The radio interview was supposed to be live for a half hour and now, as the candidate and his press secretary arrived, they were told it would be taped for an hour. It was too late to do anything about it. The panel of reporters was gathered, and the host of the program, Dick Ellsworth, was sitting behind the horseshoe desk just about ready to go. The extra time would put Tom Hynes behind at his next stop, the Polish National Alliance, but he showed no irritation.
“Tom Hynes, one-two-three-four-five,” said Hynes.
“Is anyone going to drop out?” asked Ellsworth.
But time was short. The Chicago mayoral election is only six weeks to the day after the primary, from Tuesday, February 24 to Tuesday, April 7.
“You might as well go with Five,” Daly said, referring to Mary Laney, the Channel Five anchorwoman. She too had been standing by for a live pickup, but had been getting conflicting orders from the studio.
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It was another 45 minutes before Benjamin finally went on the air. Much of the time he spent standing next to Mary Laney, watching a small television monitor. Joe Pecor, Byrne’s PR man, came on, complaining about slow returns from the black wards: “Where are the votes from the south side? From the west side? We heard it was a low turnout. Where are the votes?”
Bob Benjamin and Mary Laney, side by side, made an interesting contrast: he tall and unfashionable with the face of an Iranian terrorist; she in designer clothes and carefully made up. They got another signal from the studio and Laney patted her hair and looked into the camera. “I’m going to call it studied optimism,” she whispered to Benjamin. He nodded.
