcoming negotiations over the bargaining agreement, we write to ask that the Major League Baseball Players Association agree to a prohibition on the use of all tobacco products at games and on camera at all Major League ballparks. This would send a strong message to young baseball fans, who look toward the players as role models, that tobacco use is not essential to the sport of baseball."

click below for senators' letter...

Click below for Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) Senate floor speech slamming Bank of America on new debit card fees imposed in the wake of the reduction of "swipe" fees, a measure Durbin has championed. "The banks are in an uproar!" Durbin said

UPDATED
CLICK BELOW FOR TRANSCRIPT

WASHINGTON--White House chief of staff Bill Daley is the subject of a long piece in Politico headlined "Bill Daley struggles to fix Barack Obama's slump," which also compares and contrasts Daley with Rahm Emanuel, the former chief of staff now Chicago's mayor.

The story is by Glenn Thrush, John Breshanhan and Amie Parnes and can be read HERE.

Excerpts from Politico....

On Daley and Congress...

"Daley's style is considerably more hands-off, people who work with him say, leaving much of the outreach to his able legislative affairs director Rob Nabors, Obama economic adviser Gene Sperling and budget chief Jack Lew, who all have decades of Hill experience."

On Emanuel...

"To be fair, Emanuel, who now terrifies and exhausts staffers in the Chicago mayor's office, was nobody's idea of a prototypical chief of staff, offering a flurry of ideas and criticisms, often absent any plan to actually implement them.
And he was no LBJ when it came to negotiating either, often willing to cut quick deals with conservative Democrats or Republicans rather than risk adverse consequences. That, in turn, put him at odds with many of his own party's tougher bargainers, especially then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), a longtime ally who clashed with him repeatedly during Obama's first two years in office."

WASHINGTON--The Democratic National Committee holds its fall meeting in Chicago on Friday and Saturday, previewing the 2012 nominating convention a year away in Charlotte, rallying base constitutient groups and providing a rare glimpse of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan in his role as Democratic Party of Illinois chairmain.

The DNC session comes as President Obama's and the DNC's mega donors and fund-raisers are also in Chicago for briefings from White House and campaign officials on Thursday and Friday. The Democrats are gathering Thursday night at the Obama 2012 headquarters in the Prudential Building to watch Obama's jobs speech before a joint session of Congress.

I'm told that some 300 DNC members plus staff will be in Chicago for the meeting at the Marriott, 151 W. Adams in the Loop.

Madigan was last in the political news because he attended a fund-raising for GOP House Speaker John Boehner in the Chicago suburb of Lemont last month, the Sun-Times reported. Apprarently there are no hard feelings because Madigan will be addressing the group, according to the DNC schedule. Madigan is a rarity among state Democratic chairmen because he rarely interacts with the DNC.

Other speakers include Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Obama's former White House chief of staff, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Steve Kerrigan, the CEO of the 2012 convention in North Carolina and DNC Chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fl.). State Sen. Iris Martinez (D-Chicago) is the DNC Hispanic Caucus chair.

WASHINGTON--Chicago's South Side long struggling Woodlawn neighborhood got a $30.5 million federal boost on Wednesday, as Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) and Mayor Rahm Emanuel join Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan to announce new help for the community.

UPDATED
Click below for release....

The Obama administration established a new policy on Thursday, virtually stopping deporting students who are in the U.S. illegally, taking steps even as Congress has resisted passing the DREAM Act, which would allow children of illegal immigrants a chance to stay in the U.S.

The announcement came from Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and was applauded by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the chief sponsor of the DREAM Act and Rep Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), who has been increasingly critical of President Obama's record of stepped up deportations.

The White House is acting as Hispanic groups have been stepping up complaints; in Chicago, a group of immigration rights demonstrators blocked an entrance to a highway on Wednesday to protest Obama White House policies and its "Secure Communities" program. My post on the Secure Communities program--and the growing protests over it--and the White House defense-- is HERE.

White House Intergovernmental Affairs Director Cecila Munoz said in a statement, that DHS "announced that they are strengthening their ability to target criminals even further by making sure they are not focusing our resources on deporting people who are low priorities for deportation. This includes individuals such as young people who were brought to this country as small children, and who know no other home. It also includes individuals such as military veterans and the spouses of active-duty military personnel. It makes no sense to spend our enforcement resources on these low-priority cases when they could be used with more impact on others, including individuals who have been convicted of serious crimes."

In a letter to Durbin and other Senators, Napolitano wrote, "we have initiated an interagency working group to execute a case-by-case review of all individuals currently in removal proceedings to ensure that they constitute our highest priorities.

"The working group will also initiate a case-by-case review to ensure that new cases placed in removal proceedings similarly meet such priorities. In addition, the working group will issue guidance on how to provide for appropriate discretionary consideration to be given to compelling cases involving a final order of removal. Finally, we
will work to ensure that the resources saved as a result of the efficiencies generated through this process are dedicated to further enhancing the identification and removal of aliens who pose a threat to public safety.
"
This case-by-case approach will enhance public safety. Immigration judges will be able to more swiftly adjudicate high priority cases, such as those involving convicted felons," Napolitano wrote.

Durbin said in a statement, "If fully implemented, the new process should stop virtually all DREAM Act deportations.

"The Obama Administration has made the right decision in changing the way they handle deportations of DREAM Act students," Durbin said. "These students are the future doctors, lawyers, teachers and, maybe, Senators, who will make America stronger. We need to be doing all we can to keep these talented, dedicated, American students here, not wasting increasingly precious resources sending them away to countries they barely remember. The Administration's new process is a fair and just way to deal with an important group of immigrant students and I will closely monitor DHS to ensure it is fully implemented."

Gutierrez said in a statement, "I have been vocal in my criticism of the President and his Administration over the dramatic increase in deportations on his watch and have traveled the country urging him to use his power under existing law to do what he can to help. This is the Barack Obama I have been waiting for and that Latino and immigrant voters helped put in office to fight for sensible immigration policies. Focusing scarce resources on deporting serious criminals, gang bangers, and drug dealers and setting aside non-criminals with deep roots in the U.S. until Congress fixes our laws is the right thing to do and I am proud of the President and Secretary Napolitano for standing up for a more rational approach to enforcing our current immigration laws."

READ NAPOLITANO LETTER TO DURBIN OUTLINING NEW POLICY:
11-8949_Durbin_Dream_Act_response_08.18.11.pdf

READ JUNE LETTER FROM IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT DIRECTOR JOHN MORTON WITH PROPOSED NEW POLICY IMPLEMENTED THURSDAY HERE

READ MUNOZ LETTER HERE