This article from the Chicago News Coop talks about factors that led to her loss last week. A humiliating loss with only 9% of the vote and won only one precinct out of thousands around the city. The Black vote turned out for Rahm Emanuel who used to be Obama's chief of staff. Braun campaign aide Renee Ferguson was correct in saying that they were "up against a huge buzz saw from Day 1".
It seems the campaign wasn't merely overly optimistic even a few days away from the election. The article also shows what happens when you clash with a campaign manager:
In October, shortly after Mayor Richard M. Daley said he would not seek re-election, Ms. Braun hired Mr. Noonan, a former top operative for Michael Madigan, the speaker of the Illinois House. Mr. Noonan led the effort to circulate nominating petitions to place Ms. Braun on the ballot, gathering more signatures than any other candidate.
Soon after that success, Mr. Noonan said, he clashed with her. “We had fundamentally different views of how campaigns should be run,” he said, adding that Ms. Braun had made it impossible for him to schedule even the most basic campaign activities.
One e-mail shows that Ms. Braun canceled a meeting with an alderman on the eve of the event in December. “Nobody asked me about meeting with” the alderman, Ms. Braun wrote. “It can be rescheduled for another time that we clear.”
On Jan. 5, Ms. Braun sent an e-mail to aides to complain about an interview with a newspaper reporter, a commitment that she said she did not know had been put on her schedule.
“Would it kill you to call, text or send an e-mail to ASK me if I will sit down with a reporter for an interview?” Ms. Braun wrote. “Are you too busy to remember the Golden Rule? How would you feel if I just sent dictates to you with no conversation or notice? Being a candidate does not make me less than a human being.”
Gradually, Mr. Noonan’s involvement faded, although both he and Ms. Braun publicly denied a rift. Other supporters like Mr. Schaffer, a lawyer, grew in influence during the final two months of the campaign.
Could it be rust on Braun's part as she had been out of politic since an ill-fated bid for the Presidency? Could it be that well the former Senator could just be difficult to work with? It was said already that she was unmanageable.
Rich Miller considered Noonan's comments to the Chicago News Coop gauche. It may well be, however, it's time to move on either way. Let's hope that whatever Mayor-elect Emanuel decides to do in four years that the Black community can do better than what it put forward this year.
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