Romney’s New Attack: Obama’s A Chicago-Style Crook!

[frazzled]

16. No

He was a State Senator in the Illinois Legislature from 1997-2004 (seven years), but before that, he spent the years 1985-88 as a community organizer for the Developing Community Project (I'd call that being in Chicago politics, since you had to deal with aldermen, City Council, and City Hall to do it); ran Project Vote for Illinois for a year in 1992; he ran an unsuccessful campaign for Bobby Rush's US House seat in 1999-2000, etc.

So I'd say he had a minimum of 12 years heavily involved in politics in Illinois, vs. 4 in the Senate and 3 in the WH in D.C. But being in the Senate does not mean you've lost connection with your home-state constituency.

I think the point to be made is: it's a baseless charge. Not everyone is a machine politician, either in Illinois or Chicago.