Rahm Ruled Eligible For Chicago Ballot

Imagine that:

A victory for Rahm Emanuel Thursday. Chicago Election Commissioners decided to put his name on the ballot for Mayor of Chicago.

Immediately after the decision, an attorney for the opponents rushed to file an appeal.

For now though, Emanuel is celebrating his win. "Their decision affirms what I've said all along – the only reason I left this city was to serve President Obama and that I always intended to return", Emanuel said in a written statement.

It wasn't an easy victory for him. He had to sit through more than twelve hours of testimony against him as dozens of members of the public came out to testify before the commission about why they didn't think Emanuel should get the chance to run for mayor, why they didn't think he satisfied residency requirements of the city. Emanuel moved to Washington DC when he became White House Chief of Staff, although he kept a home in Chicago.

It was almost a circus-like atmosphere. Despite hours and hours of challenges, claims and accusations, Emanuel managed to appear to be listening intently to it all and even smiling at times. He never lost his cool, at least not as far as anyone could tell.

He didn't need to lose his cool - this thing was in the bag from the start. There's no way the Chicago machine was going to let some peon commissioner knock the anointed mayor off the ballot.