Toni was mostly dry and one could tell she was sort of an unknown to many; her cheering section was very light. Danny was Danny.  The forum was his territory so he had an automatic following.  Dorothy seemed like a preacher and whiny. Stroger did quite well. He made a play for the youth vote by stating his age of 46.  He made a comparison to City government and how Daley has raised taxes many times over the years AND still has a $500 million deficit– Cook has no such deficit.  (Adds fuel to the fire that there is a racial double-standard.) The moderator (Cliff Kelly) was not great– not many could control a sometimes an unruly crowd and a panel of egomaniacs.

It was clearly a black nationalist affair— the few white folks in attendance must have felt uncomfortable when audience members and Stroger blamed the media and the white man for the lies. I like Todd to win again if the others split the anti-Stroger vote—the path is set for a well-financed white candidate to take it.

Apparently, Republicans weren’t allowed on the panel, but at least there was one in the audience, and on Twitter.

@mjcarrjr: Rep. Danny davis says “don’t expect to cut my hair if you ain’t an affirmative action barber.”

@adam_doster also tweeted the forum: ” Hey! There’s Laura Washington! I’ll have to tell her I changed out of my bathrobe before I left the office.” [Background on LW's dig on bathroom bloggers.] Adam also just posted a full length summary at Progress Illinois.