I was a Chicago ward heeler; tearing down posters, packing press kits, and other campaign adventures.

• Author: Eisendrath, John

I Was a Chicago Ward Heeler

The cop savors the possible headline. "Candidate's brother arrested tearing down opponent'sj posters," he says. When he pulled the squad car to the curb moments earlier and asked for my driver's license, I contemplated gift-wrapping it in a twenty. That would be a headline.

Six weeks earlier I had been a political journalist in Washington. Rarely leaving the office, I opined about how the government was mismanaging its finances and whether certain politicians were presidential material. I have never worked in government and had long since given up trying to balance my checkbook. My experience working for a politician was limited to a month-long Capitol Hill internship, which consisted primarily of carrying the congressman's golf clubs from his office to his car. No matter: I was an editor, a pundit. I was paid to educate readers about how Washington really works.

Now it's two a.m. and I'm the one being educated. It's February in Chicago, about ten degrees outside, and my pockets are filled with crumpled posters of The Opponent. At one point there were four people running against my brother for an open seat on the city council, but now, in a runoff, there is only one. I hate The Opponent. I hate the people who work for him and am convinced they are all child abusers. I hate the local reporters who seem unable to grasp that my brother is the greatest political prospect since Abe Lincoln grew whiskers.

I am, in a word, possessed. More people--reporters in particular--should learn what it's like inside a campaign. The fear and insecurity. The all or nothing gamble. The hope. The experience engages voters and provides reporters with the insight to be incisive and tough.

There is knowledge: how to build a precinct operation; what to say when knocking on doors; little things like picking campaign colors and big ones like deciding on campaign themes. There is also perspective: I've done a dozen stories about negative campaigning, for instance, but I never understood what it feels like to be low-balled. As a reporter, I was disengaged from such stories, finding them dull and unimportant. As a campaign manager, I responded venomously, until cooler heads prevailed.

We spent $280,000 on the election. The Opponent spent $250,000. This is a grotesque amount and it underscores how daunting it is to run for even the most rudimentary public office. Both candidates have quick smiles and, with a little well-placed gel, nice hairdos. This matters, but plain speaking, a solid message, and knocking on doors play an equally large role. Even in local Chicago, political character is an issue.

Begging for (and thankfully receiving) the forgiveness of a patrolman in the middle of the night is one way of glimpsing democracy in action, as are a number of other humbling experiences: going door to door during the dinner hour, for instance, or trying to chat up the candidate to a bunch of freezing commuters at a bus stop. As a way of understanding how our system works, there is no substitute.

Teacher candidate

Sure I am biased. But there is really no arguing with may brother's credentials. First, Edwin has never been indicted. For a candidate running for city council in Chicago, that in itself is a pretty good platform. The number of indicted council members frequently hovers around 10 percent. Second, he has no experience dipping into the public till. This too makes him stand out: after approving a $296 million municipal bond issue for infrastructure repairs recently, 15 aldermen designated part of the money to repave streets in front of their homes. By not having a rap sheet, Edwin was a potential juggernaut.

But there is more. Edwin, who was 28 when the campaign began, ent to Harvard. he graduated at the beginning of the "go-go" eighties, but opted against pursuing greed and glory on Wall Street and took a teaching job in Chicago's public schools. For four years, he taught elementary school children in a predominantly Hispanic west side neighborhood. his community involvement was extensive and had been cited by the mayor.

Edwin didn't become a teacher in order to become a politician. He actually enjoyed sharing his knowledge with a group of unruly ten-year-olds. Edwin had been undeterred by the obstacles that keep so many talented people from becoming public school teachers. When he first applied to become a teacher, for instance, Edwin was told that his degree in psychology from Harvard did not qualify him to teach in the public schools. To become "qualified" he dutifully wasted a year of his life getting a master's degree in education at a local teacher's college.

He believes in public service. Still, life as an educator in a big-city public school bureaucracy is frustrating. No books. No chalk. Standardized lessons. Low pay. At the beginning of three of the four years he taught, Edwin and his colleagues went on strike. To do something about it, Edwin twice applied to become a member of the Chicago Board of Education. He was rejected both times. Denied access to those areas within the bureaucracy that would allow him more say in improving Chicago's schools, he began exploring the possibility of running for public office.

This was in the summer of 1986. It was seven months prior to the election, and, although the incumbent had not yet decided to step down, a changing of the guard seemed likely. The 43rd ward in Chicago is located along Lake Michigan just north of downtown. A primarily white community, it's known as home to the city's "Lakefront Liberals."

Over the years, the ware has become increasingly affluent. Gentrification has turned bungalows into showplace homes and urban renewal has transformed a number of factories into parks. Of Chicago's 50 wards, the 43rd is the second most affluent, with a median family income of more than $30,000.

Not surprisingly, the ward's politics have grown more conservative. The incumbent alderman, a liberal ideologue first elected in 1975, pondered these changes as well as the deep...