At seven o’clock on a dark and cold January morning, the only people walking around the Davis Street el station in Evanston are early risers and lunatics.
“Why are you running?”
“Edwin, please–I can’t even hear about this stuff until I’ve had some coffee.”
But then no other north-side Democrat is as wealthy, confident, or well-connected as Edwin Eisendrath.
Mike’s son, Eisendrath’s grandfather, was Harold, who “did his damnedest to raise money for Israel,” Eisendrath recalls. “In his column, Kup used to call him Harold ‘Israeli Bonds’ Rosenberg. He knew Golda Meir. Abba Eban came to our house. He knew Hubert Humphrey. But Harold didn’t know much about local politics. I’m the first member of the family who could get a pothole fixed since Mike died in 1927.”
As he got older, he became more outgoing, and was elected president of his senior class. He was endowed with tremendous self-confidence. All of his friends predicted he would be a success.
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“I have goals that being an alderman is part of,” Eisendrath said at one debate. “When I’m my grandmother’s age of 94, I want to know that children can read. I want to live here. I don’t want to live in Washington. To the extent I can accomplish the goals I’ve set out as alderman–fiscal reform and public education–I’ll stay. I won’t stay being alderman if I find out I’m not interested. If my work for the ward is not good, then I’ll do something else. Like Willie Mays said, “When it’s not fun anymore, I’ll stop.”‘
