Jerry Springer
Long-battling talk-show host Jerry Springer, the longtime-if-no-longer Chicago job-creator for all the years of his confrontational bark-show, a lover of civic combat and of Chicago itself, might never have become so well known if, while a Cincinnati city councilman in 1974, he hadn’t paid for personal services with a personal check. The seventy-year-old Democrat has attained a certain gravitas over time, exploiting while not truly condescending to his subjects. (He was also reelected and later mayor of that river city.) Sounds like mayor material to us, and imagine the press conferences! Imagine the personal appearances! We can. Chicago, Chicago! That tabloid town! C’mon back from Connecticut, Jerry, we need you!
Audience Choice: Toni Preckwinkle
Best of Chicago 2014