Reply #11: Is a "Great White Hope" factor motivating Mrs Ditka's opposition to running? [View All]

[AirAmFan]

Race is always just below the surface of things in Illinois.

She may be afraid that Mike will lose and become another Bernie Epton, the Republican who ran against Harold Washington for mayor of Chicago 21 years ago. After the election, the Eptons had to move far, far away. The Chicago Historical Society has a stunning exhibit catalog, with stirring photos of the Washington-Epton race, at http://www.chicagohs.org/haroldwashington/pdf/hwgalleryguide.pdf

Here's a snippet of text:

"In 1983, four out of five of Chicago voters were registered Democrats. The city had not elected a Republican mayor since 1927, and, since the 1930s, the winner of the Democratic primary had always won the general election. When Washington won the Democratic primary, everything changed. High-ranking white Democrats endorsed Epton, and white voters crossed party lines to organize groups like Democrats for Epton (above). While Epton began his campaign stating that he would not make race an issue, his racially loaded slogan,'Epton, Before It�s Too Late,' further contributed to the growing divisiveness. Crowds greeted the Republican, a former state representative from Hyde Park, at his public appearances with T-shirts reading 'Vote Right, Vote White' or singing 'Bye Bye Blackbird.' Racist buttons and flyers appeared across the city. In the end, Harold Washington won the election with 53 percent of the nearly 1.3 million votes cast. The vast majority of white Democrats in Chicago had voted for a Republican mayoral candidate."